The noose is tightening around conservative South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. Targeted by an impeachment motion which must be put to a vote on Saturday in Parliament, the conservative South Korean president has also been the target, since Thursday, December 5, of a police investigation for “rebellion”. Six opposition parties tabled this motion on Wednesday, accusing the leader of having “seriously violated the Constitution and the law”. It will be put to the vote on Saturday at 7 p.m. (11 a.m. in Paris), according to the Yonhap news agency. The opposition has a total of 192 seats out of 300 in the National Assembly, with the other 108 deputies belonging to Mr. Yoon’s conservative People Power Party (PPP). The motion must be adopted by a two-thirds majority. If it is, Mr. Yoon will be suspended from office pending confirmation of his dismissal by the Constitutional Court. If the judges give their approval, he will leave power and a new presidential election will have to be organized within sixty days. But to be adopted, the opposition must rely on the defection of at least eight deputies from the presidential party. On Thursday, the leader of the PPP in Parliament, Choo Kyung-ho, affirmed that his party would vote against. “All 108 deputies of the People’s Power Party will remain united to reject the impeachment of the president,” he told the press. Mr. Choo added, however, that he had asked Mr. Yoon to leave the party. The PPP “is not trying to defend the president’s unconstitutional martial law,” he assured. In an interview with Bloomberg, the head of the Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung, believes that it will be difficult to impeach the president: “Even if many lawmakers from the ruling party intend to, they should go to the against the party line, which puts them in a somewhat difficult situation,” he summarized. According to a poll published Wednesday by the Realmeter agency, more than seven in ten South Koreans (73.6%) support the demand for impeachment, compared to 24% who say they are opposed to it and 2.4% who have no opinion. The Democratic Party, the main opposition force, announced the filing of a complaint against the president for “rebellion”, a crime theoretically punishable by death, which has not been applied in South Korea since 1997. Thursday , a senior police official, Woo Kong-suu, confirmed to deputies that an investigation had been opened against Mr. Yoon for this charge. Resignation of Defense Minister Mr. Yoon has not appeared in public since his last speech on national television, Wednesday at dawn, to announce the lifting of martial law which he had declared the previous evening. His secretariat said he would not speak on Thursday. On Wednesday, thousands of South Koreans demonstrated in Seoul to demand the president’s departure. More rallies are planned for Thursday. On the other hand, on Thursday the resignation of Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun was announced. The courts banned him from traveling abroad because of the role he played in President Yoon’s attempted coup. He is replaced by Choi Byung-hyuk, a retired general who is South Korea’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia. But others close to the president, including Interior Minister Lee Sang-min, remain in their posts. Le Monde Mémorable Test your general knowledge with the editorial staff of “Le Monde” Test your general knowledge with the editorial staff of “Le Monde” Discover In a context of difficulties in adopting the 2025 budget, the president justified his Tuesday coup by saying he wanted “eliminate elements hostile to the state” and “protect liberal South Korea from threats posed by North Korean communist forces.” Mr. Yoon, narrowly elected in 2022 and who has never had a majority in Parliament, had accused a “legislative dictatorship” and accused opposition elected officials of blocking “all budgets essential to the primary functions of the nation” . Despite the closure of the National Assembly by hundreds of soldiers and police, 190 deputies managed to sneak into the building during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, sometimes by climbing the fences, and to hold an extraordinary session. They unanimously voted for a motion calling for the lifting of martial law, while their assistants prevented the soldiers from entering the hemicycle by barricading the doors with sofas and any furniture that fell under them. hand. The president finally gave in to pressure, repealed martial law at dawn Wednesday, and ordered troops to return to their barracks. But he didn’t resign. Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers In South Korea, the president’s attempted coup is defeated Read later Le Monde with AFP and Bloomberg Reuse this content
Author : News7
Publish date : 2024-12-05 07:58:27
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