The leader of South Korea’s ruling party was expected to engage in talks with Yoon Suk Yeol after saying the president should be suspended from office quickly, an abrupt shift in stance that may increase the likelihood an impeachment motion will pass.
Han Dong-hoon of the People Power Party said Friday morning that there was 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.
The presidential office said Yoon did not order the arrest or detention of lawmakers, Yonhap News reported. Han and Yoon were expected to meet Friday afternoon, according to Yonhap.
Han’s comments in the morning came amid reports that Yoon might make a second attempt to impose martial law, speculation that was dismissed by Acting Defense Minister Kim Seon-ho and South Korea’s Army Special Forces Commander Kwak Jong-keun.
Reacting to the flow of news reports Korea’s equity benchmark Kospi was down around 0.8%, having started the day with gains before dropping as far as 1.8%. The won was weaker against the dollar, after paring most of its losses in the morning.
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Han’s stark reversal raises the chance that Yoon will be impeached in a vote likely to occur Saturday. 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. If his followers all vote in favor of impeachment, that would give the opposition the numbers to pass the motion.
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.
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“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.
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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.
