South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is facing a growing number of calls for impeachment on the National Assembly’s public petition website – Korea Times.
The petition calling for the Assembly to introduce a bill to impeach Yoon has already received 695,595 approvals, just seven days after it received 230,000 approvals on 23 June. The popularity of the petition was as high as 7,000 people trying to access the website simultaneously, causing access delays of 20 minutes to more than an hour.
The petition gained 680,000 approvals in just 10 days, and it was already passed over to the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, which is headed by (DPK’s) Rep. Jung Chung-rae. The committee will review whether this will be tabled at an Assembly plenary session, DPK Rep. Choi Min-hee said in a post on Facebook.
The National Assembly Committee has to review a petition that receives more than 50,000 endorsements within 30 days of posting on the website, so on 24 June the petition passed to the Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee.
South Korea has faced a controversial situation in the country since the inauguration of President Yoon, according to the report first published on 20 June. The major subjects as grievances include growing tensions between between Seoul and Pyongyang, Yoon’s veto of special prosecutors’ investigations into major political suspicions, and the deteriorating economic situation.
Yoon broke laws and his duties by influencing a military investigation into the death of the Marine, particularly highlighted are accusations against First Lady Kim Keon Hee and her controversial acceptance of a luxury handbag from a pastor, increasing the risks of war with North Korea. Other allegations include using pro-Japanese resolutions on forced labour and permitting Tokyo to discharge wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), which has a majority in the Assembly and controls the Law and Justice Committee, has taken a cautious stance on the impeachment call. DPK spokesperson Rep. Kang Yu-jung told reporters:
We know that there should be an answer soon, but we are not looking into this as an official agenda. As soon as we speak about impeachment, it becomes an actionable agenda, so we are not currently focusing on or responding to that issue.
Rep. Hwang Un-ha, floor leader of the minor opposition Rebuilding Korea Party, stated the public felt shocked when South Korean president claimed the crowd in Itaewon in 2022 was manipulated or a conspiracy. Back then, the stampede killed 159 people during a Halloween celebration. To top it all off, Jin Soo-hee, a former lawmaker of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), said the then head of the Yeouido Institute dismissed after Yoon took umbrage with the institute’s report that suggested replacing the minister. Kim Yong-tae, the head of the Yeouido Institute at the time, denied the allegation.
The public outcry is massive and the petition will soon secure more than one million approvals, and potentially reaching ten million in the near future, Hwang Un-ha stated.
