Crossing the party line: The 3 PPP lawmakers who took part in the impeachment vote

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Crossing the party line: The 3 PPP lawmakers who took part in the impeachment vote

Published: 08 Dec. 2024, 17:00

KIM MIN-YOUNG
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Ahn Cheol-soo, the sole member of the conservative People Power Party (PPP) to remain in the National Assembly chamber for the motion to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol, waits for the voting to begin on Saturday. [YONHAP]

Three conservative People Power Party (PPP) lawmakers — Ahn Cheol-soo, Kim Yea-ji and Kim Sang-wook — voted in the impeachment motion on President Yoon Suk Yeol Saturday, despite most of their party participating in a walkout.

After the 300-seat National Assembly rejected a bill on a special counsel probe into first lady Kim Keon Hee on Saturday at around 5:40 p.m., members of the PPP left their seats and exited the chamber in protest against the impeachment motion. As a result, the National Assembly failed to meet the number of votes required to validate the motion after all in attendance had cast their ballots.

Rep. Ahn remained in the plenary session hall and cast his vote, unlike his fellow PPP lawmakers who had left the chamber. He had previously expressed his willingness to support impeachment, saying, “If President Yoon does not resign, I will vote in favor of impeachment,” after Tuesday’s martial law declaration.

Ahn, who played a pivotal role in Yoon’s rise to power by merging the two's presidential campaigns in 2022 and later leading the transition committee, has since distanced himself from Yoon. He has often acted as an opposing figure within the ruling party. After the vote, Ahn told reporters, “I voted as I promised, in accordance with the will of the people.”

People Power Party Rep. Kim Yea-ji casts her vote on the motion to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday. Kim, the first visually impaired female lawmaker in Korea, left the chamber before the vote but returned with an aide to cast her vote. [YONHAP]

Frequent presidential hopeful Ahn is a medical doctor and former head of AhnLab, once a Korean market leader in antivirus software. The software mogul-turned-politician is also a four-term lawmaker. He won the by-election for a parliamentary seat representing Bundang-A District in June 2022.

Ahn ran in the 2012, 2017 and 2022 presidential elections, withdrawing in two of them and coming third in the 2017 election behind former liberal President Moon Jae-in. In 2021, he suspended his campaign for mayor of Seoul.

Second-term lawmaker Kim Yea-ji — affiliated with the pro-Han Dong-hoon faction of the party — and first-term lawmaker Kim Sang-wook initially followed the party line, leaving the chamber but returning later.

People Power Party Rep. Kim Sang-wook sheds tears as he speaks to the press after voting on the impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday at the National Assembly complex in Yeouido, western Seoul. [NEWS1]

Upon returning to the chamber, the two received loud applause from liberal Democratic Party (DP) lawmakers. The two, along with three other first-term lawmakers, issued a statement on Thursday calling for Yoon’s orderly resignation and proposed a constitutional amendment to shorten his term.

Kim Yea-ji, who is visually impaired, was the second ruling party lawmaker to participate in the vote after Ahn. Her decision to return to the session hall was reportedly unknown even to her party colleagues and aides.

Kim Sang-wook said that he followed the party line, indicating that he may have cast a vote against impeachment.

“I believe President Yoon is unfit to hold the office of president,” he said. “However, I did not agree with the impeachment motion in line with the party's stance. That said, I felt it was my duty to participate in the vote.”

BY KIM MIN-YOUNG [[email protected]]