South Korea\u2019s opposition leader on Friday urged ruling party lawmakers to side with the \u201cpeople\u201d and impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed martial law bid, a day before a second parliamentary vote that appears on a knife edge. A week after a first attempt to remove Yoon for the martial law debacle foundered, the country\u2019s National Assembly will vote Saturday around 4:00pm (0700 GMT) on whether to impeach the president for \u201cinsurrectionary acts undermining the constitutional order\u201d. Two hundred votes are needed for the measure to pass, meaning opposition lawmakers must convince eight ruling People Power Party (PPP) colleagues to defect. As of noon Friday, seven ruling party lawmakers had pledged to support impeachment \u2014 leaving the vote up in the air. On Friday, the leader of the Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung, implored them to support the president\u2019s removal from office. \u201cWhat the lawmakers must protect is neither Yoon nor the ruling People Power Party but the lives of the people wailing out in the freezing streets,\u201d Lee said. \u201cPlease join in supporting the impeachment vote tomorrow. History will remember and record your choice.\u201d Two ruling party lawmakers supported the motion last week. Lawmaker Kim Min-seok said Friday he was \u201c99 per cent\u201d sure the impeachment will pass. Ball with the court Should it be approved, Yoon will be suspended from office while South Korea\u2019s Constitutional Court deliberates. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo will step in as the interim president during that time. The court will then have 180 days to rule on Yoon\u2019s future. If it backs his removal, Yoon will become the second president in South Korean history to be successfully impeached. There is also precedent for the court to block impeachment: in 2004, then-president Roh Moo-hyun was removed by parliament for alleged election law violations and incompetence. But the Constitutional Court later reinstated him. The court also currently only has six judges, meaning their decision would need to be unanimous. And should the vote fail, Yoon can still face \u201clegal responsibility\u201d for the martial law bid, Kim Hyun-jung, a researcher at the Korea University Institute of Law, told AFP. \u201cThis is clearly an act of insurrection,\u201d she said. \u201cEven if the impeachment motion does not pass, the President\u2019s legal responsibilities under the Criminal Code\u2026 cannot be avoided.\u201d – \u2018So angry\u2019 Yoon has remained unapologetic and defiant as the fallout from his disastrous martial law declaration has deepened and an investigation into his inner circle has widened. In a televised address, he vowed on Thursday to fight \u201cuntil the very last minute\u201d and doubled down on unsubstantiated claims the opposition was in league with the country\u2019s communist foes. Thousands have taken to the streets of Seoul since Yoon\u2019s declaration to demand his resignation and jailing. Yoon\u2019s approval rating \u2014 never high \u2014 has plummeted to 11pc, according to a Gallup Korea poll released Friday. The same poll showed 75pc now support his impeachment. Protesters run the gamut of South Korean society \u2014 from K-pop fans waving glowsticks to retirees and blue-collar workers. \u201cImpeachment is a must and we must fight relentlessly,\u201d Kim Sung-tae, a 52-year-old worker at a company that makes car parts, told AFP. \u201cWe\u2019re fighting for the restoration of democracy.\u201d Teacher Kim Hwan-ii agreed. \u201cI\u2019m so angry that we all have to pay the price for electing this president.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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