South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party (DP) filed a second impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday, with a vote scheduled for Saturday.
DP spokeswoman Gang Yu-jeong said, "We have decided to reintroduce the impeachment motion today. It will be reported to the National Assembly on the 12th, and the vote will take place at 5 p.m. on Saturday."
Bloomberg reports that the odds of this impeachment motion passing are much higher than before, as ruling party, People Power Party, members are expected to support it.
"I strongly urge members of the ruling People Power Party to avoid being on the wrong side of history and to join the vote for passing the impeachment," DP lawmaker Kim Yong-min told reporters.
Bloomberg noted, "The opposition needs to secure 200 votes in parliament to pass the motion. An attempt to impeach Yoon last Saturday failed to reach that threshold after his party boycotted the vote," adding, "The opposition requires at least eight ruling party votes to pass the motion. So far, seven members have hinted that they would support moves to impeach Yoon."
Also on Thursday, PPP, which initially refused to back last week's impeachment while hoping Yoon would resign, shifted its stance after making no progress in convincing the president to step aside.
"We tried to find a better way than impeachment, but that other way is invalid," PPP leader Dong-hoon said, adding, "Suspending the president from his duties through impeachment is the only way for now, to defend democracy and the republic."
Yoon has been banned from traveling overseas and faces mounting calls to step down after he declared emergency martial law on Dec. 3, accusing the opposition party of conducting "anti-state activities." This marked the largest flare-up in political turmoil in South Korea since full-scale martial law was declared in the spring of 1980.
Goldman's Goohoon Kwon and Andrew Tilton provided clients on Monday with several transition scenarios for Yoon:
In markets, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) moved higher by about 1.6% on the second round of impeachment news after sliding last week.
"Some market watchers have been saying that his ouster will ease political uncertainty and help stabilize sentiment," Bloomberg said.
Graham Ambrose, managing director of Goldman Sachs' equity franchise sales team in London, told clients last week that there could be "buying opportunities in Seoul in coming days."
