Hundreds of thousands of people have rallied in Seoul as lawmakers again try to impeach the president after his failed attempt to impose martial lawSouth Korea’s ruling party has decided to maintain its official position to vote against the impeachment of president Yoon Suk Yeol, local media has reported. Last Saturday’s first impeachment vote ended in disarray after most members of Yoon’s conservative People Power party (PPP) boycotted the impeachment vote. But PPP lawmakers are expected to turn up to vote today.Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the continuing political crisis in South Korea, where the parliament is preparing to vote for the second time on a motion to impeach the president, Yoon Suk Yeol, after his failed attempt to impose martial law.Yoon defended his shock decision last week to impose martial law in a defiant and lengthy TV address on Thursday, vowing to “fight until the end” attempts to remove him from office. He repeated claims that he had been trying to defend the country from anti-state forcesOn Wednesday, police raided Yoon’s office, in an attempt to establish whether Yoon’s actions amounted to insurrection. It emerged later that Yoon’s security guards had prevented officers from getting into the main buildingYoon’s former defence minister and one of his close associates, Kim Yong-hyun, tried to kill himself at a Seoul detention centre on Wednesday night, but was stopped by correctional officers. He had been arrested on allegations of playing a key role in a rebellion and committing abuse of power, becoming the first person formally arrested over the martial law decreeThe country’s police chief and the head of Seoul’s metropolitan police were also detained for sending their forces to the national assembly. Lawmakers voted on Thursday to impeach the police chief and the justice minister.Yoon was banned from leaving the country on Monday, and on Tuesday authorities banned more senior officials from leaving, including Cho Ji-ho, the commissioner general of the Korean National Police Agency. Already under a travel ban were the former defence and interior ministers and the martial law commander, Gen Park An-su. Continue reading…
Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/dec/14/south-korea-impeachment-vote-yoon-suk-yeol
Author : Mark Gerts
Publish date : 2024-12-14 07:10:00
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South Korea impeachment live: Thousands take to streets in Seoul as parliament to vote again on Yoon Suk Yeol’s fate
