The leader of South Korea's ruling conservative People's Power Party (PPP) said on Friday that he supports the ouster of President Yun Seok-yeol, who made the bizarre and worrying decision to impose martial law in the country on Tuesday night. He stated it again.
Yun is a member of the PPP and was the first member of a relatively young party to be elected president. On Tuesday, he abruptly announced the imposition of martial law, citing the need to “protect the Republic of Korea from the threat of North Korean communist forces.” He also claimed that the National Assembly, the country's legislative body, has been infiltrated by “unscrupulous pro-North Korea anti-national forces that plunder the freedom and happiness of the people.”
Yoon offered no concrete evidence of North Korean infiltration of the government and did not support his claim that anyone in the current South Korean government is an “unscrupulous pro-North Korean and anti-national” actor. . His martial law order collapsed within hours as members of Congress stormed into the legislative chamber to exercise their constitutional authority and vote against martial law. Because political activity was illegal under martial law, lawmakers elbowed their way through a crowd of soldiers trying to shut down Congress to vote. Yun lifted martial law immediately after the Diet voted against it at 1 a.m.
As of press time, the president has not addressed the nation since his televised speech announcing martial law. He only met with the People's Party leadership, which almost immediately condemned martial law. Amid his silence, the opposition left-wing Democratic Party began impeachment proceedings in Congress. For an impeachment motion to pass, two-thirds of MPs must vote in favor, which requires eight PPP MPs to vote against the president.
Party leader Han Dong-hoon met with Yun on Friday and left the meeting after telling reporters that he supports Yun's immediate removal from power.
Mr. Han said, “It is difficult to change the party's position on the impeachment resolution against Mr. Yoon, but my opinion is that Mr. Yoon should be suspended.'' saidAccording to Korea JoongAng Ilbo, He said, “I have not heard anything that would overturn Yun Seok-Yeol's suspension of presidential duties.''
Prior to the meeting, Mr. Han declared, “In order to protect the Republic of Korea and its people, it is necessary to immediately suspend President Yun Seok-Yeol's duties,'' and there is a possibility that Mr. Yoon may take “radical action'' such as declaring martial law again. It suggested that there was a sex.
President Han said, “Based on the newly revealed facts, I believe it is necessary to immediately suspend President Yun Seok-Yeol from her duties in order to protect the Republic of Korea and its people.'' declared.
On Thursday, unsubstantiated rumors caused a brief panic in the country after Yun claimed there was reason to believe he would try to impose martial law for a second time before the impeachment vote, with South Korea's military rejection That claim.
Army Commander Kwak Jeong-geun went further, assuring the people that the military would ignore any orders given by Mr. Yoon. Kwak also pointed out that the military only half-heartedly followed Yun's orders the first time.
“When martial law was declared, I received an order from former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun to forcibly evacuate the people inside the National Assembly Building,” he said at a meeting with Democratic Party members. “We determined that dragging the deputy out was clearly illegal and would constitute insubordination, but not following orders.”
Prime Minister Yoon's Interior Secretary Lee Sang-min also appeared This week, he suggested that the military had failed to take maximum action to enforce martial law, saying, “Frankly, if we had succeeded in shutting down Parliament, there would have been no vote on lifting martial law at all.'' It would have been.”
“If we wanted to, we could have easily stopped the lawmakers,” he suggested.
Reportedly, the PPP plan A meeting will be held later Friday to discuss the impeachment resolution. At least one PPP lawmaker, Cho Kyung-tae, has announced his intention to vote in favor of impeachment, so the movement will only require more members to defect from the party.
Yun's party never supported the declaration of martial law. Shortly after its invocation on Tuesday, Mr. Han issued a public statement confirming the party's opposition to the president.
“As the ruling party, we deeply apologize to the people for today's tragic situation,” Han said. said at a press conference early Wednesday morning. “President Yoon should directly explain the tragic situation and hold those responsible accountable, including the immediate dismissal of the Minister of Defense who declared martial law.”
Hong Jang-won, first deputy director of South Korea's National Intelligence Service, said the following in a meeting with members of Congress on Friday. ordered Han's arrest under martial law. Along with the leader of his own party, Yoon reportedly ordered the arrest of Democratic Party National Assembly Speaker Lee Jae-myung and several other members.
Hong said that Yoon called him and told him, “We should take this opportunity to accept everyone and exclude them.''
The Diet is vote Saturday, 5 p.m., about Yun's impeachment
