Online petitioners calling for South Korean President Yoon's impeachment reach 1 mn

Seoul, July 3 (IANS) The number of people demanding the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol surpassed the 1 million mark Wednesday on the National Assembly's petition website.

The petition, calling on the National Assembly to propose a bill on Yoon's impeachment, gained a daily average of 100,000 signatures over a period of 10 days after it was posted on June 24, Yonhap news agency reported.

Lawmakers of the Democratic Party (DP) backed the petition, saying the number of petition approvals rightfully reflects the public's views of Yoon.

"The president must change first for the state affairs, now on the verge of a catastrophe, to get back on track," DP floor leader Park Chan-dae said during a Supreme Council meeting.

During the meeting, Rep. Jung Chung-rae also said the petition is "the people's voice" demanding the "judgment" of the Yoon administration.

A petition approved by more than 50,000 people within 30 days is referred to a parliamentary subcommittee that reviews petitions under the legislation and judiciary committee, and can be submitted to a plenary session.

DP spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said the committee and the subcommittee will impartially examine the petition and they would consider holding a hearing or taking other necessary steps, if needed, over the course of the examination.

The ruling People Power Party (PPP) lashed out at the move.

"The DP is abusing the petition as a means of political fighting," PPP spokesperson Kwak Gyu-taek told reporters, claiming that it is "obvious that there are no grounds" for Yoon's impeachment.

Amid deepening political strife, the presidential office accused the opposition of trying to railroad contentious bills and pushing for the impeachment of high-ranking officials.

"The DP should immediately stop anti-civilizational attempts to destroy the Constitution and its unheard-of legislative violence and coup d'etat," a senior presidential official told Yonhap News Agency.

On Tuesday, the DP proposed a motion to impeach four prosecutors, including those involved in corruption investigations into former party leader Lee Jae-myung.

The DP, which holds a controlling majority in parliament, is also pushing to put forth a bill calling for a special counsel probe into the government's alleged interference with a military probe into a Marine's death despite opposition by the ruling People Power Party.

The bill, seen as ultimately aiming to investigate suspicions of Yoon's interference with the probe, had been vetoed by the president in the previous National Assembly, but the DP proposed it again after the new National Assembly began its term in late May.

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