The South Korean National Assembly voted on the 7th on President Yoon Seok-yeol's impeachment motion. As most of the ruling party's People Power Party members left the chamber, the Speaker of the National Assembly announced the voting results around 9:30 PM local time (8:30 PM Malaysia time), with only 195 votes cast, failing to meet the quorum requirement, and the impeachment motion did not pass.
On the night of the 3rd, Yoon Seok-yeol declared martial law, causing political turmoil. Before the National Assembly voted on Yoon Seok-yeol's impeachment motion at 5 PM local time (4 PM Malaysia time), they first voted on the special investigation bill for First Lady Kim Keon-hee, which resulted in 198 votes against and 102 votes in favor, and did not pass.
The full name of the Kim Keon-hee special investigation bill is 'The bill to appoint a special prosecutor to ascertain the truth of President Yoon Seok-yeol's spouse Kim Keon-hee's stock price manipulation case,' which requires a vote of two-thirds or more of the members attending the National Assembly plenary session to pass.
According to the bill, the independent prosecutor's investigation targets Kim Keon-hee's involvement in manipulating company stock prices, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court recommends candidates for independent prosecutor.
The South Korean National Assembly has a total of 300 seats, with the opposition parties currently holding 192 seats and the ruling People Power Party having 108 seats.
After the special investigation proposal vote ended, most members of the People Power Party chose to leave the chamber, prompting strong protests from opposition members who shouted, "Come back, come back." The party whip of the largest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Korea, Park Chan-dae, called out the names of the 108 ruling party members who walked out, urging them to return to the session.
As of 7 PM, a total of 195 members had completed the voting, not reaching the two-thirds requirement. Only 3 members of the People Power Party participated in the vote.
According to regulations, the impeachment motion must be voted on within 72 hours after being reported to the South Korean National Assembly on the 5th.
The Democratic Party of Korea has already announced that if this impeachment does not pass, they will definitely propose a second impeachment motion.