Protesters participating in a march against South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol made their way towards the Presidential Office in Seoul on December 4, 2024. – AFP
South Korean opposition lawmakers announced on Thursday that they would vote this weekend to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol due to his failed attempt to impose martial law, while the defense minister who advised the move resigned. Yoon's declaration of martial law on Tuesday aimed to consolidate power, ban political activities, and censor the media in Asia's fourth-largest economy and a key U.S. ally. This declaration sparked outrage on the streets and concern among South Korea's international allies.
Lawmakers from the opposition Democratic Party planned to seek a vote in parliament to impeach Yoon at around 7 p.m. (1000 GMT) on Saturday, according to a party spokesperson. "The Yoon Suk Yeol regime's declaration of emergency martial law caused great confusion and fear among our people," Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Seung-won stated earlier in the National Assembly.
Yoon's ruling People Power Party is divided over the crisis but announced it would oppose impeachment, with the party in turmoil and two years remaining in Yoon's five-year term. The Democratic Party needs at least eight of the 108 ruling-party lawmakers to support the bill for it to pass with a two-thirds majority of the 300-seat parliament.
Fighting for his political future, Yoon accepted the resignation of Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun on Thursday and nominated his ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Choi Byung-hyuk, as a replacement. Kim had recommended Yoon declare martial law on Tuesday, according to the interior minister, a senior military official, and the filing to impeach Yoon by opposition members. Kim also ordered the deployment of troops to the parliament, Vice-Defence Minister Kim Seon-ho said, adding he was unaware of the martial law order until Yoon declared it.
"I have fundamentally opposed the mobilisation of military forces under martial law and have expressed negative opinions about it," Kim Seon-ho told a parliament hearing on Thursday, apologising and taking responsibility for failing to prevent it. The former defence minister now faces a travel ban as prosecutors investigate the attempt to impose martial law, broadcaster YTN reported on Thursday. Yoon and the interior minister were also being investigated, the Yonhap news agency reported.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba expressed concern that Japan's "security situation may be fundamentally changed" due to the instability in Seoul and North Korea's rising military assertiveness. "What will happen to South Korea? There appears to be a great deal of domestic criticism and opposition," he told parliament on Thursday, adding that Yoon's efforts to improve relations with Tokyo "must never be undermined".
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Reuters on Wednesday that the United States had not been made aware in advance of Yoon's declaration, while his deputy, Kurt Campbell, said Yoon had badly misjudged it. The U.S. has 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea as a legacy of the 1950-1953 Korean War. The commander of U.S. Forces-Korea, General Paul LaCamera, warned American troops to exercise vigilance, avoid areas with protests, and to communicate travel plans to their supervisors in case "something unexpected" occurs.
The impeachment plan follows a night of chaos after Yoon declared martial law and armed troops attempted to force their way into the National Assembly building in Seoul, only to stand back when parliamentary aides sprayed them with fire extinguishers. The commander of the martial law troops said he had no intention of wielding firearms against the public, and Kim, the vice defence minister, said no live ammunition had been provided to those troops.
Many of the protesters said they feared a return to the dictatorships and martial law that marked much of South Korea's post-war period. "For the sake of my children, this must be stopped no matter what," one protester, Kim Hye-Min, said on Thursday at a demonstration outside parliament. "We cannot go back to the 1970s."
The martial law crisis rattled global financial markets and South Korea's benchmark KOSPI index. Currency dealers reported suspected state intervention on Wednesday to keep the won stable. If the impeachment bill passes, South Korea's Constitutional Court will then decide whether to uphold the motion – a process that could take up to 180 days. If Yoon were to be suspended from exercising power, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo would fill in as leader. If Yoon resigned or was removed from office, a new election would be held within 60 days.
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