At least 40 lawmakers from South Korea's ruling Saenuri Party support the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye for her influence-peddling scandal, a group of party members opposing Park said Friday.

Opposition parties currently plan to put the impeachment motion up for vote in early December. Given that all opposition and independent lawmakers back the motion, its passage needs support from at least 28 Saenuri lawmakers to meet the minimum requirement of 200 votes out of the 300-seat National Assembly.

Rep. Hwang Young-cheul, spokesman of the emergency council of Park opponents, said the estimate is based on a survey of lawmakers participating in the group. He added the number of supporters may be higher if other lawmakers are counted.

In the wake of the scandal, the ruling party was overtaken this week by the People's Party to rank third in public approval for the first time, according to the pollster Realmeter. It recorded 16.7 percent, down 2.3 percentage points from a week earlier. Once the most popular political party with over 30 percent support, its rating has dropped for the eighth consecutive week since the scandal broke. (Yonhap)