South Korea’s leading parties hold meetings to decide Yoon’s fate

South Korea’s main parties are holding emergency meetings amid reports MPs could bring forward a vote to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over Tuesday night’s short-lived martial law declaration.

The main opposition Democratic Party says the vote could take place as soon it can guarantee it has the numbers to pass the motion, which had originally been scheduled for Saturday.

In the first clear sign his own party may now vote with the opposition, the leader of Yoon’s ruling party called for his swift suspension on Friday, saying he posed a “great danger” if he remained in power.

The opposition have 192 seats and would need at least eight ruling party MPs to support the impeachment motion to secure the 200 votes needed for it to pass.

The comments are a reversal from the PPP’s earlier stand that it would block the opposition’s impeachment motion.

Han Doong-hoon, chief of the People Power Party (PPP), also said there was “credible evidence” that Yoon had ordered the arrest of key politicians on “anti-state charges” on Tuesday.

Supporters of the opposition earlier assembled on the steps of parliament, armed with placards and chanting to demand the president’s removal.

Yoon shocked the country on Tuesday night when he declared emergency martial law, citing threats from “anti-state forces” and North Korea.

But it soon became clear that his move had been spurred not by external threats but by his own domestic political troubles.

The order was abruptly reversed hours later after 190 MPs managed to make it into the parliament and vote it down – some of them climbing fences and breaking barricades to get into the chamber.

Han on Friday expressed concerns that “extreme actions”, such as the martial law declaration, could be repeated if Yoon remained in office.

“[These are] putting the Republic of Korea and its people at great risk,” he said.

He added that his party had learnt about plans to jail arrested opposition politicians in a detention centre in Gwacheon, a city south of Seoul.

His comments are the first clear indication that the president’s own party may now vote with the opposition to help impeach him.

Opposition lawmakers are concerned that there will be another attempt to impose martial law. Some of them earlier told BBC they have been staying close to the National Assembly grounds so they could get there quickly to vote down any such declaration.

Meanwhile, ruling party MP Cho Kyung-tae became the first ruling party MP to publicly voice support for Yoon’s impeachment.

“The choice between standing on the side of the people by suspending the president’s duties or becoming an ally of the forces that imposed martial law is a matter for politicians to judge,” Cho said on Friday.

“I hope that all the politicians of the People’s Power will stand on the side of the people,” he added.

The capital, Seoul, has seen more than two days of street protests demanding Yoon’s resignation, while police said he is being investigated for “insurrection”.

People have also been flooding PPP lawmakers with text messages, urging them to vote for Yoon’s impeachment, according to South Korean media reports.

One MP, Shin Sung-bum, received more than 4,000 such messages on Facebook, The Chosun Daily reported.

More than seven out of 10 South Koreans were in favour of the impeachment, a survey by local pollster Realmeter showed on Thursday.

Before his attempt to place the country under military rule, Yoon had been beset by low popularity ratings, corruption allegations and an opposition-led legislature that reduced him to a lame-duck leader.

Additional reporting by Hosu Lee in Seoul and Fan Wang in Singapore