South Korea’s governing party leader calls for suspension of Yoon’s powers

In a closed-door briefing to the chair of the National Assembly’s intelligence committee on Friday, a top official with the South Korean spy agency said Yoon had demanded the arrest of several high-profile legislators, including Han and Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myun, state-funded Yonhap News Agency reported.

Hong Jang-won, first deputy director of the National Intelligence Service, said Yoon had demanded in a late-night phone call that he “get rid of them”, Yonhap reported.

The presidential office denied that Yoon, who has not been seen in public since issuing his martial law decree, had given any such order.

South Korea was placed under martial law for about six hours on Tuesday night after Yoon announced the move in a surprise televised address to the nation in which he cited threats from “anti-state forces” and North Korean sympathisers.

The National Assembly quickly mobilised to overturn Yoon’s order, which evoked painful memories of dictatorial rule under Presidents Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan, in a 190-0 vote.

Yoon lifted the order at about 4am, but not before troops had descended on the National Assembly and scuffled with legislators and protesters.

As well as facing impeachment, Yoon is currently under investigation for treason alongside resigned Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, Army Chief of Staff General Park An-su and Interior Minister Lee Sang-min, according to local media reports.

The call from Han, who is the justice minister and one of Yoon’s top rivals in the PPP, marks a decisive shift in the governing party’s response to the crisis.

The opposition Democratic Party has called for a vote on Saturday night to impeach Yoon, but it needs at least eight votes from the governing party to reach the necessary two-thirds threshold in the 300-member National Assembly.

If the motion is successful, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo will assume presidential responsibilities while the Constitutional Court of Korea deliberates whether to confirm Yoon’s removal from office or restore his powers.

Normally, at least six of the court’s nine justices must confirm an impeachment motion. But since the court currently has three vacancies, a unanimous ruling will be needed to remove Yoon from power.

Until now, the PPP had indicated it would oppose Yoon’s impeachment, with some analysts suggesting that legislators feared backlash for going against their own party, as occurred following the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye in 2016.

Park was later sentenced to 20 years in prison for corruption before she was pardoned.

Not including Yoon, four of South Korea’s seven presidents have either been impeached or jailed for corruption since the country’s transition to democracy in the late 1980s.

Tens of thousands of South Koreans are expected to gather on Saturday to demand Yoon step down or be removed from power.

In a Gallup Korea poll released on Friday, Yoon’s approval rating stood at just 13 percent, down from 19 percent before his martial law declaration.