Yoon ducking public eye since botched impeachment vote
Television screens show live footage of an address by President Yoon Suk Yeol at an electronic market in Seoul, Dec. 7. AFP-Yonhap
President Yoon Suk Yeol remained out of the public eye Monday with no planned schedules or releases of official statements after the National Assembly's failed attempt to impeach him over the weekend.
Yoon has not appeared in public since his two-minute public apology aired live Saturday, hours before parliament was set to vote on the impeachment motion over his abrupt martial law declaration earlier last week.
The motion was scrapped due to a lack of quorum required to pass it, as all but three lawmakers of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) boycotted the proceeding. All 192 opposition lawmakers cast their ballots.
A two-thirds majority in the 300-member National Assembly was needed to pass the motion. The main opposition Democratic Party said it will propose an impeachment motion again.
On Sunday, PPP leader Han Dong-hoon and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said they will work together to manage state affairs and prepare for "an orderly and early" resignation of Yoon, an announcement that instantly drew strong criticism from the opposition over the constitutional legitimacy of such a plan.
Yoon has not made any official comments about the announcement.
Yoon has apparently canceled a weekly meeting with the prime minister, originally set for Monday. He will not be presiding over a planned meeting with his top secretaries either.
Since his speech Saturday, Yoon has been staying at the presidential residence, according to sources. He was believed to have watched the impeachment vote result on TV.
With the president effectively in seclusion, the presidential office also appears to be taking a low-key approach, with no messages or statements being released to the media about state affairs or other pending issues.
Many officials at the presidential office also seem to be abandoning their messaging apps or social media accounts and creating new ones, possibly in preparation for ongoing investigations by the prosecution and police.
Yoon declared emergency martial law Tuesday night in a surprise move. He was forced to lift the decree hours after the National Assembly unanimously voted to reject it. (Yonhap)