SOUTH KOREA’S RULING party chief has demanded that President Yoon Suk Yeol stand down over his martial law attempt, warning he posed a great danger to the country.
The stunning comments from Han Dong-hoon, the head of Yoon’s People Power Party, almost guarantees enough lawmakers will vote to impeach the president on Saturday.
Han’s comments were a U-turn from Thursday, when he said he would block the impeachment, and another party leader insisted all 108 members of the PPP would unite to support Yoon in Saturday’s vote.
But Han said Friday that Yoon’s refusal to acknowledge he had done anything wrong in declaring martial law on Tuesday night had prompted his change of position.
“Considering the newly emerging facts, I believe that a swift suspension of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s duties is necessary to safeguard the Republic of Korea and its people,” Han said.
Han said Yoon had not taken any personnel actions against military officials who had “illegally intervened”.
“Furthermore, he does not acknowledge that this illegal martial law is wrong,” he said.
“Therefore, if President Yoon continues to hold the office of the presidency, there is a significant risk that extreme actions similar to the current state of emergency could be repeated, which could put the Republic of Korea and its citizens in great danger.”
Yoon suspended civilian rule late Tuesday and deployed troops and helicopters to parliament only for lawmakers to vote down the measure and force him into a U-turn in a night of protests and drama.
Seoul’s allies were alarmed — Washington said it found out via television — and the opposition quickly filed an impeachment motion saying Yoon “gravely violated the constitution and the law”. A vote is set for Saturday at around 7:00 pm (1000 GMT).
The opposition holds a large majority in the 300-member legislature and requires only a handful of defections from the PPP to secure the two-thirds majority needed for impeachment.
According to a poll issued Thursday by Realmeter, 73.6 percent of respondents supported the impeachment.
Thousands of protesters continued to rally in central Seoul and near the parliament on Thursday evening demanding the president step down.
If the impeachment motion passes, Yoon will be suspended pending a verdict by the Constitutional Court. If the judges give the nod, Yoon will be impeached and new elections must take place within 60 days.
Yoon, who has lurched from crisis to crisis since taking office in 2022, has not been seen in public since his televised address in the early hours of Wednesday.
On Thursday, his office said that Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun had resigned, but other key allies, including Interior Minister Lee Sang-min, remain in office.
Prosecutors have also banned Kim from leaving the country, Yonhap news agency reported.
Lawmakers on Thursday grilled senior figures, including army chief of staff General Park An-su, who acted as Yoon’s martial law commander.
Park said he was kept in the dark until after the president had announced the imposition of martial law on live television late Tuesday.
It was the first such declaration in more than four decades in South Korea and brought back painful memories of its autocratic past.
The move was to “safeguard a liberal South Korea from the threats posed by North Korea’s communist forces and to eliminate anti-state elements plundering people’s freedom and happiness,” Yoon said.
Security forces sealed the National Assembly, helicopters landed on the roof and almost 300 soldiers tried to lock down the building.
But as parliamentary staffers blocked the soldiers with sofas and fire extinguishers. Enough MPs got inside and voted down Yoon’s move.
Lawmakers formally presented the impeachment motion in the early hours of Thursday, saying Yoon’s decision to impose martial law was intended to “evade imminent investigations… into alleged illegal acts involving himself and his family”.
“This is an unforgivable crime — one that cannot, should not and will not be pardoned,” MP Kim Seung-won said.
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