SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea’s president said he “really regrets” causing public anxiety with his declaration of martial law earlier this week, and vowed not to make another attempt to impose it.
President Yoon Suk Yeol publicly apologized in a brief televised speech Saturday morning, hours before a parliamentary vote on a motion to impeach him.
Yoon said he will not shirk legal or political responsibility for the statement, adding that he will leave it to his conservative party to chart measures to stabilize politics, “including matters related to my term.”
It was not immediately clear whether the motion put forward by opposition lawmakers would win the two-thirds majority needed for Yoon to be charged. But it seemed more likely after the leader of Yoon’s own party called on Friday to suspend his constitutional powers, describing him as unfit to hold office and capable of taking more extreme measures, including new attempts to impose martial law.
Removing Yoon would require the support of 200 of the 300 members of the National Assembly. The opposition parties who jointly presented the impeachment motion They have 192 seats combined.
That means they would need at least eight votes from Yoon’s People Power Party. On Wednesday, 18 PPP members joined a vote that unanimously canceled martial law by a 190-0 vote, less than three hours after Yoon declared the move on television, calling the opposition-controlled parliament a “den of criminals.” ” that bogs down state affairs. The vote took place as hundreds of heavily armed troops surrounded the National Assembly in an attempt to disrupt the vote and possibly detain key politicians.
Parliament said on Saturday it would meet at 5 pm. He will first vote on a bill appointing a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of influence peddling surrounding Yoon’s wife, and then on Yoon’s impeachment.
The turmoil resulting from Yoon’s bizarre and ill-considered stunt has paralyzed South Korean politics and raised alarm among key diplomatic partners, including neighboring Japan and Seoul’s main ally, the United States, as one of Asia’s strongest democracies faces a political crisis that could overthrow its leader.
Opposition lawmakers claim Yoon’s declaration of martial law amounted to a self-coup and drafted the impeachment motion around charges of rebellion.
The PPP decided to oppose the impeachment at a meeting of legislators, despite the requests of its leader Han Dong-hun, who is not a legislator and does not have the right to vote.
After a party meeting on Friday, Han stressed the need to quickly suspend Yoon’s presidential duties and power, saying it “could potentially put the Republic of Korea and its citizens in great danger.”
Han said he had received information that during the brief period of martial law, Yoon ordered the country’s defense counterintelligence commander to arrest and detain unspecified key politicians based on accusations of “anti-state activities.”
Hong Jang-won, first deputy director of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, later told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing that Yoon called after imposing martial law and ordered him to help the defense counterintelligence unit. to arrest key politicians. The targeted politicians included Han, opposition leader Lee Jae-myung and National Assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik, according to Kim Byung-kee, one of the lawmakers who attended the meeting.
The Defense Ministry said it had suspended defense counterintelligence commander Yeo In-hyung, who Han said had received orders from Yoon to detain the politicians. The ministry also suspended Lee Jin-woo, commander of the capital defense command, and Kwak Jong-geun, commander of the special warfare command, for their involvement in enforcing martial law.
Former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun, accused of recommending Yoon to enforce martial law, has been placed under a travel ban and faces investigation by prosecutors on rebellion charges.
Vice Defense Minister Kim Seon Ho, who became acting Defense Minister after Yoon accepted Kim Yong Hyun’s resignation on Thursday, testified before parliament that it was Kim Yong Hyun who ordered the deployment of troops to the Assembly National after Yoon imposed martial law.