Rival political parties on Wednesday wrangled over when and how President Yoon Suk Yeol should be removed from office, as the police and prosecutors investigating possible insurrection charges closed in on him a week after his ill-fated declaration of martial law.
Police officers showed up at Mr. Yoon’s presidential compound in Seoul on Wednesday, wanting to search facilities there, including his office. Their main focus was to collect evidence that could show whether he had committed insurrection when he declared martial law late on Dec. 3 and sent military troops into the National Assembly.
But his presidential secret service stopped the police officers at the gate, blocking them from entering Mr. Yoon’s office. The search made slow progress as both sides discussed what data should be collected by the presidential staff and handed over to the police at the gate.
Martial law lasted only six hours. The National Assembly quickly passed a resolution demanding an end to it, forcing Mr. Yoon to lift it. But the situation has pushed South Korea into a constitutional crisis and set off nationwide calls for the president’s removal. It also prompted the police and prosecutors to begin investigating the roles of Mr. Yoon and his supporters in the government and military in executing the law.
Mr. Yoon has been barred from leaving the country but has not been summoned for questioning. He faces the possibility of becoming the first South Korean president arrested on criminal charges while in office.
Mr. Yoon’s governing People Power Party, or P.P.P., has said it wants to give him an “orderly exit,” rather than to impeach him as the opposition is seeking to do. On Wednesday, an emergency task force of governing party lawmakers said they wanted Mr. Yoon to step down either in February or in March.
“From today, we will start persuading him to follow our suggestion,” Lee Yang-soo, the task force chief, told reporters. “We don’t know how long it will take to persuade him.”
Mr. Lee said that if Mr. Yoon were to step down in February or in March, South Korea can hold an election to choose a new leader in April or May. If the president resigns, the country must elect a new president in two months. This would be the fastest road map for the country to end political uncertainty, Mr. Lee said. Mr. Yoon’s office has not reacted to this proposal.
If the president is impeached, he is immediately suspended from office, but the Constitutional Court can take up to six months to decide whether to reinstate or formally remove him.
Mr. Yoon, who has not been seen in public since his televised apology on Saturday for his martial law declaration, was staying in his residence less than two miles away from his office. He could choose to remain while he is impeached rather than step down, if he believes he has a better chance of fighting it at the Constitutional Court.
The opposition wants Mr. Yoon removed from office as soon as possible through impeachment. The opposition parties, which together control a large majority of the Assembly, planned to call another impeachment vote on Saturday after governing party members blocked their first effort last Saturday.
“It’s not normal to argue that the ringleader of the insurrection, who tried to kidnap and detain lawmakers, should be kept in office for three more months,” Jeon Hyun-heui, a senior member of the main opposition Democratic Party, said on Wednesday. It might allow Mr. Yoon to buy time to declare martial law again, she said.
Last Saturday, the governing party boycott denied the opposition the eight additional votes it needed to pass the bill.
But the P.P.P. move proved hugely unpopular. Protesters gathered around the party headquarters in Seoul and its regional offices to denounce its boycott. And die-hard supporters of Mr. Yoon called on the party to protect the president.
This week, the party line began showing bigger cracks.
By Wednesday, five party lawmakers had publicly said they would vote for impeachment on Saturday, more than did last week. The opposition needs three more votes to make the eight required.
“The president is refusing to step down,” Kim Jae-sub, one of the five P.P.P. lawmakers who planned to go against Mr. Yoon, said in a news conference on Wednesday. “So his most orderly exit is now impeachment.”
Mr. Yoon has shown no sign of wanting to resign, even as his support base and his government crumble around him.
His already-low approval ratings crashed further after he imposed martial law. Restaurant owners who proudly displayed his photographs on the wall after he visited their establishments began removing them. A host of senior government officials, including Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, and army generals have received summons from the police and prosecutors for questioning on their roles in Mr. Yoon’s declaration of martial law. Many of them began distancing themselves from Mr. Yoon.
“I made my objection clear, and I tried to persuade him out of it,” Mr. Han said during a parliamentary session on Wednesday, describing a cabinet meeting on the evening of Dec. 3 where Mr. Yoon revealed his plan to declare martial law. “But I failed, and I am sorry I couldn’t.”
Mr. Yoon’s former defense minister, Kim Yong-hyun, was arrested on charges of participating in insurrection. While waiting for his arrest warrant, he tried unsuccessfully to kill himself in a jail bathroom, officials said.
In a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday, Lt. Gen. Kwak Jong-geun said Mr. Yoon had personally called him while his troops were storming the National Assembly. Mr. Yoon ordered him to remove lawmakers so that there could not be a quorum to vote down his martial law, he said.
“He said: Break the door down right now and get in there and drag out the people inside,” General Kwak told the hearing.
The general and Col. Kim Hyun-tae, who was leading troops at the Assembly, both told the hearing that they did not follow the order because they feared legal repercussions and people getting hurt.
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