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The leader of South Korea’s ruling party has called for President Yoon Suk Yeol to step down immediately, citing “significant risks” that Yoon could be planning a second attempt to impose martial law on the east Asian country.
Han Dong-hoon, Yoon’s former political protégé and leader of the president’s conservative People Power party, said on Friday that he had received intelligence that Yoon had ordered troops to arrest prominent politicians during his botched attempt to introduce martial law this week.
“I am worried that Yoon could potentially put the Republic of Korea and its citizens in great danger if he is allowed to continue to serve as the president, as he poses a significant risk of extreme actions, like reattempting to impose martial law,” Han said in a televised meeting with high-ranking party officials in parliament.
His comments increased expectations that some of his party’s lawmakers would support the opposition’s impeachment motion. Lawmakers are expected to vote on Saturday.
The country’s constitution requires a two-thirds majority in the 300-seat National Assembly for the impeachment vote to be passed. At least eight members of the ruling PPP need to support the motion along with the country’s six opposition parties, which hold 192 seats in the National Assembly.
Han had previously pledged to support Yoon in the impeachment vote but said he changed his stance amid new reports that agents from the Defense Counterintelligence Command had been mobilised to detain lawmakers at the National Assembly on Tuesday night.
“Given the new facts emerging, I think Yoon’s presidential duties need to be suspended as soon as possible to protect the nation and the public,” Han added.
Yoon’s martial law decree on Tuesday night and his subsequent climbdown has thrown the country into political turmoil, sparking calls for his impeachment.
The country’s labour unions and civic groups plan to hold a rally in Seoul on Saturday to put pressure on lawmakers to support Yoon’s impeachment.
The ruling party will hold an emergency meeting on Friday morning to discuss its position on Yoon’s impeachment motion again, and the main opposition Democratic party said it might adjust the timing of the impeachment vote after the ruling party’s meeting.
“Yoon will definitely be impeached now that Han and his aides are allying with opposition parties to remove the president,” said Shin Yul, a politics professor at Myongji University. “What Yoon did looks like a self-coup. It will be difficult for the Constitutional Court to reject his impeachment, given the emerging numerous evidence against him.”