Kim Jong-hyeok: "Impeachment is betrayal? Those who criticize are traitors to the people"

People Power Party Pro-Han Faction Supreme Council Member Kim Jong-hyeok
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Kim Jong-hyuk, a Supreme Council member of the People Power Party (PPP) classified as pro-Chinhan (Chinhan Donghoon faction), criticized those within the party who supported the passage of the impeachment motion against President Yoon Seok-yeol on the 15th, calling the PPP leader Han Dong-hoon and the lawmakers who voted in favor "traitors." He said, "You yourselves are the traitors to South Korea's democracy, constitutional order, and the people."

Kim Jong-hyuk, Supreme Council Member of the People Power Party. / Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

On the same day, Kim posted on his social media, "After the impeachment motion was passed on the 14th, some PPP lawmakers harshly criticized Leader Han Dong-hoon and those who supported the impeachment as traitors," adding, "I want to ask them: who exactly is your loyalty to? Is it not to South Korea and democracy, but to the president personally?"

Kim strongly criticized, "Those of you who claim that impeaching a president who has completely destroyed the national order is betrayal will be recorded in history as traitors to South Korea's democracy, constitutional order, and the people. Don’t you really know this? Aren’t you afraid?"

He said, "After the impeachment motion against President Yoon was passed, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised it as 'a demonstration of South Korea’s democratic resilience,'" and questioned, "Are you saying that the United States is also a traitor to you?" He added, "I believe that once the truth about the emergency martial law is fully revealed, it will become clear what was right and what was wrong, and what constituted loyalty and betrayal to the nation."

Regarding President Yoon, Kim added, "It is your freedom to claim that the emergency martial law was justified and that you are innocent, but before that, shouldn’t you sincerely apologize to the people whose lives were ruined because of you, to the military whose honor and morale have collapsed, and to the police officers who, despite being mocked by protesters, are still guarding the Yongsan Presidential Residence, the National Assembly, and the People Power Party headquarters?"

Since the passage of the impeachment motion against President Yoon on the 14th, internal strife within the People Power Party has deepened. All five elected Supreme Council members, including pro-Yoon faction members Kim Min-jeon, Kim Jae-won, and In Yo-han, as well as pro-Chinhan faction members Jang Dong-hyuk and Jin Jong-oh, have resigned, shaking Leader Han’s position. Han is expected to hold a press conference at the National Assembly on the morning of the 16th to announce his intention to resign as party leader.