Liberals hit for lack of strategy compared to 2016 as first attempt to impeach Yoon dies on arrival
Published: 09 Dec. 2024, 17:53
Updated: 09 Dec. 2024, 18:24
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- LEE SOO-JUNG
- [email protected]
Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI
![Democratic Party lawmakers leave the main chamber of the National Assembly in western Seoul after an impeachment motion to oust President Yoon Suk Yeol failed Saturday. [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/12/09/7e0dc6b0-60df-4a3c-bbe6-e47b83f342c0.jpg)
Democratic Party lawmakers leave the main chamber of the National Assembly in western Seoul after an impeachment motion to oust President Yoon Suk Yeol failed Saturday. [NEWS1]
The liberal Democratic Party’s failed attempt to pass an impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk Yeol has fueled criticism that liberal opposition parties lack strategy and patience.
This comes after a parliamentary vote that could have impeached Yoon if the DP had obtained just eight votes from the conservative People Power Party (PPP), aligned with Yoon. However, the effort failed after PPP lawmakers boycotted, ensuring the 200-vote quorum wasn't reached.
The scene on Saturday was strikingly different from the one in 2016 when parliament impeached former President Park Geun-hye. Eight years ago, around 62 lawmakers from Park’s conservative Saenuri Party, the predecessor of the PPP, voted against Park.
Korea’s Constitution stipulates that 200 votes from the National Assembly are necessary to impeach the president.
The composition of the current 22nd National Assembly better favors the liberal DP's effort to impeach the conservative party-backed president than in 2016.
The DP holds 170 out of 300 seats, while its splinter, the Rebuilding Korea Party, occupies 12 seats. The PPP only has 108 seats.
In 2016, the Saenuri Party held 122 seats, while the conservative People's Party had 38 seats, giving right-of-center parties more leverage to deter Park's impeachment.
However, the National Assembly impeached Park on Dec. 9, 2016, with 234 lawmakers voting aye. In March 2017, the Constitutional Court dismissed Park from office, upholding the National Assembly’s impeachment.
![Protesters call for the passage of the impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk Yeol in front of the National Assembly in western Seoul on Saturday. [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/12/09/462fb0e1-0dde-4031-9185-777ef5111825.jpg)
Protesters call for the passage of the impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk Yeol in front of the National Assembly in western Seoul on Saturday. [NEWS1]
Despite a current parliamentary landscape favorable to the liberal opposition, the DP’s hopes that at least some PPP lawmakers would vote in favor of Yoon’s impeachment were dashed.
Some DP figures criticized the party's floor leadership as “complacent” after Yoon narrowly avoided the parliamentary impeachment due to the PPP’s boycott.
Former and incumbent politicians from the DP who successfully led the impeachment against Park shared their frustration over Saturday’s failed attempt. They attributed the failure to the party’s hasty move of “pushing the impeachment before the narrative develops.”
Ex-DP floor leader Woo Sang-ho stressed that developing a context for impeachment is critical. He said an impeachment agenda differs from other political contentious matters.
“The impeachment motion against Yoon should have been submitted after securing at least 10 votes endorsing impeachment from the PPP,” Woo said. He recalled meeting various lawmakers from the Saenuri Party in 2016 to ensure a quorum for the impeachment motion was met before the voting.
Another former lawmaker from the Saenuri Party who spoke on condition of anonymity said Woo had persuaded him a lot, and they dined out at Woo’s request.
North Jeolla Gov. Kim Kwan-Young, then-floor leader of the People’s Party, said he put much effort into persuading Saenuri Party lawmakers to vote in favor of impeachment. Kim’s party submitted the impeachment motion along with the DP and the Justice Party.
Kim said then-lawmakers postponed submitting the impeachment motion against Park a week after some Saenuri Party lawmakers requested extra time to contemplate. In 2016, parliamentarians voted on the impeachment motion on Dec. 9, a week later than the initially scheduled date of Dec. 2.
![President Yoon Suk Yeol bows after giving a public address at the Yongsan presidential office in central Seoul on Saturday. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/12/09/06e9ee94-1462-4728-96aa-3b6e853d2341.jpg)
President Yoon Suk Yeol bows after giving a public address at the Yongsan presidential office in central Seoul on Saturday. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]
Gov. Kim stressed that public opinion and multifaceted pressure are crucial in impeaching the president.
He said a parliamentary audit and concurrent prosecutorial investigation — which began in November of 2016 — convinced the public of the need to impeach Park.
“It appears that the recent impeachment attempt lacked an opportunity to develop public opinion as the motion was filed right after the martial law incident,” Kim said.
“Public opinion should also pressure PPP lawmakers to earn support from those lawmakers,” Kim said. “PPP lawmakers need time to listen and understand various public opinions from their governing districts.”
Another incumbent DP lawmaker said, “It's questionable whether pushing the second impeachment motion would be the right move.” The DP’s leadership said it will submit another impeachment motion on Wednesday.
The lawmaker said a unilateral “push for impeachment by force or might could prompt the PPP to unite.”
The seemingly immature attitude of some DP lawmakers may also be discouraging PPP lawmakers from joining the impeachment.
During a plenary session on Saturday, some DP lawmakers jeered PPP colleagues by labeling them “traitors” or “Yoon’s sympathizers.”
![Former National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun presents a motion to impeach then-President Park Geun-hye at the National Assembly on Dec. 9, 2016. [JOONGANG PHOTO]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/12/09/5ba4d4ed-1093-497c-8b69-623e3b86a557.jpg)
Former National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun presents a motion to impeach then-President Park Geun-hye at the National Assembly on Dec. 9, 2016. [JOONGANG PHOTO]
“What matters the most is support from the PPP, but blaming PPP lawmakers could sway them away from voting against Yoon,” a former DP lawmaker said.
In a book titled “Democratic Party 1999-2024,” Woo wrote he asked his party members “not to applaud or show shallow attitudes when Park’s impeachment motion was passed as people endorsing Park were also Korea's sovereigns.”
The other anonymous source from the opposition called for a “sophisticated strategy.”
“The scene of liberal lawmakers calling out the names of PPP lawmakers after the quorum was unmet showed that the party lacked strategies,” the source said. “Simply shouting out 'impeachment' is not desirable.”
![Lee Jung-hyun, leader of the conservative Saenuri Party and his colleagues sit at the National Assembly during a plenary session when an impeachment motion to oust then-President Park Geun-hye was introduced on Dec. 9 in 2016. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/12/09/32d83233-e9e8-4078-a56d-1f1e82ed5c2c.jpg)
Lee Jung-hyun, leader of the conservative Saenuri Party and his colleagues sit at the National Assembly during a plenary session when an impeachment motion to oust then-President Park Geun-hye was introduced on Dec. 9 in 2016. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]
BY YU SUNG-UN, LEE SOO-JUNG [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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