Han leadership crumbles in wake of impeachment vote

Conflict within the ruling People’s Power Party reached new heights after the National Assembly voted to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday, with the resignations of five of the party’s six supreme council members.

The PPP, at a meeting convened after the plenary session Saturday, voted to remove the current party leadership to take accountability for the events that led to the president’s impeachment.

“It really hurts to see the country repeating a painful history. Since the impeachment bill was passed, it is time for the Constitutional Court to make a fair decision in accordance with the Constitution and the due procedures under law,” Rep. Kweon Seong-dong, told reporters following the party meeting.

He added that the party will be deliberating on how the new leadership should be formed.

Before the meeting, Reps. Jang Dong-hyeok, Kim Meen-geon, Ihn Yohan, Jin Jong-oh and Kim Jae-won said they would step down from the party leadership after the ruling party suffered days of infighting over whether to support Yoon’s impeachment.

Party rules state that the exit of four members of the supreme council automatically results in an emergency committee taking over the party leadership. Jang and Jin are considered supportive of Han, while the other three are considered pro-Yoon members.

After hours of discussion in a general assembly on the morning before the impeachment, the party decided to officially oppose the motion. But its position did not hold. At least 12 of its members voted in support of impeachment.

Han, who has faced conflicting pressures from within and outside the party over the impeachment, had eventually urged his party members to support the motion this week. The move brought vehement protests from the majority pro-Yoon members.

Before Saturday’s vote, at least seven PPP lawmakers — Reps. Ahn Cheol-soo, Cho Kyung-tae, Han Ji-ah, Kim Yea-ji, Kim Sang-wook, Jin Jong-oh and Kim Jae-sup — had publicly said they would vote in favor of impeaching Yoon. They are all considered to either unaffiliated to any specific faction or pro-Han.

Han, a political novice, has been struggling to maintain a hold on the PPP. Since Dec. 3, when Yoon made the martial law declaration that led to his impeachment, he has been stuck between the party’s mainstream drive to protect its ruling party status and the impeachment offensive from the main opposition, which polling showed had the support of most of the public.

His influence over the party appeared to be weakening, as indicated in the election of new floor leader Rep. Kweon Seong-dong on Thursday, who replaced Rep. Choo Kyung-ho, Yoon’s former finance minister who stepped down in the aftermath of the martial law crisis.

The pro-Han faction of the party are mostly first-time lawmakers, as opposed to Kweon, who is supported by some of the main power players of the Yoon-era PPP.

The overall strategy of the PPP in the aftermath of the impeachment is to be challenged by growing party divisions. Vastly outnumbered by the main opposition Democratic Power of Korea, the ruling party will now have to weather through an even more contentious Assembly.

With the president suspended, the bargaining power of the PPP is likely to be further weakened.