With one more ruling People Power Party lawmaker required to vote in favor of Saturday’s impeachment vote to pass, Rep. Bae Hyun-jin of the ruling bloc appears likely to become the eighth legislator to back the second impeachment vote against President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Bae shared her decision to cast a vote in the second impeachment attempt in a social media post on Tuesday, in a reversal after joining the ruling party's organized boycott of the vote on Dec. 7.
The young lawmaker did not reveal whether her vote would be in favor or against the impeachment, but she has shown signs of taking a different stance from ruling party lawmakers who have been branded as the “pro-Yoon faction.”
Prior to the election of the new floor leader of People Power Party on Thursday – five days after Rep. Choo Kyung-ho stepped down from the position – Rep. Na Kyung-won told reporters that many senior lawmakers felt that Rep. Kweon Seong-dong was the appropriate individual to lead the party in a dire situation.
Kweon is a pro-Yoon figure.
But Bae shared a different stance.
“That is the seniors’ decision. But, we are not the ‘Senior’ Power Party,” the 41-year-old legislator said.
“Many ruling party members feel that the previous group boycott was the wrong move. We did not cast our vote to follow the party’s stance last time. But another boycott for the sake of our party will not happen again,” Bae said in a meeting with reporters before heading to an Assembly meeting on Thursday.
With People Power Party Chair Han Dong-hoon calling for the president to be impeached and expelled from the party after Yoon’s prerecorded speech on Thursday, Bae -- considered a pro-Han faction lawmaker -- appears likely to support impeachment.
So far, seven ruling party legislators -- Rep. Kim Sang-wook, Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, Rep. Kim Yea-ji, Rep. Cho Kyung-tae, Rep. Kim Jae-sub, Rep. Jin Jong-oh and Rep. Han Ji-ah -- have publicly said they will vote in favor of the upcoming impeachment motion.
The impeachment bill requires the support of at least two-thirds of the 300-member Assembly in order to be passed along to the Constitutional Court, which has the authority to finalize the impeachment. With opposition parties, including the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, holding a combined 192 seats in the Assembly, at least eight lawmakers from People Power Party would have to vote in favor of the impeachment motion.
