The leader of the ruling party in South Korea, Han Dong-hoonurged today Friday suspend “immediately” to the president Yoon Suk-yeol of his duties, after learning that the president ordered the arrests of the main political leaders, including Han himself, during the martial law that he proclaimed surprisingly on Tuesday.
“Given the recently revealed facts, I believe that President Yoon Suk-yeol must be immediately suspended of their duties to protect the Republic of Korea (the country’s official name) and its people,” Han said during an emergency meeting of his party, the conservative People Power Party (PPP), in the National Assembly (Parliament).
Han indicated that he has confirmed “with reliable evidence” that Yoon gave orders to arrest him, the leader of his own party, or Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition party, the Democratic Party (PD), and assured that these “radical actions” that put the country “in great danger” could be repeated if the president, whom Parliament will vote on tomorrow Saturday to remove him, remains in power.
The PPP has called an emergency meeting of all its parliamentarians for today in which it is expected to discuss the vote to be cast tomorrow in the parliamentary session scheduled to approve or not Yoon’s dismissal.
Han’s words are interpreted as a preview of what would be a new message for the PPP parliamentarians – to whom he had asked for voting unity the day before to prevent Yoon’s dismissal from being approved – so that they now vote in favor of the motion to disqualify him.
Han met hours later with Yoon – who has not been seen publicly since he revoked martial law early Wednesday – although he revealed little about the content of the meeting.
The PPP leader said that nothing the president said during this meeting changes his mind about his dismissal, adding that Yoon “will not take any extraordinary measures at the moment“in relation to the possibility that the president decides to impose martial law again.
Local media such as the newspaper Chosunthe one that has the most circulation in South Korea, had announced on Thursday that Yoon gave orders to the Counterintelligence Commander, Yeo In-hyungto arrest Han, Lee or the speaker of the National Assembly, the independent Woo Won-shikconsidering that they were “anti-state” elementsand that military units were mobilized to prepare the aforementioned arrests.
The leader of the opposition PD, Lee Jae-myung, has also asked to disqualify Yoon immediately after learning of Han’s words.
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