North Korea remains silent about South Korea President impeachment

Seoul (The Uttam Hindu): North Korea's state media on Sunday kept mum about South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment, marking a contrast from its swift reporting of the 2016 impeachment of then President Park Geun-hye.

The National Assembly passed an impeachment motion against Yoon on Saturday over his botched imposition of martial law on December 3, suspending his duties as president.

As of 9 a.m., none of the North's state media, including the Rodong Sinmun, the North's main newspaper, and the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), had published any reports on Yoon's impeachment.

When Park was impeached on December 9, 2016, North Korea's propaganda outlet Uriminzokkiri reported on it just four hours after the National Assembly passed an impeachment motion against Park. The website also carried a KCNA article on her impeachment later that night, Yonhap news agency reported.

The apparent silence on Yoon's impeachment suggests that North Korea could be distancing itself from the South in line with its declaration of inter-Korean ties as those between two 'hostile' states.

North Korean media also remained tight-lipped over Yoon's declaration of martial law earlier this month for about a week before reporting on it on December 11.

The impeachment motion against Yoon passed 204-85 on Saturday, with three abstentions and eight invalid ballots, after all 300 members of the Assembly cast their votes.

The motion's passage came 11 days after Yoon declared martial law in an announcement that caught the nation by surprise and drew outrage, as troops encircled the National Assembly compound in an apparent attempt to stop lawmakers from repealing the decree.

The martial law order, which was lifted within six hours after the Assembly voted it down, has prompted investigations by the police, the prosecution and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials into whether Yoon staged an insurrection. He is currently banned from leaving the country.

In a televised address from his residence, Yoon said he is 'pausing momentarily' but will not stop the journey he began with the people toward the future.

"I will never give up," he said. "I will embrace all the censure, encouragement and support directed at me and do my best for the nation until the end."