'Unacceptable' intention

陈小将

National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik, who is aligned with the DP, said Yoon's purported intention to use the martial law declaration as a warning to the National Assembly is unacceptable.

"I suggest that the ruling and the opposition parties hold a meeting immediately," said Woo. "We need to clear up national instability as soon as possible."

Refuting Yoon's suspicions of election fraud, the National Election Commission said in a statement that the allegations are baseless.

During the martial law decree last week, about 300 troops were sent to several election offices, and the election watchdog said Yoon's address proved the troop deployment was "unconstitutional and unlawful".

The National Assembly passed bills on Thursday to investigate Yoon's insurrection charge and scandals involving first lady Kim Keon-hee.

South Korean law gives a president immunity from prosecution while in office, except for allegations of rebellion or treason. This means that Yoon can be questioned and detained by investigative agencies over his martial law decree, but many observers doubt that authorities will forcefully detain him because of the potential for clashes with his presidential security service.

The new impeachment vote at the National Assembly on Saturday requires a two-thirds majority in the 300-seat parliament to pass.

If the motion is passed, the constitutional court will deliberate it for up to 180 days, during which Yoon's presidential power will be suspended.

The opposition bloc originally held 192 of the 300 seats, but Cho Kuk, leader of Rebuilding Korea Party, lost his parliamentary seat on Thursday after he was sentenced to a two-year prison term by the Supreme Court.

Cho was convicted of charges including academic fraud involving his children. He also lost his right to run in presidential elections for five years, which means he cannot participate in the next presidential election if the court decides to impeach Yoon.

Cho's party said it plans to hand over the proportional representation seat, which can still be held by the party, as soon as possible to the next in line so the successor can participate in the impeachment vote in time.

In a survey released by pollster Realmeter on Thursday, 74.8 percent of the respondents said the president should be suspended immediately by resignation or impeachment and 16.2 percent of people said Yoon should resign in an orderly manner as proposed by the ruling party.