South Korea's parliament expected to vote down Yoon's impeachment motion

Seoul (The Uttam Hindu): South Korea's parliament is expected to vote down President Yoon Suk-yeol's impeachment motion on lack of quorum, TV footage showed Saturday.

After voting against the bill to investigate scandals involving Yoon's wife, most of the 108 ruling People Power Party lawmakers left the parliamentary hall except three. One ruling party lawmaker remained in the hall and two came back after leaving, Xinhua news agency reported.

Of 300 National Assembly lawmakers, 198 voted for the bill on the special prosecutor investigation of the first lady, with 102 against it. At least two-thirds of the lawmakers need to vote yes to pass the bill.

Lawmakers of the opposition parties, including the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, named the ruling party lawmakers one by one in unison, calling for them to come back and cast ballots.

More than 200 lawmakers are required to vote yes to pass the impeachment motion.

The motion will be scrapped at 00:48 a.m. local time on Sunday as it needs to be voted between 24 hours and 72 hours after being reported to the National Assembly.

The Democratic Party and five other minor parties submitted the impeachment motion over the president's martial law declaration Wednesday.

Yoon declared an emergency martial law Tuesday night before repealing it early Wednesday as the parliament voted against it.