Written by Josh Smith and Jo Min Park
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean President Yoon Suk-yul faces a second impeachment vote on Saturday over his short-lived attempt to impose martial law, a move that shocked the country, split his party and put his presidency in jeopardy midway through his term. .
Yoon called off his Dec. 3 move to impose military rule just six hours later, after the opposition-controlled parliament challenged troops and police to vote against the decree. But he plunged the country into a constitutional crisis and sparked widespread calls for him to step down on the grounds that he had violated the law.
The opposition parties intend to hold a vote on the removal of the president at 4 p.m. (0700 GMT), with large demonstrations planned before the vote.
Yoon's conservative People Power Party boycotted the first vote to impeach the president a week ago, preventing a quorum from being reached.
Since then, PPP leader Han Dong-hoon has urged party members to vote to impeach the president this time, and at least seven PPP members have said they will vote to impeach the president.
Opposition parties need at least eight votes from the PPP to impeach Yoon, as they control 192 seats out of 300 in the unicameral parliament, and impeachment requires a two-thirds majority.
Ahn Chol Soo, a lawmaker from the Pakistan People's Party who supports Yoon's impeachment, said in a Facebook post on Saturday that he would vote for impeachment “for the sake of rapid stabilization of people's livelihood, economy and diplomacy.”
However, the PPP leader said on Friday that the party's position remains opposed to impeachment.
PPP lawmakers are meeting on Saturday morning to decide whether to change that position.
The main opposition Democratic Party said on Saturday that Yoon's “madness” could no longer be tolerated.
The party said in a statement, “Rejecting accountability is a betrayal of the people,” calling for more from the ruling party to join accountability.
“Fight to the end”
If he is impeached, Yoon will lose his power but will remain in office until the Constitutional Court removes or reinstates him. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Han Dak Su will serve as acting president.
If the court impeaches Yoon or he resigns, a presidential election must be held within 60 days.
Yoon is separately under criminal investigation for rebellion due to the declaration of martial law and authorities have banned him from traveling abroad.
He has shown no willingness to resign and vowed in a speech on Thursday that he would “fight to the end” and defended the martial law decree as necessary to overcome political deadlock and protect the country from domestic politicians who he said were undermining democracy.
Yoon, the head of Asia's fourth-largest economy, hopes political allies will rally to support him, but the fiery remarks appear to have been met with a mixed reception among lawmakers from the Pakistan People's Party.
A Gallup Korea poll conducted on Friday showed that two-thirds of Yoon's party supporters opposed impeachment, although three-quarters of respondents supported it.
Protesters demanding Yoon's ouster began gathering near Parliament on Saturday, while right-wing rallies supporting Yoon were scheduled to begin in central Seoul in the early afternoon.
Some K-pop celebrities have criticized the president and plan to donate food and drinks to march participants to demand Yoon's ouster.
People are using delivery apps to pre-order food and coffee for protesters.
Elected in 2022, Yoon was widely welcomed in Washington and other Western capitals for his rhetoric defending democracy and universal freedom, but critics said that masked growing problems at home.
He clashed with opposition representatives, whom he described as “anti-state forces,” and press freedom organizations criticized his strict style in media coverage, which he considered negative.
The crisis and subsequent uncertainty rattled financial markets and threatened to undermine South Korea's reputation as a stable democratic success story.
South Korean stocks rose for the fourth straight session on Friday on hopes that political uncertainty will ease after the vote to impeach Parliament this weekend.
