The leader of South Korea’s ruling conservative party, the People Power Party (PPP), reiterated on Friday that he supports the ouster of President Yoon Suk-yeol after his bizarre and alarming decision to impose martial law on the country on Tuesday night.
Yoon is a member of the PPP and the first to win the presidency for the relatively young party. He abruptly announced the imposition of martial law on Tuesday on the grounds that he needed “to protect the Republic of Korea from the threats of North Korean communist forces.” He also claimed that the nation’s legislature the National Assembly, had been infiltrated by “unscrupulous pro-Pyongyang anti-state forces that pillage the freedom and happiness of our people.”
Yoon never offered any concrete evidence of North Korean infiltration of the government, nor did he support his claims that anyone in the current South Korean government was an “unscrupulous pro-Pyongyang anti-state” actor. His martial law decree also collapsed after only a few hours, as National Assembly lawmakers rushed into the legislative chambers to use their constitutional powers to vote against the martial law decree. Political activity under martial law was illegal, so the lawmakers elbowed past throngs of soldiers shutting down the Assembly to pass the vote. Yoon lifted the martial law order shortly after the 1 a.m. National Assembly vote against it.
The president has not at press time addressed the public since his televised address announcing martial law. He has only held meetings with the PPP leadership, which almost immediately condemned the martial law edict. In his silence, the opposition leftist Democratic Party has begun impeachment proceedings in the National Assembly. For the impeachment motion to pass, two-thirds of assemblymen would have to vote in favor, which requires eight PPP lawmakers to vote against their president.
Han Dong-hoon, the leader of the party, met with Yoon on Friday and left the meeting telling reporters that he supported removing Yoon from power immediately.
“Although it would be hard to change the party’s stance on Yoon’s impeachment vote, my opinion is that Yoon should be suspended from duty,” Han said, according to the Korea JoongAng Daily, stating that he “had not heard any remarks to reverse a judgment of suspending Yoon Suk Yeol from presidential duty.”
Prior to the meeting, Han had declared that it was “necessary to promptly suspend President Yoon Suk Yeol from his duties to protect the Republic of Korea and its people,” suggesting that Yoon may again declare martial law or take other “radical actions.”
“Given the newly revealed facts, I believe it is necessary to promptly suspend President Yoon Suk Yeol from his duties to protect the Republic of Korea and its people,” Han proclaimed.
Unsubstantiated rumors triggered some brief panic in the country on Thursday after claiming they had reason to believe Yoon would attempt to impose martial law a second time before the impeachment vote, prompting the South Korean military to deny the claim.
Army Commander Kwak Jong-keun went further and promised the public that, should Yoon give the order, the military would simply ignore it. Kwak also indicated that the military had only half-heartedly obeyed Yoon’s order the first time.
“At the time of martial law, we received orders from former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun to force the people inside the National Assembly building out,” he said during a meeting with Democratic Party legislators. “I judged that dragging out lawmakers was clearly illegal, and so though it would be considered disobedience I did not follow orders.”
Yoon’s Interior Minister Lee Sang-min also appeared to indicate that the military did not act to its full extent to enforce martial law, stating this week, “Frankly speaking, if we had successfully shut down the National Assembly, the vote on the lifting of martial law would not have happened at all.”
“We could have held back the legislators with ease if we had chosen to,” he suggested.
The PPP is reportedly planning a meeting later on Friday to discuss the impeachment vote. At least one PPP assemblyman, Cho Kyoung-tae, has confirmed he would vote in favor of impeachment, meaning the movement needs only even more lawmakers to defect.
Yoon’s party never supported the martial law declaration. In the immediate aftermath of its imposition on Tuesday, Han issued public remarks confirming his party would oppose its president.
“As the ruling party, we feel deeply apologetic to the public for today’s disastrous situation,” Han said at a press conference early Wednesday. “President Yoon should directly explain the disastrous situation and hold those responsible strictly accountable, including the immediate dismissal of the defense minister who proposed the martial law.”
Speaking to lawmakers on Friday, Hong Jang-won, first deputy director of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS), said that Yoon had ordered Han’s arrest during the martial law. Along with the leader of his own party, Yoon reportedly ordered the arrest of the head of the Democrats, Lee Jae-myung, the speaker of the National Assembly, and several other lawmakers.
Hong said that Yoon called him and said he should “take this opportunity to take them all in and get rid of them.”
The National Assembly will vote on impeaching Yoon on Saturday at 5 p.m.
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