"Yoon, must step down immediately"...The ruling party, decision on impeachment by the 7th

Political Power 'Impeachment of the President' Enters

Proposal of 28-page Impeachment Plan for A4

"Ineffectiveness of the Cabinet Order·Violation of the Constitution as Reasons for Impeachment"

Reported to the National Assembly today

Emergency response for voting within 72 hours

Withdrawal of more than 8 members from the ruling party

Anonymous voting...Friendly factions are key

With "Yoon's demand for resignation"...Impeachment is the priority

On the night of the 3rd, the emergency cabinet order incident quickly turned into a 'President Yoon Seok-yeol impeachment' regime. The ruling party proposed the impeachment plan for President Yoon on the 4th, and if passed, the voting will proceed in the plenary session on the 6th. The People's Power is demanding the resignation of the president over the emergency cabinet order and the president's apology and resignation. However, if the impeachment plan is voted down in the plenary session, there is a possibility of anonymous voting centered on the friendly factions.

○ Ruling Party 6 “Yoon, clear violation of the Constitution”

The ruling party, including the Democratic Party, the Progressive Party, the New Progressive Party, the Basic Income Party, and the Social Democratic Party, proposed the impeachment plan for President Yoon on this day. The impeachment plan included content that the emergency cabinet order violated not only the Constitution but also the Cabinet Law and Criminal Law. “President Yoon violated the Constitution by issuing an emergency cabinet order without meeting the constitutional requirements,” it said. It also included content that the emergency cabinet order violated the Criminal Law on abuse of power. Kim Yong-min, the Democratic Party's representative, met with the press after the proposal of the impeachment plan and said, “There is no way to cover up President Yoon's illegal actions.”

In the meantime, the Democratic Party, which was actively engaged in forming public opinion on impeachment, is strongly pushing for impeachment using the emergency cabinet order incident as a trigger. Lee Jae-myung, the representative, said at the 'Emergency National Assembly' held in front of the National Assembly building, “President Yoon used the power given by the people against the people,” and Park Chan-dae, the representative of the Democratic Party, said, “He must step down immediately.” The highest leadership of the party is demanding President Yoon's resignation, but overall, they are focusing on the illegality and unconstitutionality of the emergency cabinet order and are trying to impeach President Yoon.

○ Opposition “Impeachment is absolutely not possible”

The People's Power, which is the opposition party, maintains a stance that the emergency cabinet order was wrong but does not connect it to impeachment. Besides the demand for voluntary resignation from Representative Ahn Cheol-soo, there is no public voice advocating for impeachment. The representative of the People's Power, Han Dong-hoon, said at the highest committee meeting on this day, “The emergency cabinet order was a clear violation of the people's spirit,” but instead of resignation, he suggested impeachment, internal total resignation, and the resignation of the Minister of National Defense.

The fact that no public impeachment demand has emerged is due to the trauma of the 'conservative collapse' experienced during the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye. There is concern that if President Yoon is impeached and steps down, the conservative support base itself could collapse. Yoo Young-ha, who was the lawyer for the impeachment trial of former President Park, said at the highest committee meeting, “We must consider the possibility of regime reconstruction.”

○ Friendly faction voting is key

However, there is also a view that if the Democratic Party initiates the 'impeachment train', the ruling party has no choice but to comply. In a situation where public criticism of the emergency cabinet order is high, there is a possibility of anonymous voting centered on the friendly factions. The impeachment plan is being voted on anonymously. If the impeachment plan is passed, 200 seats are needed, and the ruling party has 192 seats. Even if only 8 seats are withdrawn from the friendly factions, the impeachment plan is passed. Han Min-soo, a representative of the Democratic Party, said, “We earnestly request one representative to participate in the vote.” However, the friendly factions also show a cautious attitude towards impeachment. Park Jung-hoon, a representative of the friendly factions, insisted on SNS, “Even if the special investigation proposed by the ruling party (Kim Geon-hee's female history) is accepted, we must block the impeachment of the president.”

Han Jae-young/Jeong So-ram/Jeong Sang-won reporters jyhan@hankyung.com