The ruling People Power Party Chair Han Dong-hoon and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo made a joint address to the nation Sunday. Party leader Han, claiming that President Yoon Suk Yeol would end his involvement in state affairs, said he would stabilize the political situation by arranging the president's resignation in an orderly manner. Prime Minister Han pledged to ensure the stable and smooth operation of all government functions.

Their remarks immediately sparked controversy over whether a ruling party leader and prime minister are legally qualified to assume executive power to normalize state affairs while Yoon retains his position as the sitting president. National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik said their joint exercise of executive power would violate the constitution. The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea called it another insurrection.

In a statement to the nation before the National Assembly's vote on impeachment, Yoon said he would “leave it up to” his party to “take steps to stabilize the political situation,” including the issue of his term in office. But it is not clear from Yoon's words that he meant sidelining himself and delegating presidential authority to two other persons. In fact, Yoon continued to exercise presidential authority after the joint address by accepting the resignation of Interior and Safety Minister Lee Sang-min.

The Democratic Party said Monday it is reviewing impeaching Prime Minister Han. It said he should be impeached even if he takes the role of acting president, if there is obvious evidence of his illegalities. The party also included him in the targets of a special counsel probe into insurrection.

Han, the ruling party leader, vowed to pursue Yoon's orderly and early resignation, but there was no mention of concrete plans and details.

It seems that Han intends to induce the president's voluntary resignation while opposing an opposition-led impeachment. Given the opposition party's persistent demand for an immediate impeachment, it is unclear if the party will accept Han's proposal.

Yoon has not clarified his position on the orderly resignation, though the president has entrusted the job of stabilizing the political situation to the ruling party.

If the ruling party wants to prevent Yoon's impeachment, which it fears will cause an irreparable division of the conservative bloc, it should first present a concrete and effective road map for an orderly resignation. The president needs to make his position on the matter clear.

Putting politics aside, the parties should take all necessary steps for the stable operation of government. However, the Democratic Party is going in the opposite direction.

The party said it will reduce next year's proposed budget by an additional 700 billion won ($487 million) "to reflect Yoon's insurrection." It is not right to link the government budget to the president's failed imposition of martial law. The party had already slashed the budget by 4.1 trillion won in an apparent bid to disrupt the Yoon administration, and pushed the reduced version through the budget committee unilaterally. The party also said it would refuse to negotiate over the budget if the ruling party does not join the opposition in impeaching Yoon. It said it will push through the reduced budget in the plenary Assembly session Tuesday.

The Democratic Party should not threaten further cuts to the budget but should revive the original proposal and discuss it with the ruling party.

The main opposition party pledged to repeatedly table new impeachment motions against Yoon until one passes, but it ought to think rationally about what is good for the country and its people. The nation was astonished by the president's misguided declaration of martial law, which has caused chaos, but both the opposition and ruling parties are responsible for disentangling the mess. The parties should not pretend to work for the people while aggravating the confusion for political gain.