Petition to impeach President Yoon surpasses 1 million signatures

Politics

Published: 03 Jul. 2024, 19:22 Updated: 03 Jul. 2024, 21:57

Petition to impeach President Yoon surpasses 1 million signatures

Rep. Park Chan-dae, floor leader of the Democratic Party, speaks at the podium during a plenary session at the National Assembly in western Seoul on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

Over a million Koreans have signed a parliamentary petition to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol as of Wednesday morning.

The online petition asking lawmakers to raise an impeachment motion gained 1,018,503 signatories in 10 days after it was posted on the National Assembly website on June 24. An average of more than 100,000 Koreans signed the petition a day.

In the original post, the petitioner wrote that the current "22nd National Assembly should introduce a presidential impeachment motion immediately," adding that "reasons to impeach President Yoon are abundant."

The writer accused Yoon of abusing power in a military investigation, escalating tensions between South Korea and North Korea, interfering with the rights of Korean forced labor victims during the Japanese occupation of 1910-1945, bribery and jeopardizing public health by not proactively responding to the release of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.

A screen captured image shows that 1,018,503 signatories participated in a petition to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

On the same day, the liberal Democratic Party (DP) sharpened its knife against Yoon and his government.

Rep. Park Chan-dae, the DP's floor leader, said that "nothing has changed even after Koreans conveyed their stern judgment against the Yoon administration through the April 10 general election" during a Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly in western Seoul on Wednesday.

In the election, the conservative People Power Party (PPP) — aligned with Yoon — suffered a landslide defeat with 108 seats in the 300-member National Assembly. The rival DP secured 175 seats.

"All the promises to reform state affairs were thrown away like an old pair of shoes, and pledges to innovative the Cabinet [...] dissipated," Park added.

He said Yoon's "immovable and heedless behavior" prompted a million people to submit their signatures and support the petition "within a short period, less than two weeks."

"To correct the current state of affairs, which are on the verge of a wreck, President Yoon should change himself first," Park said.

Rep. Jung Chung-rae from the DP said, "The petition would have garnered more than 5 million signatories if access to the National Assembly's petition platform was stable and smooth."

Jung said such numbers show "the voices of people calling for judgment on the Yoon administration and the PPP."

The message reads that 28,863 people are in a queue and 40 minutes and five seconds would be estimated wait times to access the National Assembly's petition website on Wednesday noon.[SCREEN CAPTURE]

Parliamentary petitions endorsed by over 50,000 signatories within 30 days are referred to the Legislation and Judiciary Committee's subcommittee for assessment. When the petition's legitimacy is acknowledged, the committee can submit the petition to a plenary session.

Upon clearing the plenary session, the National Assembly will hand the petition to the government. Then, the government should report its handling of the matter to the parliament.

The impeachment petition is due for the subcommittee's review as the number of petitioners has already surpassed the threshold.

The judiciary committee's subcommittee responsible for screening parliamentary petitions consists of five lawmakers — four DP lawmakers and one from the PPP.

With Chung chairing the judiciary committee and the subcommittee filled with four DP lawmakers, the petition will likely be passed to the plenary session if the DP so wishes.

Yet, some figures in the DP's floor leadership maintain a cautious attitude toward impeaching the president.

Rep. Park Sung-joon, the party's senior deputy floor leader, said it was "wrong for the DP to suggest ways to handle the petition" during his press interview on Monday. "The subcommittee members will figure out how to process the petition."

On Wednesday, the DP introduced a special counsel probe bill regarding allegations that the Defense Ministry meddled in a military investigation into a Marine's death during a plenary session at the National Assembly. As a response, the PPP began a filibuster to deter further processing the bill, which the party views as "politically motivated." Because of the filibuster, the interpellation session on the economy was scuttled.

The bill was previously vetoed by Yoon during the 21st National Assembly.

BY LEE SOO-JUNG [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]