South Korea's ruling party has hinted at impeaching President Yoon Suk-Yol. According to news agency AP, People's Power Party Secretary General Han Dong-hun said that it is necessary to reduce the constitutional power of the President.

Dong-hun, leader of the ruling People's Power Party, said on Thursday, "I have received information that the president tried to use the army to arrest several leaders while imposing martial law. He said my name was also included in this. He has become a threat to democracy. He should now step down from his post."

Earlier, the ruling party had refused to impeach the President. Dong-Hun had said on Thursday that he would try to reject the impeachment motion. However, even then he had termed the President's decision to implement martial law as unconstitutional. But now his statement is being seen as support for impeachment against the President.

The president had imposed martial law

In South Korea, President Yun imposed martial law on December 3. He accused the opposition party of colluding with North Korea and being involved in anti-national activities. However, this law lasted only 6 hours because the opposition parties overturned it by voting in the parliament.

Since then, opposition parties have been demanding resignation from President Yoon. 6 parties together have started the impeachment process to remove the President. Voting on this may take place on Saturday.

People's Party has 108 seats

The very next day after the martial law was imposed in South Korea, the opposition parties together started the impeachment process against the president. The opposition parties have a total of 192 MPs. In the Korean Parliament of 300 seats, two-thirds i.e. 200 MPs are required to initiate impeachment.

The People's Party has 108 seats. The opposition parties need only 8 votes to impeach. After the statement of the ruling People's Party's General Secretary Dong-Hun, it is believed that some opposition leaders of the party may support impeachment to remove the President.

It is difficult to get votes from the ruling party- Opposition leader

Opposition leader Lee acknowledged this dynamic in an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday, saying it could be difficult to get votes from the ruling party this week. Still, he said the Democratic Party would continue to push to remove the president from office even if it survives the initial impeachment motion.

He will be impeached — the only question is whether he will be removed from office the day after tomorrow, a week later, a month or three months later, Lee said.

Lee Jae-myung, center, and other party members protest at the National Assembly in Seoul, demanding Yoon's resignation.

For the PPP, its recent history is helping its decision-making. Some conservative lawmakers who supported the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye in 2016 later faced a negative public image for betraying her.

After that scandal, the conservative faction rebranded itself as the PPP. Despite some internal opposition, the party recruited outsider Yoon — a former prosecutor who had helped convict Park — to help clean up its image.

Instead, the party now seeks to avoid another long stay in political exile. While Yoon has become politically toxic, he supports a tough stance on North Korea and pro-business policies that appeal to conservative voters.

'I will take charge'

By holding off on an initial impeachment vote, conservative lawmakers could try to mobilize their supporters while attempting to sever ties with Yoon himself. And Han, who is also a former prosecutor and a relative political novice, could use the time to consolidate power.

Han's faction of the PPP has about 20 lawmakers and was among those who joined the opposition on Wednesday morning to reject the martial law order. He is now trying to persuade other party members, many of whom sit between him and Yoon, to join his camp.

"I met the president yesterday, but his perception of the situation was very different from me and the people, and it was hard to empathize with him," Han told his colleagues on Thursday. He asked for their support and said: "I will take responsibility and lead to fix this situation."

While left-wing opposition leader Lee was confident Yoon would eventually be impeached, others in his party were concerned that moving ahead with impeachment too quickly would allow conservatives to gain the upper hand.

Woo Sang-ho, a former Democratic Party lawmaker who led the effort to pass an impeachment bill against former leader Park, told local newspaper Donga Ilbo that the opposition should have taken time to woo conservatives and build public support for Yoon's removal.

"The mission of the political power is to clean up national chaos and unify the country, and if it treats the president's impeachment as a political battle, it may miss this opportunity and not succeed," Wu was quoted as saying by the paper, citing the opposition.