The South Korean president presented his “sincere apologies” this Saturday, December 7, for having briefly imposed martial law on Tuesday, but did not resign, while a vote on his dismissal will take place in a few hours in Parliament. In a short televised address to the nation, Yoon Suk Yeol announced that he will entrust his party, the People’s Power Party (PPP), with taking “measures aimed at stabilizing the political situation, including regarding my mandate”.
“I will not shy away from my legal and political responsibilities regarding the declaration of martial law,” he said. The head of the PPP, Han Dong-hoon, immediately affirmed that “an early resignation of the president is inevitable”, the normal exercise of his functions being according to him “impossible under these circumstances”. The National Assembly must vote at 5 p.m. (local) on the impeachment motion. A qualified majority of 200 deputies out of 300 is necessary to dismiss the president.
Yoon Suk Yeol’s PPP has 108 MPs and the opposition has 192. The opposition therefore needs to rally at least eight MPs from the presidential camp to its cause to win. At the end of a meeting overnight from Friday to Saturday, a majority of party deputies reaffirmed the official line according to which they will defeat the impeachment, while Han Dong-hoon had called for the “rapid suspension” of the president.
Han Dong-hoon was the target of one of Yoon Suk Yeol’s arrest orders against political leaders on the night of the coup, and the soldiers who broke into Parliament sought to seize him, said Friday an opposition MP, Jo Seung-lae, saying he based his remarks on images from surveillance cameras.
“Immediate resignation”
“Right now, the biggest risk in South Korea is the very existence of the president. The only solutions are immediate resignation […] or early departure by impeachment”, declared this Saturday the leader of the Democratic Party, the main opposition force, Lee Jae-myung. The president’s statement is “very disappointing” and “only exacerbates the feeling of betrayal and anger among citizens,” he added to the press.
At midday, a demonstration began in front of Parliament, while others are planned in downtown Seoul. The organizers said they expected 200,000 participants and the police “tens of thousands”. A pro-Yoon rally also began at Gwanghwamun’s central square. Demonstrators held posters reading “Arrest Lee Jae-myung”, the leader of the opposition, others waved American flags.
The unpopular conservative president is accused by the opposition and by part of his own camp of having shaken the young South Korean democracy by imposing martial law by surprise, before reversing course six hours later under pressure from the deputies and the street.
Camp at the Assembly
Fearing a new nighttime coup by the president, who had not appeared in public since Wednesday, opposition deputies camped out all night inside the National Assembly. Buses and other vehicles were parked on plazas around the building to prevent possible special forces helicopters from landing. In his speech this Saturday morning, Yoon Suk Yeol however assured that “there will never be a second martial law”. “I apologize for causing fear to the people,” he concluded, before bowing.
During the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, around 280 soldiers burst into Parliament, where the opposition had called an emergency session after the establishment of martial law. Parliamentary assistants prevented them from entering the chamber by blocking the doors with furniture, while the 190 deputies who had managed to sneak into the building unanimously adopted a motion calling for the measure to be lifted. exceptional.
Yoon Suk Yeol complied shortly after, as required by the Constitution, repealed martial law and sent the soldiers back to their barracks. If the impeachment is voted for, the president will be suspended from his functions until the Constitutional Court validates or not the decision of the deputies. If so, an early presidential election must take place within 60 days. In addition to the impeachment procedure, Yoon Suk Yeol is the target of a police investigation for “rebellion”, a crime theoretically punishable by the death penalty (which has not been applied in the country since 1997).