SEOUL (Kyodo) -- The leader of South Korea's main opposition party called on ruling party lawmakers Friday to support a new attempt to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his short-lived declaration of martial law last week.

Lee Jae Myung's Democratic Party and five other opposition parties submitted a motion to the National Assembly on Thursday after their first attempt at impeachment failed on Dec. 7 with most People Power Party lawmakers boycotting the vote.

The new motion is set to be voted on at 4 p.m. Saturday.

Impeachment is "the fastest and surest way to end this chaos," Lee said, referring to the political turmoil triggered by the martial law imposed by Yoon on the night of Dec. 3. It was rescinded six hours later through a vote by lawmakers.

Yoon maintained in a televised address Thursday that he had declared martial law to defend the constitutional order. "Whether I am impeached or investigated, I will fairly confront it," he said.

A successful impeachment motion requires support from two-thirds of the 300 members of the unicameral legislature. The opposition bloc has 192 lawmakers including independents, which means at least eight votes from the PPP are needed.

Seven of the PPP's 108 lawmakers had spoken in favor of impeaching the president as of Thursday, Yonhap News Agency reported.

The PPP's leader in the assembly, Kweon Seong Dong, said the party's stance as of Friday continued to be to oppose impeachment but that it would hold a general meeting Saturday morning to discuss the issue.

Kweon told reporters that party lawmakers should consider "what is best for the nation and the people," adding that they should prioritize stabilizing the government and relieving public anxiety when considering impeachment.

Kweon, a key confidant of Yoon, replaced Choo Kyung Ho on Thursday. Choo stepped down after the first impeachment motion failed, with reports alleging he cooperated with Yoon in imposing martial law.

The results of a Gallup Korea public opinion survey released Friday showed 75 percent support for Yoon's impeachment.

The president's approval rating fell to 11 percent, the lowest since he took office in May 2022, amid a public uproar over his martial law declaration and succeeding mobilization of the military to the parliament building.