A new vote on the impeachment process can be held as early as Wednesday, reports BBC.
Tumultuous scenes unfolded when a large number of members from PPP, South Korea's ruling party, left the national assembly. This happened ahead of a vote on whether to put the president on trial in light of his declaration of a state of emergency with accompanying martial law earlier in the week.
Traitors, go back in, chanted opposition parliamentarians to the PPP members.
Afraid of being judged?
The speaker was also angry.
This is to ignore the people's will, he said.
A little later, he appealed to the PPP representatives to come back.
South Korea is a democracy built on people's blood and tears. Are you not afraid of being judged by history, by the people, and the world, he asked.
One member from the party stayed, and a little later, three more came back. However, to get the impeachment process through, the support of eight PPP members was needed. This is because a two-thirds majority, 200 of the 300 members, is required to initiate an impeachment process against a president.
The opposition, which has the majority in parliament, holds 192 seats.
Chanted demands
Outside the parliament, hundreds of thousands of demonstrating activists urged the president-loyal members to go back into the chamber. They also shouted demands for President Yoon to be arrested and put on trial, reports TT's correspondent.
Just hours before the vote, conservative Yoon Suk-Yeol gave a speech to the nation, apologizing for declaring a state of emergency with accompanying martial law on Tuesday. This was due to the liberal opposition paralyzing the government's work.
Since then, repeated demands for his resignation have been made.
South Korea's President Yoon Suk-Yeol, who belongs to the conservative People's Party (PPP), introduced a state of emergency on the evening of December 3 to protect the country from "communist forces".
During the night against December 4, the parliament, with the Democratic Party (DP) in the majority, voted to repeal the martial law, and the state of emergency was declared invalid.
President Yoon Suk-Yeol later announced in a televised speech that he would lift the state of emergency, which lasted for about six hours in total.
The opposition wants the president to be put on trial, and the country's largest trade union has called for a general strike until he resigns.
