South Korea's Yoon faces second impeachment vote over martial law bid

SEOUL, December 14 (Reuters) – A challenging South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol will face a second impeachment vote on Saturday over his brief attempt at martial law that shocked the country. split his party and halfway through his term, his presidency was in jeopardy.

His move to impose military rule on December 3 was canceled just six hours after parliament opposed the decree, opposing the military and police, but it plunged the country into a constitutional crisis and triggered widespread calls for him to resign for breaking the law. .

Opposition parties plan to hold an impeachment vote at 16:00 (07:00 GMT) on Saturday, and large demonstrations are planned ahead of the vote.

Yoon’s conservative People Power Party boycotted the first impeachment vote a week ago, preventing a quorum.

Since then, PPP leader Han Dong-hoon on Saturday called on party members to vote for impeachment, and at least seven PPP members also said they would vote for impeachment.

Opposition parties control 192 of the 300 seats in the unicameral parliament, so at least eight PPP votes are needed to reach the two-thirds threshold for impeachment.

PPP lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo, who was among those supporting Yoon’s removal, said in a Facebook post on Saturday that he would vote for his removal “in the interest of quickly stabilizing people’s livelihoods, economy and diplomacy.”

But the PPP rank-and-file leader said on Friday that the party’s position was still against impeachment.

PPP MPs will meet on Saturday morning to decide whether to change this position.

If Yoon is removed from office, he will lose his authority but remain in office until the Constitutional Court removes or reinstates him. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo will serve as acting president.

If the court dismisses Yoon or he resigns, a presidential election must be held within 60 days.

Yoon is also under criminal investigation for alleged insurrection over the declaration of martial law, and authorities have banned him from traveling abroad.

He has not signaled his intention to resign and in his speech on Thursday vowed to “fight to the end” and defended the martial law decree as necessary to break the political impasse and protect the country from domestic politicians who undermine democracy.

Yoon, the head of Asia’s fourth-largest economy, hopes political allies will rally to support him, but the fiery statements appear to have received mixed reception among PPP lawmakers.

In a Gallup Korea poll released Friday, two-thirds of supporters of Yoon’s party opposed impeachment, but three-quarters of all respondents supported it.

Yoon, elected in 2022, was widely welcomed in Washington and other Western capitals for his rhetoric advocating global democracy and freedom, but critics said it masked growing problems at home.

He clashed with opposition MPs whom he described as “anti-state forces”, and press freedom organizations criticized his heavy-handed approach to media coverage that they deemed negative.

The crisis and the uncertainty that followed have shaken financial markets and threatened to tarnish South Korea’s reputation as a stable, democratic success story.

South Korean stocks rose for a fourth consecutive session on Friday on hopes that political uncertainty will ease following this weekend’s parliamentary impeachment vote.

Josh Smith and Ju-min Park report; Edit: Sam Holmes