As South Korean lawmakers tried to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol for declaring martial law, ruling party lawmakers marched out of the chamber to thwart the effort – except for Ahn Cheol-soo.
Ahn – a self-made multi-millionaire, trained doctor and software designer – sat alone in his party’s bank of chairs in the National Assembly debating hall, one of just two members of the ruling People’s Power Party voting to remove Yoon. Had done. Office.
Despite thousands of protesters outside demanding the leader’s removal after troops in helicopters were sent into parliament to overturn civilian rule, the impeachment motion failed as it did not meet quorum.
A few days earlier, MLAs from both parties had come together, jumping over fences, blocking doors with office furniture, and battling special forces soldiers as they raced to vote under the martial law declaration. Were staying.
But the ruling party then stopped short, saying Yun had promised to resign and hand power over to the prime minister and party chief, in what the opposition called an unconstitutional power grab and a “second coup.”
Ahn said that when he tried to argue with other lawmakers at a party meeting that the president needed to be held accountable, he was insulted and shoved.
“The idea that the president responsible for upholding the constitution of the world’s 10th-largest economy would stage an unconstitutional coup is beyond imagination,” Ahn told AFP in his parliamentary office opposite the National Assembly on Monday.
“Who would have thought that he would do such an unconstitutional thing as president?”
Always unpopular, Yun’s approval rating has hit a record low of just 11 percent, a Gallup poll showed on Monday, and more mass protests are expected this coming weekend, when the opposition again seeks impeachment. Will try to bring.
Ahn told AFP that a “sense of duty” to maintain constitutional order outweighed him as he considered how he should vote.
“I have always believed that my role in politics is to represent the will of the people, not my personal interests. That’s why I stopped by to cast my vote.”
“I didn’t vote for the opposition party. I voted for the people”
presidential candidate
Ahn himself had ambitions to become president: he ran in the elections in 2022, but just a week before the election he dropped out and endorsed Yoon, his support proving crucial in the closely contested election, which Yoon won in South Korea. Won by the smallest margin. History.
His party merged with the PPP, but Ahn now finds himself at odds with his parliamentary colleagues, who are officially demanding an “orderly exit” for Yun – but in reality, experts say, They are trying to buy time before the elections. There is a possibility of losing.
The PPP blocked impeachment, saying Yun had agreed to step down at an unspecified point in the future, while the country would be run by the prime minister and party chief in the interim.
But Ahaan says this is inadequate.
“I had expected Yoon to announce when and how he would resign and detail plans to form a joint governing body with the ruling and opposition parties,” he told AFP.
“Instead, they handed over everything to the ruling party,” he said.
Without a clear roadmap from the president or his party, “I concluded that I had no choice but to support impeachment.”
Ahn said he would vote for impeachment again.
“As per the Constitution, every MP is a constitutional agent. Voting according to one’s conscience, even if it goes against the official stand of the party, is preferred.”
Yoon has lost the confidence of not only the South Korean public but also international allies, making him “unable to continue his duties as president,” Ahn said.
“He will have to explain personally when and how he wants to resign.”
household name
Ahn is a household name in South Korea and was widely known even before he entered politics with his first presidential bid in 2012.
As a medical student in the 1980s, he wrote a program to remove a virus from his computer and pursued parallel careers as a software developer, doctor, and professor.
In 1995, he founded AhnLab, now South Korea’s largest antivirus software company, with a market capitalization of approximately $635 million.
He has contested elections as a presidential candidate several times, but his bid in 2022 has proved to be the most impressive.
Six days before the election, he endorsed Yoon – a move seen by analysts as crucial to Yoon’s extremely narrow victory margin of less than one percent.
Ahn said, if he had known then what he knows now, he would not have done it.
“Not just me – other people would have been unable to vote for him if we knew this information.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)