South Koreans may be in danger if Yoon Suk Yeol stays: PPP chief
The leader of South Korea’s ruling party called on President Yoon Suk-yeol to “suspend his duties as soon as possible” and said citizens may face “great danger” if he continues to be in power.
People’s Power Party (PPP) leader Han Dong-hoon added that the party had received “credible evidence” that Yoon ordered the arrest of key politicians on “anti-state charges” when he declared martial law on Tuesday night.
His comments at an emergency party meeting on Friday were a departure from his previous position that his party would block an impeachment motion tabled by the opposition on Wednesday.
The opposition needs at least eight ruling party MPs to support the impeachment motion for it to succeed.
On Tuesday night, Mr Yoon shocked the country by declaring emergency martial law, citing threats from “anti-national forces” and North Korea.
But it soon became apparent that his actions were motivated not by external threats but by his own domestic political troubles.
The order was abruptly overturned hours later after 190 MPs managed to get into parliament and vote no, some climbing fences and breaking through barricades to enter the chamber.
Han expressed concern on Friday that if Yoon remains in office, “extreme actions” such as declaring martial law may be repeated.
“(These) put the Republic of Korea and its people at great risk,” he said.
He added that his party had been informed of plans to hold arrested opposition politicians in a detention center in Gwacheon, a city south of Seoul.
His comments were the first clear indication that the president’s own party may now join the opposition in voting to help impeach him.
Opposition lawmakers fear there will be another attempt to impose martial law. Some of them told the BBC earlier that they had been staying close to the National Assembly grounds so that they could get there quickly to vote down any such declaration.
Meanwhile, ruling party lawmaker Cho Kyung-tae became the first ruling party lawmaker to publicly support Yoon’s impeachment.
“Whether to choose to suspend the presidency and stand by the people or become an ally of the forces that impose martial law is a choice that politicians should make,” Cao said on Friday.
“I hope that all politicians in people’s power will stand on the side of the people,” he added.
There have been more than two days of street protests in the capital, Seoul, calling for Mr Yoon to resign, while police said he was being investigated for “rebellion”.
According to South Korean media reports, people also sent a large number of text messages to Kuomintang lawmakers urging them to vote for Yoon’s impeachment.
According to Chosun Ilbo, one lawmaker, Shin Sung-bum, received more than 4,000 such messages on Facebook.
A survey by local pollster Realmeter on Thursday showed that more than 7 in 10 South Koreans support impeachment.
An impeachment motion requires 200 votes to pass. The opposition party has 192 seats and needs at least eight of the 108 ruling party MPs to support its motion to pass.
Before trying to bring the country under military rule, Yoon had been dogged by low approval ratings, corruption allegations and an opposition-led legislature that reduced him to a lame-duck leader.
Additional reporting by Hosu Lee in Seoul and Fan Wang in Singapore
