Seoul
\nSouth Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday looked increasingly likely to be unseated after the head of his ruling party demanded he be stripped of office for briefly imposing martial law.
\nIf Yoon remains, \u201cthere is a significant risk that extreme actions similar to the martial law declaration could be repeated, which could put the Republic of Korea and its citizens in great danger,\u201d said Han Dong-Hoon, the head of Yoon\u2019s People Power Party (PPP).
\nOpposition MPs were holed up in parliament until a vote on Yoon\u2019s impeachment scheduled for Saturday evening, fearing the embattled president might launch one desperate final attempt to remain in power.
\n\u201cWith the impeachment vote set for tomorrow, the hours leading up to it are extremely precarious,\u201d opposition leader Lee Jae-Myung told AFP. \u201cTonight will be the most critical period,\u201d he said at the National Assembly, where according to an aide buses have been strategically parked to stop helicopters from landing.
\n\u2018Great danger\u2019
\nYoon declared martial law late Tuesday and sent soldiers and choppers to the parliament in a doomed bid to stop MPs from voting down his suspension of civilian government.
\nThe opposition on Wednesday put forward the impeachment motion \u2014 now scheduled for a vote around 5:00pm (0800 GMT) Saturday, after it was brought forward two hours \u2014 but Han initially said he would oppose it.
\nOn Friday, however, the once staunchly loyal head of Yoon\u2019s PPP broke with the president.
\n\u201cConsidering the newly emerging facts, I believe that a swift suspension of President Yoon Suk Yeol\u2019s duties is necessary to safeguard the Republic of Korea and its people,\u201d said Han.
\nProtests
\nPolice expect tens of thousands of people to attend anti-Yoon rallies on Saturday ahead of the impeachment vote, which needs a two-thirds majority. Organisers are hoping 200,000 people will take to the streets.
\nThe opposition bloc holds 192 seats in the 300-strong parliament, while the PPP has 108. A successful vote would suspend Yoon from office pending a ruling by the Constitutional Court.
\nHan\u2019s U-turn was \u201csignificantly influenced by the gravity of the situation, particularly the mobilisation of intelligence agencies to arrest politicians,\u201d Shin Yul, a political science professor at Myongji University, told AFP.
\nA fresh opinion poll released Friday put backing for the 63-year-old president, who has lurched from crisis to crisis since taking office in 2022, at a record low of 13 per cent.
\nOn Friday night, at least 15,000 anti-Yoon protesters braved the cold weather to gather in Seoul\u2019s Yeouido district, where the National Assembly is located. They held candles and signs that read \u201cYoon Suk Yeol should resign (for) crimes of insurrection\u201d while calling for his arrest.
\nIn nearby Gwanghwamun area, 47-year-old Seoul resident Kim Hye-ryeong told AFP that she was \u201cvery worried\u201d. \u201cRegardless of what happens to President Yoon tomorrow, it seems that Korean politics will be quite chaotic for the foreseeable future,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u2018Anti-state elements\u2019
\nIn his address to the nation late Tuesday, Yoon had said that martial law would \u201csafeguard a liberal South Korea from the threats posed by North Korea\u2019s communist forces and eliminate anti-state elements plundering people\u2019s freedom and happiness\u201d.
\nA man watches South Korea\u2019s President Yoon Suk Yeol speak during a news broadcast on a television at a train station in Seoul on December 3. \u2014 AFP
\nSecurity forces sealed the National Assembly, helicopters landed on the roof, and almost 300 soldiers tried to lock down the building.
\nBut as parliamentary staffers blocked the soldiers with sofas and fire extinguishers, enough MPs got inside \u2014 many climbed walls to enter \u2014 and voted down Yoon\u2019s move.
\nThe episode brought back painful memories of South Korea\u2019s autocratic past and blindsided its allies, with the US administration only finding out via television.
\nUS Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his Korean counterpart Cho Tae-yul on Friday that he \u201cexpects the \u2026 democratic process to prevail\u201d.<\/p>\n
Insurrection
\nHan said Friday that \u201ccredible evidence\u201d suggested that Yoon had ordered the detention of \u201ckey politicians\u201d \u2014 something Yoon\u2019s office has denied, the news agency Yonhap reported.
\nOpposition lawmaker Jo Seung-Lae said that these included opposition leader Lee, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-Shik, and Han himself. The head of South Korean special forces, Kwak Jong-Geun, said Friday he had been ordered to \u201cdrag out\u201d lawmakers from parliament.
\nHong Jang-Won, first deputy director of South Korea\u2019s National Intelligence Service, said Yoon ordered him to work with a defence counterintelligence unit to arrest more than 10 key politicians.
\nA 120-strong police investigation team has been set up to probe Yoon and other top officials on charges of insurrection, police told AFP.
\nPolice said they have confiscated the phones of the heads of the National Police Agency, the Seoul Metropolitan Police, and the National Assembly Security Service.
\nOn Thursday, Yoon\u2019s office said Defence Minister Kim Yong-Hyun had resigned, but other key allies, including Interior Minister Lee Sang-Min, remain in office. Prosecutors have also banned Kim from leaving the country, Yonhap reported.
\nThe defence ministry said Friday it had suspended three senior commanders involved in the martial law operation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Seoul South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday looked increasingly likely to be unseated after the head of his ruling party demanded he be stripped of office for briefly imposing martial law. If Yoon remains, \u201cthere is a significant risk that extreme actions similar to the martial law declaration could be repeated, which could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447879,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-447853","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n