South Korean Opposition’s Support Slides as Yoon Defies Arrest
(Bloomberg) -- The support rate for South Korea’s main opposition that has been leading the impeachment campaign against President Yoon Suk Yeol dived, as investigators struggle to arrest the embattled leader.
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The approval rate for the opposition Democratic Party fell to 36% in a poll released Friday by Gallup Korea, down 12 percentage points from the previous survey released in December. The support rate for Yoon’s People Power Party rose to 34% from 24% during the same period, rising above the level of support reported days before Yoon’s martial law decree.
The latest poll was conducted among 1,004 respondents across the country and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, Gallup Korea said.
The drop in support for the opposition follows its impeachment of Prime Minister Han Duck-soo who briefly took on the role of acting president, and investigators’ failure to arrest Yoon last week after an hourslong standoff with his security team.
“These events appear to have heightened a sense of crisis among the ruling party supporters over a power transition while dampening expectations by moderates and liberals that had been supporting the main opposition party,” Gallup Korea said in the report.
The number of respondents who favor opposition leader Lee Jae-myung as the next president also fell to 32% from 37% in the previous survey conducted days after Yoon’s Dec. 14 impeachment. The latest survey showed 64% respondents are in favor of Yoon’s impeachment, compared to 32% against the campaign.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials is mulling how to bring Yoon into custody, a week after they gave up on their first try to haul him in for questioning over his Dec. 3 martial law declaration. Yoon has remained defiant against efforts to detain him for a criminal investigation, arguing that it was within his constitutional rights.
Police on Friday called in Yoon’s security chief, Park Chong-jun, who has led the operation to block the probe team’s arrest warrant execution over alleged obstruction of duties. It’s not immediately clear if police will try to arrest Park, which will likely raise the chance of Yoon’s arrest.
Yoon’s representatives say the arrest warrant is invalid and illegal, because the CIO has no legal authority to investigate insurrection charges. The office arbitrarily chose a court in a different district to improve its chances of obtaining the warrant, they said.
Separate to the criminal investigation efforts, the Constitutional Court is set to begin a trial on Jan. 14 to decide whether to ultimately oust Yoon, a process that could take up to six months. If the impeachment is upheld, South Korea must hold an election within 60 days.
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