South Korea’s ruling party chief backs suspending Yoon’s powers, making impeachment more likely

SEOUL —  South Korea’s governing party chief showed support Friday for suspending the constitutional powers of President Yoon Suk-yeol for imposing martial law this week, a startling reversal that makes Yoon’s impeachment more likely.

Opposition parties are pushing for a parliamentary vote on Yoon’s impeachment Saturday, calling his short-lived martial law declaration an “unconstitutional, illegal rebellion or coup.” But they need support from some members of the president’s People Power Party to get the two-thirds majority required to pass the impeachment motion.

The turmoil resulting from Yoon’s nighttime martial law decree has frozen South Korean politics and caused worry among neighbors, including Japan, and Seoul’s top ally, the United States, as one of the strongest democracies in Asia faces a political crisis that could unseat its leader.

During a People Power Party meeting, leader Han Dong-hun emphasized the need to suspend Yoon’s presidential duties and power swiftly, saying he poses a “significant risk of extreme actions, like reattempting to impose martial law, which could potentially put the Republic of Korea and its citizens in great danger.”

Han said he had received intelligence that Yoon had ordered the country’s defense counterintelligence commander to arrest and detain unspecified key politicians based on accusations of “anti-state activities” during the brief period martial law was in force.

“It’s my judgment that an immediate suspension of President Yoon Suk-yeol’s official duties is necessary to protect the Republic of Korea and its people,” said Han, who had said earlier he would work to defeat an impeachment motion.

Impeaching Yoon would require support from 200 of the National Assembly’s 300 members. The opposition parties who jointly brought the impeachment motion have 192 seats combined. Yoon’s People Power Party has 108 lawmakers.

Han leads a minority faction within the ruling party, and 18 lawmakers in his faction voted with opposition lawmakers to overturn Yoon’s martial law decree. Martial law ultimately lasted about six hours, after the quick overrule by the National Assembly forced Yoon’s Cabinet to lift it before daybreak Wednesday.

The main liberal opposition Democratic Party leader, Lee Jae-myung, said in a televised speech Friday that it was crucial to suspend Yoon as “quickly as possible.”

Lee said that Yoon’s martial law enforcement amounted to “rebellion and also a self-coup” and that it damaged the country’s image and paralyzed foreign policy, pointing to criticism from the Biden administration and other foreign leaders canceling visits to South Korea.

Yoon has made no immediate response to Han’s comments. He hasn’t made public appearances since he made a televised announcement that his martial law decree was lifted.

If Yoon is impeached, he would be suspended until the Constitutional Court rules on whether to remove him from office or restore his presidential powers. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the country’s No. 2 official, would take over presidential responsibilities.

The Defense Ministry said it had suspended the defense counterintelligence commander, the commander of the capital defense command and the leader of the special warfare command over their involvement in enforcing martial law.

In a closed-door briefing to lawmakers, Hong Jang-won, first deputy director of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, said Yoon called after imposing martial law and ordered him to help the defense counterintelligence unit detain key politicians.

The spy agency’s director, Cho Tae-yong, questioned Hong’s account. Cho told reporters that such an order would have come to him, rather than Hong, and that he never received any orders from Yoon to detain politicians.

Thousands of protesters have marched in the streets of Seoul since Wednesday, calling for Yoon to resign and be investigated. Thousands of union workers have started hourly strikes since Thursday.

Vice Defense Minister Kim Seon-ho promised the ministry’s “active cooperation” with an investigation by prosecutors into the military’s role in Yoon’s martial law enforcement. He said military prosecutors will also be involved in the investigation. He denied media speculation that Yoon and his military confidants might consider imposing martial law a second time.

“Even if there’s a demand to enforce martial law, the Defense Ministry and the Joint Chiefs of Staff will absolutely not accept it,” Kim said.

Kim became the acting defense minister after Yoon’s office on Thursday accepted the resignation of Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, who has also been banned from traveling while he is investigated over the imposition of martial law. Opposition parties and Han Dong-hun allege that it was Kim Yong-hyun who recommended that Yoon declare martial law.

Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung told reporters Friday that the prosecution plans to investigate rebellion charges against Yoon following complaints filed by the opposition. While the president mostly enjoys immunity from prosecution while in office, the protection does not extend to allegations of rebellion or treason. It wasn’t immediately clear how the prosecution plans to proceed with an investigation of Yoon.

The Biden administration, which has worked closely with Yoon’s government while strengthening trilateral security cooperation with Japan to counter North Korean threats and regional instability, has expressed deep concern about Yoon’s actions.

Hyung-Jin Kim and Kim Tong-Hyung write for the Associated Press. AP writer Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.