End looms for Yoon

South Korea's leadership crisis deepened yesterday as prosecutors named President Yoon Suk Yeol as a subject of a criminal investigation over Tuesday's martial law attempt, a media report said, and his former defense minister was arrested.

Yoon survived an impeachment vote in the opposition-led parliament late on Saturday over his short-lived attempt to impose martial law, but the leader of his own People Power Party, Han Dong Hoon, said he would effectively be excluded from duties before eventually stepping down.

That proposal, which appeared to win tacit approval from the Yoon-appointed prime minister Han Duck Soo yesterday, drew condemnation from opposition lawmakers who said it was another unconstitutional power grab to delegate authority without resignation or impeachment.

That gambit came amid pressure on multiple fronts.

The main opposition Democratic Party said yesterday it would try again this Saturday to impeach Yoon.

Yonhap news agency reported that prosecutors had "booked" Yoon, a process in South Korea that involves formally naming subjects of investigation.

Three minority parties filed a complaint with the prosecution against Yoon, Kim Yong Hyun, who resigned as defense minister on Wednesday, and martial law commander Park An Su, accusing them of insurrection. The crime of leading an insurrection is punishable by death or life imprisonment, with or without prison labor.

Kim, seen as a central figure in the debacle for having apparently proposed martial law to Yoon, was arrested yesterday while interior minister Lee Sang Min resigned. Both of them and Yoon are being investigated for alleged insurrection.

Yoon averted impeachment late Saturday after opposition parties, which needed 200 votes in the 300-strong parliament, were thwarted in a near-total boycott by Yoon's party.

Democratic Party leader Lee Jae Myung said: "Yoon, the principal culprit behind the insurrection and military coup that destroyed South Korea's constitutional order, must either resign immediately or be impeached without delay."

Thousands rallied in front of parliament in Seoul yesterday, calling for his impeachment and arrest and the disbandment of his ruling party.

Yoon's martial law declaration plunged the nation into its greatest crisis in decades, threatening to shatter South Korea's reputation as a democratic success story.

In an effort to reassure the public, multiple military leaders, including the acting defense minister, have stated they would refuse any orders to impose another round of martial law.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE