S. Korea's ruling party chief says need to stop Yoon's performance of duty

SEOUL -- Han Dong-hoon, chief of South Korea's ruling People Power Party, said on Friday that President Yoon Suk-yeol needs to stop his performance of duty to protect the country and people given newly revealed facts.

Han made the remark at an emergency meeting of the party leadership, reversing his previous position to fight the opposition bloc's push to impeach Yoon.

The governing party leader noted that on the day of the martial law declaration, Yoon ordered the arrest of major politicians, saying it was confirmed through reliable grounds that Yoon used intelligence agencies to try to arrest politicians.

If Yoon continues to perform his presidential duty, it would be highly likely that extreme actions such as the martial law declaration can be repeated, putting the country and people into great danger, Han added.

It ran counter to Han's comments made Thursday when Han vowed to block a motion to impeach Yoon, driven by the opposition parties.

The Democratic Party and five other minor parties submitted the impeachment motion against Yoon on Wednesday, planning to vote on it on Saturday.

Yoon declared an emergency martial law Tuesday night before repealing it early Wednesday as the parliament voted against it.