With just weeks to go before South Korea’s snap presidential election on June 3, former President Yoon Suk-yeol announced on Saturday that he is leaving the conservative People Power Party (PPP), which he once led.
“I am resigning today from the People Power Party. I bow to my fellow members who have trusted me and stood by me for so long,” Yoon wrote in an online statement. He added that stepping down was the best way to help his political camp secure victory and defend liberal democracy.
His departure follows mounting pressure from party members and the public in recent days, amid the fallout from a failed attempt to impose martial law, which led to his impeachment and eventual removal from office—a dramatic sequence that severely damaged his political standing.
Despite his resignation, Yoon urged voters to rally behind Kim Moon-soo, the PPP’s presidential candidate, calling for massive voter turnout on June 3 “in the name of freedom, sovereignty, and prosperity.”