the president targeted by an investigation for rebellion clings to power

South Korean conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol clings to power on Thursday, December 5, with his party opposing the impeachment motion which must be put to a vote on Saturday in Parliament, after the head of state’s failed attempt to impose martial law on the country. To everyone’s astonishment, the president decreed martial law Tuesday evening and tried to muzzle Parliament by sending the army, before turning around six hours later under pressure from deputies And demonstrators.Six opposition parties filed a motion for impeachment on Wednesday, accusing the leader of having “seriously violated the Constitution and the law”. This motion will be put to the vote on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. (10:00 GMT), according to the Yonhap news agency. An investigation opened for “rebellion” The Democratic Party, the main opposition force, announced the filing of an complaint against the president for “rebellion”, a crime theoretically punishable by death (which has not been applied in South Korea since 1997). On Thursday, a senior police official, Woo Kong-suu, confirmed to deputies that an investigation had been opened. According to a poll published Wednesday by the Realmeter agency, more than seven in ten South Koreans (73.6 %) support the request for dismissal, compared to 24% who say they are opposed to it and 2.4% without an opinion. The opposition has a total of 192 seats out of 300 in the National Assembly, the other 108 deputies belonging to President Yoon’s conservative People Power Party (PPP). The motion must be adopted by a two-thirds majority, the defection of at least eight deputies from the presidential party will therefore be necessary to bring about the fall of Yoon Suk Yeol. Resignation of the Minister of Defense Thursday, the leader of the PPP in Parliament , Choo Kyung-ho, affirmed that his party would vote against. “All 108 deputies of the People’s Power Party will remain united to reject the impeachment of the president,” he told the press. However, he added that he had asked the president to leave the party. The PPP “is not trying to defend the president’s unconstitutional martial law,” he assured. If the motion is adopted, the South Korean president will be suspended from office pending confirmation of his dismissal by the Constitutional Court. If the judges give the green light, he will leave power and a new presidential election must be organized within 60 days. Yoon Suk Yeol has not appeared in public since his last speech on national television at dawn on Wednesday to announce the lifting of martial law that he had decreed the previous evening. His secretariat indicated that he would not speak on Thursday. However, on Thursday the resignation of Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun was announced, who is also subject to a ban on going to the foreigner decided by the Seoul prosecutor’s office. But others close to the president, including Interior Minister Lee Sang-min, remain in their posts. On Wednesday, thousands of South Koreans demonstrated in Seoul to demand the president’s departure. More rallies are planned for Thursday.



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