The leader of the South Korean ruling People Power Party (PPP), Han Dong-hoon, resigned as party chairman on Monday, the Yonhap news agency reported.
Earlier, Han expressed support for the impeachment of the president, although he was initially against it and advocated for his resignation, calling on his party’s parliamentarians to vote based on their own “convictions.” In the end, although the party’s internal decision was to vote against impeachment, 12 PPP lawmakers followed’s call and voted “for.”
“I am stepping down as the leader of the People Power Party,” Han said, as quoted by the agency. “It has become impossible to carry out my duties as party chief due to the collapse of the party’s Supreme Council.”
He added that he had made all efforts to find a better path for the country instead of impeachment, but had failed.
Han’s resignation comes 146 days after he was elected as the party chairman at the party congress on July 23.
Immediately after the parliament approved the impeachment of President Yoon Suk-yeol, Han announced his intention to continue serving as chairman. However, five of the elected members of the party’s supreme council resigned, leading to the automatic dissolution of the party leadership.
Following his official resignation, the PPP will transition to governance through the emergency committee system. Earlier, the South Korean parliament supported the impeachment of President Yoon Seok-yol, with 204 parliamentarians supporting the removal of the president from office, and 85 voting against. Three lawmakers abstained, eight ballots were invalid. All 300 members of the South Korean parliament took part in the vote.
In connection with the approval of the impeachment by the parliament, Yoon Suk-yeol’s powers are temporarily suspended, the Constitutional Court will consider the issue of removing the president from office. The court will have 180 days to do this, and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo becomes the acting head of state until the final verdict is made.
The Constitutional Court began considering the issue of removing Yoon Suk-yeol from office on Monday. But, according to experts contacted by Sputnik, the court will need almost all 6 months allotted for this by law to make a decision on removing or reinstating him as the president of South Korea.
