SEOUL - South Korea’s main opposition Democratic Party said it would not give up its attempt to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol after losing a parliamentary vote late on Saturday.
But Yoon’s People Power Party said it would find a “more orderly, responsible” way to resolve the crisis than impeaching the president.
Yoon survived an impeachment motion that was prompted by his short-lived attempt to impose martial law this week, after members of his party boycotted the vote.
Only 195 votes were cast, below the threshold of 200 needed for the vote to count.
“The entire nation is watching the decision being made here at the National Assembly today. The world is watching,” National Assembly speaker Woo Won-shik said with a sigh. “It’s very unfortunate that there wasn’t even a vote.”
The Democratic Party said earlier that it would revive the impeachment motion next week if it failed on Saturday.
Yoon shocked the nation late on Tuesday when he gave the military sweeping emergency powers in order to root out what he called “anti-state forces” and overcome obstructionist political opponents. He later rescinded the order after the National Assembly declared it invalid.
Members of the People Power Party decided on Saturday to oppose the impeachment vote, as well as an investigation into the first lady.
They then streamed out of the main chamber of the National Assembly, a live video feed showed, even as tens of thousands of protesters gathered outside the building demanding that Yoon step down.
Opposition parties needed just a handful of votes from Yoon’s party to pass the impeachment bill.
The opposition has a majority in the 300-seat assembly but an impeachment motion requires a two-thirds majority, or 200 votes, to pass.
Han Dong-hoon, the leader of the People Power Party, on Friday called for President Yoon to be suspended, saying the risk of him remaining in office was too high.
A faction loyal to Han is said to include about 20 lawmakers, and they were among those who joined with the opposition in the early hours of Wednesday to vote down the martial law order. However, it appears they chose not to stay in the chamber to back the impeachment motion on Saturday.
The assembly also rejected a bill proposing a special investigation into first lady Kim Keon Hee, who has faced numerous allegations, including accepting gifts such as a Christian Dior handbag from a pastor and manipulating shares.
Last month Yoon said the allegations were false, accusing critics of “demonising my wife”.
Yoon apologised on Saturday morning but stopped short of resigning. In a nationally televised speech that lasted just over two minutes, said he was deeply sorry for causing anxiety and discomfort, and bowed his head before the cameras.
The speech was Yoon’s first appearance in public since Wednesday morning, when he succumbed to public pressure to rescind his order.
The brief period the country lived under martial law harked back to painful memories of the dictatorships in the 1980s, making Yoon even more unpopular with South Koreans and isolating him from his own party.
A person watches South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol delivering an address to the nation, at a railway station in Seoul on Saturday. (Photo: Reuters)