(Bloomberg) — The leader of South Korea’s ruling party said President Yoon Suk Yeol should be suspended from office quickly, an abrupt shift in stance that makes it more likely an impeachment motion will pass.
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Han Dong-hoon of the People Power Party said Friday that he confirmed from credible evidence that Yoon ordered the arrest of key politicians on the night he declared martial law. Keeping the president in office risks putting the nation’s people in danger, Han said in remarks broadcast live in parliament.
“Considering the newly revealed facts, I believe that a swift suspension of Yoon’s duties is necessary to protect the people of the Republic of Korea,” Han said, explaining why he shifted his position from a day earlier. It is not clear how widely shared his views are within the party.
“I believe that if Yoon continues to serve as the president of the Republic of Korea, there is a high risk that extreme actions such as this emergency martial law will be repeated, and that this will put the Republic of Korea and its people at great risk,” Han added.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said there was no need to worry about the possibility of a second attempt to impose martial law, according to local broadcaster KBS.
The opposition Democratic Party said Friday it has ordered all of its lawmakers to stand by following multiple tips there could be another attempt by Yoon to declare martial law, Yonhap reported. Other details were not immediately available.
Korea’s equity benchmark Kospi was down around 0.3%, having started the day with gains before dropping as far as 1.8%, after media reports of a possible second plan by the president to impose martial law. The won weakened against the dollar as traders digested the reports.
Han’s stark reversal suddenly makes it more likely that Yoon will be impeached in a vote set to occur in the coming days. For the motion to be successful, the opposition Democratic Party — which controls parliament after a big win in April legislative elections — needs only eight of the 108 lawmakers in the PPP to switch sides and vote to remove Yoon.
Han’s faction of the PPP has about 20 lawmakers, and they were among those who joined with the opposition in the early-morning hours of Wednesday to vote down the martial law order.
Yoon Sang-hyun, a five-term lawmaker at the ruling party, said Han’s remarks were not coordinated fully within the party, adding few senior members of the party agreed with him.
“We cannot helplessly hand over the government to Lee Jae-myung’s Democratic Party,” Yoon Sang-hyun said in a Facebook post. “I cannot join the impeachment of the president, not to protect President Yoon, but to protect the system of South Korea, our descendants and the future.”
Opposition leader Lee welcomed Han’s remarks but said it was not clear if they represented a consensus among ruling party members.
“It does sound like he is in favor of impeachment, but we don’t know if he will say he didn’t mean that at some point,” Lee said in parliament shortly after Han’s remarks.
Yoon’s approval rating on Friday fell to 16%, the lowest level since he took office in 2022, according to the latest poll by Gallup Korea. It found that 29% of respondents favored Lee as the next president, while 11% wanted Han to take power.
If the impeachment motion passes, Yoon would be suspended from duty immediately and the prime minister — currently Han Duck-Soo — will serve as interim president. The case would then go to the Constitutional Court to make a final decision, a process that could take several months.
If the court rules in favor of impeachment, an early election would follow soon afterward.
Han’s swift reversal over whether to support Yoon shows the dilemma facing his conservative party: How to distance themselves from the president without giving the opposition a victory.
On Thursday, Han condemned Yoon’s actions while also saying he would oppose impeachment as he thinks about “the hearts of my supporters as a conservative politician.” For many conservatives, it makes more sense to position themselves to win an election down the road rather than triggering an early vote in which they could get battered.
That calculation changed on Friday for Han.
“Now is the time to think only about the Republic of Korea and its people,” he said.
–With assistance from Youkyung Lee, Seyoon Kim and Jaehyun Eom.
(Updates with report of concerns about martial law, markets.)
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