Impeachment of South Korean president fails after ruling party MPs boycott vote
Ahn Cheol-soo is the only People Power Party politician who remains in the voting chamber. (Reuters: Jeon Heon-Kyun)
South Korea's parliament has failed to pass a motion to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol after he suddenly declared martial law on Tuesday night.
The opposition needed eight members of the president's party to vote against him for the motion to pass.
But, in a meeting this afternoon, the ruling People Power Party (PPP) confirmed its decision to oppose it, despite enormous peaceful demonstrations outside the parliament.
Most ruling party members then boycotted the vote.
"With a total of 195 votes, the number of members who voted did not reach the required two-thirds majority of the total members," National Assembly speaker Woo Won-shik said.
"Therefore, I declare that the vote on this matter is not valid."
The impeachment motion required the support of 200 members of parliament.
The speaker allowed the vote to remain open in the parliament for around three hours but has just called it off.
Despite boycotting the motion, the ruling party leader Han Dong-hoon said Mr Yoon cannot remain president, adding his "early resignation is unavoidable".
Late on Tuesday night, President Yoon declared martial law without warning, citing anti-state and pro-North Korean forces, but provided no evidence of any conspiracy.
He lifted it six hours later after the opposition-controlled parliament voted to block it.
Ahead of the vote, the opposition party vowed that if it failed, it would keep trying to impeach the president.
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