Impeachment Threat: Ruling Party Backs South Korea’s President Yoon

• Vows to shoot down opposition’s bill
• Embattled President appoints new Defence Minister 

South Korea’s ruling party, People Power Party (PPP) will rally behind the beleaguered President Yoon Suk Yeol, to block the impeachment move by the opposition over his botched and controversial attempt to impose martial law.

Founded on 17th February 2020, the PPP, formerly known as the United Future Party (UFP), is a conservative and right-wing political party in South Korea that controls the presidency and is the second-largest party in the nation’s National Assembly

Early on Thursday, the PPP’s Floor Leader, Choo Kyung-ho vowed that its lawmakers would “unite” to defeat the opposition-led motion to impeach the deeply unpopular leader, even as he told a live-streamed party meeting that; “All 108 lawmakers of the People Power party will stay united to reject the president’s impeachment”.

Opposition lawmakers, who said the vote is expected on Saturday, need support from eight of their colleagues in the ruling party for the impeachment bill to succeed.

However, it remained unclear on Thursday, whether enough members of Yoon’s party would give him the backing needed to avoid impeachment, as the embattled President sought to deflect criticism of his actions.

Yoon plunged the country into political turmoil on Tuesday evening after he declared martial law in a surprise, late-night televised address, saying it was needed to safeguard the country from “anti-state forces” and “threats posed by North Korea”.

The President did not provide details of the threats. But within hours, he was forced to rescind the order when parliamentarians defied an attempted military blockade and assembled to vote it down.

On Thursday, his Health Minister, Cho Kyoo-hong, said he disagreed with Yoon’s declaration, although he had taken part in a cabinet meeting shortly before the President’s shock announcement.

Cho told a parliamentary session the declaration had been illegal and unconstitutional, but claimed he could not recall if ministers had opposed Yoon at the cabinet meeting.

“I was so surprised and flustered,” he said, according to the Yonhap news agency, adding; “To be frank, I do not remember who said what.”

On Thursday morning, Yoon accepted the resignation of his Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun and nominated his ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Choi Byung-hyuk, as the new defence minister.

As Yoon has attempted to contain the fallout, more details have emerged of the confusion leading up to one of the most dramatic episodes in the modern history of South Korea, which is Asia’s fourth-largest economy and a key US ally.

Following the declaration, which attempted to ban political activity and censor the media in South Korea, armed troops attempted to force their way into the National Assembly building in Seoul, only to stand back when parliamentary aides sprayed them with fire extinguishers.

The Vice Defence Minister, Kim Seon-ho, claimed he had not been told in advance about plans, adding the decision to send troops to the National Assembly building had come from the now departed Defence Minister.

Maintaining that he had opposed the troop deployment, Kim Seon-ho also said he disagreed with President Yoon’s description, made during his televised address, of the Assembly as a “den of criminals”.

The US Deputy Secretary of State, Kurt Campbell, said Yoon had “badly misjudged” the martial law decision, which took the White House by surprise.

He said South Korea would be “in a challenging place” in the next few months and the US goal would be to make clear its alliance with Seoul is “absolutely rock solid.”

Opposition parties need a two-thirds majority to pass the impeachment bill. If it passes, South Korea’s constitutional court will then decide whether to uphold the motion. This process could take up to 180 days to run its full course.

Speaking on current developments, Democratic Party lawmaker, Kim Seung-won, said; “The people and the aides who protected parliament protected us with their bodies. The people won, and it’s now time for us to protect the people.

“We need to immediately suspend the authority of President Yoon. He has committed an indelible, historic crime against the people, whose anxiety needs to be soothed so that they can return to their daily lives.”

If Yoon were to be suspended from exercising power, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo would fill in as leader. If the embattled President resigned or was removed from office, a new election would be held within 60 days.

Meanwhile, there has been no immediate reaction from North Korea to the drama in the South. Yoon had been embraced by leaders in the West as a partner in the US-led effort to unify democracies against growing authoritarianism in China, Russia and elsewhere.

However, he caused unease among South Koreans early this week by branding his critics as “communist totalitarian and anti-state forces”.

In November, he denied wrongdoing in response to influence-peddling allegations against him and his wife but is now seen as taking a hard line against Labour Unions across the South Asia nation. – With agencies’ report