South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was still holding on to power, with his party announcing they would oppose an opposition impeachment motion after his stunning but brief imposition of martial law.
Seoul: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was still holding on to power Thursday, with his party announcing they will oppose an opposition impeachment motion after his stunning but brief imposition of martial law.
Yoon suspended civilian rule late Tuesday and deployed troops and helicopters to parliament, but lawmakers voted down the measure, forcing 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 on Wednesday, the opposition filed an impeachment motion saying Yoon “gravely violated the constitution and the law.”
Yonhap reported that the opposition aims to bring the bill to a vote on Saturday.
They hold a large majority in the 300-member legislature and need only a handful of defections from Yoon’s People Power Party (PPP) to secure the two-thirds majority required to pass.
However, on Thursday, the PPP leader said he would block the impeachment motion while asking Yoon to leave the party.
Han Dong-hoon told the press that his party was “not trying to defend the president’s unconstitutional martial law.”
All 108 lawmakers of the People Power Party will remain united against the president’s impeachment, People Power Party’s floor leader Choo Kyung-ho said.
If the 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 occur within 60 days.
