‘No more chaos’: South Korea ruling party says Yoon ‘effectively suspended’

South Korea’s ruling People Power Party (PPP) chief Han Dong-hoon said on Saturday that the party and President Yoon Suk-yeol will work together to seek an orderly path for Yoon to leave office, as he has effectively agreed to the plan.

A little earlier, the embattled Yoon avoided an opposition-led attempt to impeach him over his short-lived imposition of martial law this week, as most ruling party lawmakers boycotted a parliamentary vote to deny a two-thirds majority needed to suspend his presidential powers.

After the vote failed to materialise, Han Dong-hoon said Yoon would be “effectively suspended” from office until he stepped down and said the prime minister, Han Duck-soo, would take care of the country’s affairs in close consultation with the party.

“The president has already said that he will follow the party’s decision on his term, so there will be no more chaos,” Han told reporters at the National Assembly, adding, “The People’s Power Party will push for the orderly step-down of President Yoon to minimise the fallouts.”

But the main opposition Democratic of Korea party (DKP) said it would keep repeating the impeachment motion every week until it passes, adding it plans to reintroduce the bill on Wednesday, for a vote on December 14.

Yoon is “the greatest risk to the Republic of Korea”, said DKP leader Lee Jae-myung. “We’ll surely bring back this country to normal before Christmas Day or year’s end.”