Ruling People Power Party(PPP) leader Han Dong-hoon has ordered the party’s ethics committee to look into expelling President Yoon Suk Yeol from the party, after the president defended his martial law decree in a speech Thursday morning.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Han said he had not expected such remarks from Yoon but now believes it has become clearer that the president can no longer carry on with his official duties.

The PPP chief said the president must be promptly suspended from his duties through impeachment procedures, calling on the party to change its official position to support the opposition-led motion during Saturday’s plenary vote.

The ethics committee is set to start discussing Yoon’s expulsion at 10 p.m. Thursday.

The party’s constitution and party rules allow for disciplinary action, such as expulsion or recommendation to leave the party, upon approval from the committee and the Supreme Council if a member harms the party, breaks the party’s rules or breaks the law. 

In his televised address Thursday morning, Yoon said the December 3 martial law decree was a highly calibrated political and constitutional judgment that he made as the president and pledged to face whatever lies ahead, whether it be impeachment or a criminal investigation.