South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol is facing calls for him to resign immediately or face impeachment after his brief attempt to impose martial law sparked protests and political condemnation.
The liberal opposition Democratic Party, which has a majority in the 300-seat Parliament, said Wednesday that its deputies had decided to ask Yoon to resign immediately or they would take steps to remove him.
Thus, the South Korean opposition parties announced this Wednesday that they had presented a motion to remove the president, Yoon Suk-yeol, for his declaration of martial law, according to AFP. “We have presented an urgently prepared motion of no confidence,” representatives of six opposition parties, including the main Democratic Party, said in a live news conference, adding that they would discuss when to put it to a vote, but that it could be this Friday.
“President Yoon Suk-yeol’s declaration of martial law was a clear violation of the Constitution. He did not meet any requirements to declare it,” the Democratic Party said in a statement: “His declaration of martial law was originally invalid and a serious violation of the Constitution. “It represented a serious act of rebellion and provides grounds for his dismissal.”
Yoon’s stunning decision to impose South Korea’s first martial law in more than four decades plunged the country into the greatest turmoil in its modern democratic history, and caught its closest allies around the world off guard.
The United States, which has nearly 30,000 troops in South Korea in the wake of the standoff with the North, initially expressed deep concern about the statement, then relief at the end of martial law.
The events have seriously jeopardized the future of Yoon, a conservative politician and former star prosecutor who was elected president in 2022.
South Korea’s main opposition party – whose deputies jumped fences and clashed with security forces in order to vote in favor of repealing the law – called Yoon’s move an attempted “insurrection.”
The country’s largest union also called for an “indefinite general strike” until Yoon resigned. For his part, the leader of the ruling party, People Power, Han Dong-hoon, described Yoon’s attempt as “tragic” and called for those involved to be held accountable.
Opposition parties jointly control 192 seats in Parliament, out of 300, so would need lawmakers from Yoon’s own party to join them to reach the two-thirds majority needed for impeachment through a vote of no confidence. .
If the National Assembly votes in favor of Yoon’s dismissal, the decision must be supported by at least six of the nine judges of the Constitutional Court. If removed, Yoon would become the second South Korean president to suffer such a fate since the country became a democracy.
The other was Park Geun-hye, ousted in 2017. Ironically, Yoon, then attorney general, led the corruption case that precipitated Park’s downfall.
Yoon backed down on martial law early Wednesday after lawmakers voted against the statement he had made Tuesday night citing the threat of North Korea and “anti-state forces.”
“Just now, the National Assembly requested that the state of emergency be lifted, and we have withdrawn the military deployed to enforce martial law,” Yoon said in a televised speech at around 4:30 a.m. local time. –8:30 p.m. Spanish peninsular time on Tuesday–.
“We will accept the request of the National Assembly and lift martial law through the cabinet meeting.” Yonhap news agency then reported that Yoon’s cabinet had approved the motion to lift the order.
The 180-degree turn sparked jubilation among protesters who, despite the freezing temperatures, had remained vigil throughout the night in defiance of Yoon’s order. Protesters waving South Korean flags and chanting “jail for Yoon Suk Yeol” in front of the National Assembly erupted in cheers.
Lim Myeong-pan, 55, told Agence France-Presse that Yoon’s decision to revoke martial law did not exempt him from possible crimes. “With this he has paved his own path to dismissal,” he said.
There was confusion on the streets of Seoul on Wednesday morning, as newspapers from across the political spectrum published scathing editorials about Yoon’s actions.
The conservative and influential Chosun Ilbo published a scathing editorial claiming that Yoon’s declaration of martial law “seriously crossed the line” of acceptable political boundaries, and demanding accountability. The editorial stated that legal requirements had not been met, and called it a “national shame.”
For its part, the editorial of the progressive Hankyoreh called the declaration of martial law a “betrayal of the people,” expressing disbelief that in 21st-century South Korea an elected president could use the same justification (“anti-state forces planning an insurrection”) as the Military Junta of 45 years ago.
Yoon has “lost the minimum judgment and rationality required of a head of state,” the outlet said.
Yoon attempted to give a number of reasons to justify martial law, South Korea’s first in more than 40 years. “To safeguard a liberal South Korea from threats from North Korean communist forces and eliminate anti-state elements that plunder the freedom and happiness of the people, I declare emergency martial law,” Yoon said in a televised speech.
Yoon did not elaborate on the North’s threats, but the South is still technically at war with nuclear-armed Pyongyang. “Our National Assembly has become a haven for criminals, a den of legislative dictatorship that seeks to paralyze the judicial and administrative systems and nullify our liberal democratic order,” Yoon said.
The president described the main opposition party, the Democratic Party, the majority in Parliament, as “anti-state forces that seek to overthrow the regime.”
Yoon and his party, Popular Power, are also at odds with the opposition over next year’s Budget.
Last week, opposition MPs approved a significantly reduced budget plan in a parliamentary committee.
The imposition of emergency martial law came after Yoon’s approval rating fell to 19% in the latest Gallup poll last week, with many citizens expressing discontent over his management of the economy and the controversies surrounding him. They implicate his wife, Kim Keon Hee.
South Korea is an important US ally in Asia, but Washington said it had not been warned in advance of Yoon’s plan to impose martial law.
“We are relieved that President Yoon has reversed his troubling declaration of martial law and respected the vote of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea to end it,” a spokesperson for the National Security Council of the United States said in a statement. United States, using the acronym of the official name of South Korea.
China, a key ally of North Korea, had urged its citizens in the South to remain calm and act cautiously, while Britain said it was “closely monitoring developments”.
The British foreign affairs officer for the Indo-Pacific, Catherine West, issued a statement calling for “a peaceful resolution of the situation, in accordance with the law and the Constitution of the Republic of Korea.”
Vladimir Tikhonov, a professor of Korean studies at the University of Oslo, said Yoon’s move to impose martial law was “an attempt to turn back the clock of history.”
“I don’t think South Korean civil society can continue to recognize Yoon as the legitimate president,” he told AFP.
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