South Korean president’s party divided over defiant martial law speech Reuters

To Yu-min Park

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean President Yun Suk-yeol’s shift from contrition to defiance on Thursday over his emergency law rallied some supporters, but other members of his party said it did not affect their view that he must be removed.

In a speech ahead of a second impeachment vote scheduled for Saturday, Yoon denounced his political opponents as “anti-state forces” siding with the enemy in North Korea, said Pyongyang may have hacked elections in the South and defended last week’s short-lived state of emergency as a legal move for the protection of democracy.

The remarks hit many talking points on conservative YouTube channels and marked a sharp change in tone from a speech before the first impeachment vote last week in which he apologized and said he would put his political future in the hands of his People Power Party.

It was unclear what prompted the change, but Yun gave no sign of backing PPP leader Han Dong-hun’s proposal that he step down in the coming months and cede power to the prime minister and the ruling party until then.

The speech brought to the fore the division in the PPP. Changing tack, Han called on party members to vote for impeachment on Saturday, which was greeted with cheers from pro-Yoon lawmakers, who voted in Kwon Seong-dong as their new party leader shortly after Yoon’s speech.

Kweon, a Yoon supporter, said the party’s position was to remain opposed to the president’s impeachment, but that a meeting would be held before Saturday’s vote to finalize plans.

The party boycotted the last vote, preventing a quorum. At least 200 votes are needed to impeach Ion. Opposition parties have 192 mandates, so they need at least eight PPP members to join.

As of Thursday, at least seven party members were expected to support the new impeachment motion.

One PPP lawmaker who said he would now vote to impeach Ion said the president’s new statements may have rallied some loyalists, but added more confusion and division among conservatives.

“His speech influenced the election of the leader.” “Also, it sounds like he called on those who blindly follow the president among conservatives to take action,” PPP lawmaker Kim Sang-wook told reporters.

Kim said he felt frustrated and betrayed because the speech dashed his last hopes that Yoon would leave office in a “decent” manner.

PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR THE IMPLICATION

Public opinion polls show that most South Koreans support Yoon’s impeachment. A poll released on December 5 by pollster Realmeter found that 73.6% of respondents supported the impeachment, including 50.4% of those who identified as conservatives.

Yoon’s speech lit up conservative political forums on the Internet, with top-ranking posts titled “Martial law was the most sensible decision” and “Khan made the wrong decision.”

After Yoon’s speech, fights could be seen between participants of a pro-conservative rally in central Seoul and opposition supporters who removed a banner supporting Yoon’s declaration of a state of emergency.

Kim Tae Hyun, who attended the rally, said he thought Yun did a “good job” with his speech and that he had the right to declare a state of emergency.

“And impeachment simply shouldn’t happen… So (declaring a state of emergency) was just an expression of the president’s authority,” Kim said. “The Democratic Party, which is holding the country back right now, is the real issue.”