Han Dong-hoon says ‘credible evidence’ shows president intended to arrest political leaders.
The head of South Korea’s governing party has called for the swift suspension of President Yoon Suk-yeol’s powers, citing “credible evidence” that he sought the arrest of political leaders following his short-lived declaration of martial law.
People Power Party (PPP) leader Han Dong-hoon, who had earlier said he would oppose efforts to impeach Yoon, said on Friday that “newly emerging facts” had tipped the scales against the president.
“I learned last night the president ordered the defence counter-intelligence commander to arrest major political leaders, characterising them as anti-state forces, and mobilised intelligence institutions in the process,” Han said.
“I have said that to prevent this country from descending into further chaos, I would try to stop the impeachment bill from passing this time,” he added.
“But based on what has been revealed, to protect South Korea and our people, I believe it is necessary to stop President Yoon from exercising his powers as president promptly.”
Han said Yoon had failed to acknowledge that his martial law declaration was illegal and wrong, and there was a “significant risk” that he could take similar extreme action again if he stayed in office.
In a closed-door briefing to the chair of the National Assembly’s intelligence committee on Friday, a top official with the South Korean spy agency said Yoon had demanded the arrest of several high-profile legislators, including Han and Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myun, state-funded Yonhap News Agency reported.
Hong Jang-won, first deputy director of the National Intelligence Service, said Yoon had demanded in a late-night phone call that he “get rid of them”, Yonhap reported.
The presidential office denied that Yoon, who has not been seen in public since issuing his martial law decree, had given any such order.
South Korea was placed under martial law for about six hours on Tuesday night after Yoon announced the move in a surprise televised address to the nation in which he cited threats from “anti-state forces” and North Korean sympathisers.
The National Assembly quickly mobilised to overturn Yoon’s order, which evoked painful memories of dictatorial rule under Presidents Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan, in a 190-0 vote.
Yoon lifted the order at about 4am, but not before troops had descended on the National Assembly and scuffled with legislators and protesters.
As well as facing impeachment, Yoon is currently under investigation for treason alongside resigned Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun, Army Chief of Staff General Park An-su and Interior Minister Lee Sang-min, according to local media reports.
The call from Han, who is the justice minister and one of Yoon’s top rivals in the PPP, marks a decisive shift in the governing party’s response to the crisis.
The opposition Democratic Party has called for a vote on Saturday night to impeach Yoon, but it needs at least eight votes from the governing party to reach the necessary two-thirds threshold in the 300-member National Assembly.
If the motion is successful, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo will assume presidential responsibilities while the Constitutional Court of Korea deliberates whether to confirm Yoon’s removal from office or restore his powers.
‘Impeach him’
Al Jazeera’s Eunice Kim, reporting from outside Parliament in Seoul late on Friday, said protests calling for Yoon’s impeachment continued. “We can hear people chanting ‘impeach him, impeach him’,” she said.
Kim said that tensions are still running high amid lingering rumours “that there could be a second attempt at a martial law declaration”.
“Concern was so high that the vice-defence minister … had to hold a press conference saying that there are no plans for a second attempt at martial law but if there were an order, he would reject it,” she said.
In-Bum Chun, a retired lieutenant general in the South Korean army and a military fellow at the Institute for Security and Development Policy, said many people are demanding Yoon’s “impeachment or at least a suspension of his duties”.
He told Al Jazeera that Yoon himself is unlikely to resign. “All actions he has been taking for the past two and a half years has been very resolute, but in a sense, very stubborn as well,” he said.
“It’s highly unlikely, looking at his character and the actions that he has taken, not only during the past two-and-a-half years as president, but as a prosecutor all his life, that he would do that [resign].”
Normally, at least six of the court’s nine justices must confirm an impeachment motion. But since the court currently has three vacancies, a unanimous ruling will be needed to remove Yoon from power.
Until now, the PPP had indicated it would oppose Yoon’s impeachment, with some analysts suggesting that legislators feared backlash for going against their own party, as occurred following the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye in 2016.
Park was later sentenced to 20 years in prison for corruption before she was pardoned.
Not including Yoon, four of South Korea’s seven presidents have either been impeached or jailed for corruption since the country’s transition to democracy in the late 1980s.
Tens of thousands of South Koreans are expected to gather on Saturday to demand Yoon step down or be removed from power.
In a Gallup Korea poll released on Friday, Yoon’s approval rating stood at just 13 percent , down from 19 before his martial law declaration.