By Joyce Lee and Hyunjoo Jin
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s ruling People Power Party decided on Thursday to oppose moves to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his sudden decision, rescinded within hours, to declare martial law, the Yonhap news agency reported.
South Korean opposition lawmakers were poised in the early hours of Thursday morning to formally introduce a motion to impeach Yoon over the decision, which had divided Yoon’s ministers and unleashed six hours of political chaos in South Korea.
The opposition needs around eight members of the ruling party to break ranks and support the move. If successfully introduced to parliament, lawmakers could vote on the bill as early as Friday.
If the impeachment bid is passed and upheld by the constitutional court, Yoon would be the second South Korean president to have been impeached since massive candlelit protests against an influence-peddling scandal led to the removal of former president Park Geun-hye in 2017.
(Reporting by Jack Kim, Ju-min Park, Hyonhee Shin, Hyunsu Yim, Heekyong Yang, Joyce Lee, Josh Smith, Hyunjoo Jin and Cynthia Kim; Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols at the United Nations, David Brunnstrom in Washington, Trevor Hunnicutt in Luanda and Humeyra Pamuk in Brussels; Writing James Pearson; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
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