An online petition for the impeachment of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has experienced delays and disruptions due to the large number of people trying to sign it, the speaker of the parliament has said, promising to fix the issue as soon as possible.
More than 811,000 people have so far signed the petition, hosted on the National Assembly's website, since it went live on June 20.
The petition calls on parliament to introduce a bill to impeach Mr Yoon on the grounds that he is unfit for the job.
It accuses Mr Yoon of corruption, stoking the risk of war with North Korea, and exposing South Koreans to health risks by not stopping Japan from releasing treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant.
People trying to access the petition on Monday faced delays that lasted up to four hours.
At one point, an error message showed more than 30,000 people were waiting to access the site.
By law, parliament is required to assign any petition signed by more than 50,000 people to a committee which will then decide whether to put it to the assembly for a vote.
Andy Jackson, associate professor at Monash University's Korean Studies Research Hub, said the petition was significant as it "reflects the countrywide dissatisfaction with the president and his performance".
"With this many signatures and this widespread dissatisfaction the committee is likely to recommend further action.
"If this doesn't happen, then public anger is likely to boil over and people will take to the streets en masse.
"Demonstrations and direct action is a default mode in South Korea when ordinary people think that their legitimate claims are not being listened to."
Will Yoon actually be impeached?
South Korea's parliament has twice impeached presidents: Roh Moo-hyun in 2004 and Park Geun-hye in 2017.
Dr Jackson said it was "quite likely" Mr Yoon would be impeached.
"There are a whole list of reasons about why Yoon is tanking in terms of his popularity," he said.
"His hardline stance against North Korea was supposed to bring stability to the peninsula but it has heightened tensions.
"His handling of the Fukushima contaminated water crisis also created a lot of hostility because he was probably seen as caving in to the Japanese.
"In all these areas, there are strong parallels with the personalist political rule of the conservative Park Geun-hye who was successfully impeached and jailed."
But Jong Eun Lee, assistant professor of political science at North Greenville University, said he thought impeachment was unlikely for now.
"The opposition parties are using this petition to send political warnings to the president," he says.
"Still, they are worried that supporting impeachment could cause a political backlash among the broader public, who may view it as an overreach by the opposition parties."
The opposition Democratic Party, which holds a majority in parliament, is hesitant about turning the petition into an impeachment bill, media reports say.
"As soon as we speak about impeachment, it becomes an actionable agenda, so we are not currently focusing on or responding to that issue," a Democratic Party spokesperson told reporters on Sunday, according to Korean media.
The parliament can call for a president's impeachment with a two-thirds majority.
The Constitutional Court then deliberates that motion and decides to remove or reinstate the president.
There was no immediate comment from the presidential office.
Dwindling support for Yoon
Mr Yoon, leader of the country's conservative People Power Party, became president in May 2022 after narrowly winning an election against the leader of the country's liberal Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung.
Dr Lee said dissatisfaction with Mr Yoon had grown over the past two years.
"There is the perception that Yoon does not engage in communication and dialogue with the public and media over controversial policy issues but rather adheres stubbornly to his policy stance … and that the president relies on a narrow pool of trusted inner circle."
He has been unpopular since taking office, with his latest approval ratings hovering around the 25 per cent mark.
His party also suffered a crushing defeat in parliamentary elections in April, which were widely seen as a midterm confidence vote on the president.
Dr Lee said the petition was also fuelled by Mr Yoon's decisions to veto two bills that the opposition parties are pushing.
The first is a bill investigating allegations surrounding first lady Kim Keon-Hee, who became embroiled in controversy when images from a spy camera purportedly showed her accepting a luxury bag as a gift from a pastor.
Another bill is to investigate the allegations that the President's Office has attempted to interfere with investigations on the causes of the drowning of a South Korean marine corporal during a flood rescue mission last year.
"The opposition parties have criticised the president's veto as an obstruction to justice, attempts to hide the allegations of his wife and his presidential office, and perhaps even his misconduct," Dr Lee said.
