Former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday left his conservative People Power Party (PPP) as it gears up for snap elections triggered by his impeachment over a bid to impose martial law.
The PPP had been under pressure to expel Yoon ahead of the June 3 election, as polls showed it trailing the main opposition party.
“I am leaving the People Power Party today,” Yoon, who is standing trial on criminal charges of insurrection, wrote on Facebook.
Photo: Reuters
He urged voters to support his former labor minister Kim Moon-soo, the PPP’s presidential candidate. Kim shot to public prominence as the only Cabinet member who refused to bow in apology for failing to prevent martial law.
This week, he said for the first time that he was “sincerely sorry to the people who are suffering” because of the suspension of civilian rule.
Yoon’s martial law declaration in December last year — which he claimed was necessary to break legislative gridlock and “root out” pro-North Korean “anti-state” forces — enflamed political divisions in South Korea, while garnering support from extreme religious figures and right-wing YouTubers. Pro-Yoon rallies turned violent in January when extremist supporters stormed a Seoul courthouse. Four of them were handed jail terms this week.
Yoon was accused of tacitly encouraging the violence after warning that the country was “in danger” and pledging to stand with his hardline supporters “to the very end.”
Yoon yesterday said the upcoming snap election is the “last chance to prevent totalitarian dictatorship and protect liberal democracy and the rule of law.”
However, the Democratic Party called Yoon “shameless” for invoking “the very liberal democracy he himself destroyed.”
The Democratic Party’s Lee Jae-myung — who is facing multiple criminal trials — is leading with 51 percent support, followed by Kim at 29 percent, according to a Gallup poll released on Friday.
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