Ruling party lawmakers walked out of the plenary hall of the National Assembly ahead of the vote on Saturday to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol, except for Reps. Ahn Cheol-soo. He was later joined by other PPP lawmakers Rep. Kim Yea-ji and Rep. Kim Sang-wook, who returned to take part in the vote.

This makes it unlikely that Yoon will be impeached, as the motion requires a two-thirds majority to pass and needs support from at least eight lawmakers from the ruling People Power Party.

Amid mounting calls for his resignation since he invoked martial law earlier this week and reversed it a few hours later, President Yoon on Saturday morning apologized and said he would leave the fate of his presidency in the hands of the ruling party.

Ahead of the vote, National Assembly Speaker Woo won-shik called out the names of the 108 ruling party lawmakers, all of whom had walked out of the plenary hall, except for the three members.

However, the assembly speaker held off from closing the booths, calling on PPP lawmakers to return to the plenary hall to vote.

The voting will automatically close shortly after midnight, as 72 hours will have passed since the introduction of the impeachment bill.