South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol has survived an attempt to impeach him following a brief but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to impose martial law on the country earlier in the week.

This was only made possible after reports from within the voting hall just ahead of the vote scheduled for 5 p.m. local time on December 7 revealed that all but one of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) members had walked out of the National Assembly ahead of ballots being cast.

This meant that there were not enough members remaining in the chamber to impeach the president successfully. Under Korean law, 200 of the 300 members of the National Assembly must agree to impeach a president.

In the end, the only PPP member to stay behind was former professor and presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo, who had previously said he would support Yoon's impeachment, although a second PPP politician, Kim Ye-ji, was also reported as re-entering at the last minute to vote.

One more PPP lawmaker then returned while voting was underway, believed to be Kim Sang-wook. Kim had said earlier in the week that he thought it was “inevitable for President Yoon to leave the party or be expelled”, Korean news channel YTN reported. It was revealed later by the BBC that Kim had voted against impeachment.

The casting of ballots was performed in one of five private booths set up at the rear of the main chamber.

The decision by the majority of the PPP members to leave was followed by the Assembly speaker criticising the move as essentially ignoring the will of the Korean people.

Later, during the voting process, he said “The Republic of Korea is a democracy that’s made of people’s blood and tears. Are you not afraid of being judged by history, by the people and by the world?” according to the BBC, adding: “Participate in the voting, that’s how you protect our democracy.”

With the impeachment vote still legally required to go ahead, however, only at 9.30 p.m. local time were the votes finally readied for counting, well over four hours after the first ballot was cast. A few minutes later the BBC reported the Speaker had announced the quorum had not been met and thus the vote itself could not officially take place.

As a result, falling short of said quorum and with it the 200 votes needed to impeach President Yoon, it is believed that fresh impeachment proceedings, should they follow, will have to be delayed until December 11; the earliest date the DPK can legally initiate a second impeachment vote.

Even if this does happen there is no guarantee that PPP members will not merely repeat their boycott technique.

Meanwhile, outside the Assembly building tens of thousands of South Koreans had been protesting all day ahead of the vote. The numbers surged significantly as the evening went on but started to go down once the lack of a quorum was made known.

There is now a very real danger that the mood could turn sour and protests could turn violent – a common result when Korean political shenanigans are played out.

Thousands listened as the names of all the PPP members who left the chamber to boycott the vote were read out. The cry of ‘traitors’ was reportedly heard again and again from outside the chamber as it had been from inside when the BBC reported that DPK and other lawmakers were shouting “Traitors, go back in” as PPP members left.

Security services in the South Korean capital will now be on edge overnight and every day until December 11 as tens of thousands continue protesting. And with the nation’s largest union, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions saying it will remain on indefinite strike until the president is removed from office, significant economic repercussions are expected on December 9 when the market opens again.