At 21.20 the speaker closed the voting. The crowd fell silent as they watched parliamentary officials sift through the ballots. Some groaned in frustration and some shouted angrily at the screens. The usual chant of “impeachm, impeachm” hung in the air, but seemed to have lost its power.
After what seemed like an eternity, the Speaker announced that the bill had not passed. It did not reach a quorum of 200 votes for counting. In the crowd, a woman screamed in pain and buried her face in her boyfriend’s chest, sobbing.
The leaders of the protest rushed to the stage, this time to rally the mood of the people. “We will not stop until Yoon is punished. People will not accept the existence of PPP. We will fight to the end until Yun is impeached,” one of the speakers promised. “Dear people, will you join us in our fight to remove Yun?”
The crowd roared, “Yes!”
Meanwhile, in the National Assembly, opposition leaders have vowed to bring up the impeachment bill again and again until they get rid of Yoon. The public is on their side: three-quarters of South Koreans want him impeached, according to the latest polls, while Yoon’s approval rating has fallen further to just 13%.
In an attempt to end on a high note, the protest leaders played All I Want for Christmas on the strings. “Don’t forget your belongings and please take your trash with you,” they urged the departing crowd as Mariah Carey’s voice echoed through the quickly emptying avenue.
It won’t be long until that road is covered again. The next round of protests is already scheduled for Sunday.
Additional reporting by Jake Kwon.
