Lawmakers from the ruling People Power Party have faced a barrage of protest text messages after an impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk Yeol was scrapped due to their decision to boycott the vote.

PPP lawmakers have been struggling to deal with an endless stream of text messages, according to local reports, Monday.

Some lawmakers have complained that their batteries don’t last more than two hours without a backup even with fully charged phones. Just before and after the impeachment vote on Saturday, observers reported seeing staff handing out fully charged portable batteries to lawmakers at the national assembly.

This overwhelming influx of messages began in earnest Thursday, when the PPP declared its official stance against impeachment, just two days before the motion was put to a vote on Saturday. On that same day, phone numbers of ruling party lawmakers were widely circulated online, prompting online users to flood them with thousands of text messages.

Posts on social media platforms like X urged citizens to take action, with messages such as, "Let’s start a collective action and send text messages to PPP lawmakers so that they can vote for impeachment.”

Rep. Shin Sung-bum of the People Power Party uploaded a Facebook post on Monday featuring a screenshot of his messaging app that showed "10,501 unread messages," and wrote, "Please understand if I don’t take calls for several days."

Those text messages read, "The Republic of Korea is facing an unprecedented historic moment. What will you do? Will you ignore the will of the public and allow yourself to be impeached alongside Yoon Suk Yeol? Or will you support the impeachment motion and stand proudly before history? The people are watching your decision."

Some key figures from the ruling party have also been targeted with mass text messages, even though they cannot vote on impeachment as they are not lawmakers.

Supreme Council member Kim Jae-won took to Facebook on Sunday, stating, "I, Kim Jae-won, am a Supreme Council member of the PPP but not a National Assembly lawmaker. I don’t have voting rights on the impeachment motion."

"Yet since Saturday, I’ve received thousands of abusive and threatening calls and text messages. Please, I’m asking you to leave me out of this," Kim added.

The ongoing "text bombing," however, has sparked a debate about whether this form is a legitimate expression of democracy.

Korea's largest umbrella labor group, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, stresses that this method is an acceptable and democratic practice.

"Lawmakers are representatives of the people, elected by the people. What problem is there with the public directly conveying their opinions to their representatives?" the KTCU said.

In line with this rationale, the KCTU created a website on Thursday, titled “Text Action to Urge Yoon's Impeachment.” The site features a list of 108 People Power Party lawmakers. By simply clicking on a lawmaker's name, users can automatically send pre-written text messages urging them to support the impeachment motion.

The website, however, was taken down following a request from the Korea Communications Standards Commission. This action was prompted by complaints from People Power Party lawmakers who had received an overwhelming number of text messages urging them to support the impeachment effort.

"The impeachment vote must be conducted through a secret and anonymous ballot, as mandated by the Constitution, allowing lawmakers to make decisions independently. The website was created specifically to sway the impeachment vote Saturday, and we must demand its immediate removal," KCSC Chair Ryu Hee-rim said during a meeting on Friday.

Despite its shutdown, the KCTU continues its campaign, as of Monday, through a post on its official website titled “Join the Action to Urge PPP Lawmakers to Support Yoon’s Impeachment.” The post includes the names and phone numbers of all 108 ruling party lawmakers, encouraging the public to contact them directly.

The ruling party, however, has condemned these actions as illegal and announced plans to pursue legal measures.

"The unauthorized use of lawmakers' personal information, such as their phone numbers, to send mass and coordinated text messages constitutes an unlawful act," an official from the ruling party said. "We will take strong legal action against these illegal activities, including the breach of personal information and obstruction of official duties."