S. Korea's embattled President staggers on after failed impeachment

Yoon increasingly isolated amid scandals, pushback from opposition, rifts within party

SEOUL - South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol faces the greatest challenge of his brief but checkered political career, despite surviving a bruising impeachment challenge, as members of his own party called for him to resign for imposing martial law.

Mr. Yoon was regarded as a tough political survivor but became increasingly isolated, dogged by personal scandals and strife, an unyielding opposition and rifts within his own party.

After he narrowly won election in 2022, his recent battles have left him increasingly bitter and drawn out a recklessness that a former rival said was his defining trait.

By the time Mr. Yoon attempted to impose martial law on Dec. 3, he was badly bruised politically.

An impeachment motion against him failed late on Dec. 7 when members of his ruling party boycotted the National Assembly session, but even some of them said he was unqualified for office and should resign.

The opposition vowed to try again, while Mr. Yoon's party said it would find a "more orderly, responsible" way to resolve the crisis.

Some analysts said Mr. Yoon, a former prosecutor who had never held elected office before his presidential election, showed signs of being in "extreme rage" when martial law was in effect, citing the language he allegedly used to order the arrests of some MPs who had clashed with him.

A top spy agency official told a Parliament intelligence committee that Mr. Yoon said, "Grab them all and round them up," according to panel member Kim Byung-kee.

Mr. Ihn Yohan, a physician and MP from Mr. Yoon's People Power Party who is considered an ally of the President, said the martial law decree was "extreme" but not entirely unjustified, given the endless political attacks against Mr. Yoon.