South Korea.- South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has asked this Saturday for “sincere apologies for the anxiety and inconvenience” after the controversy raised with the approval on Tuesday of martial law, a measure that was later revoked by the country’s Parliament, and has left it in the hands of his party to “stabilize the political situation.”
“The declaration of martial law was born out of desperation as president,” the president said in a message to the nation, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap.
Yoon also stressed that “there will never be a second martial law.” “I sincerely apologize for the anxiety and inconvenience to the people,” he lamented.
He also made it clear that he will not evade “legal and political responsibility related to martial law.” “I leave it to the party to figure out how to stabilise the political situation, even during my term,” Yoon said in his first public appearance after the events.
PARTY LEADER’S REACTION
For his part, the leader of the People’s Power Party, the party to which the president belongs, Han Dong Hoon, said after the president’s statements that his “early resignation is inevitable.” “We will discuss and consider the best way for Korea and its people in the future,” he told reporters, according to Yonhap.
“It is a situation in which it is impossible for the president to perform his duties normally,” he added.
These statements come after Han asked the president on Wednesday to leave the party after Yoon’s controversial decision to declare martial law, which was later revoked by Parliament, and which brought with it the resignation of the Minister of Defence, Kim Yong Hyun, who accepted “full responsibility for what happened.”
Yoon announced martial law in an unexpected address to the nation in which he accused the opposition of sympathising with North Korea after the opposition – which has a majority in Parliament – pushed through a budget measure and filed motions for the dismissal of several senior officials.
OPPOSITION RESPONSE
Precisely the opposition leader, Lee Jae Myung, has responded to the president, whose statement he considered “does not fit the public’s expectations at all and further increases the feeling of betrayal and anger among the people.”
“In short, I am very disappointed,” he stressed, stressing that “there is no other way to resolve this situation than the immediate resignation of the president or his early resignation through impeachment.”
“The possibility of committing something more serious in the future is very high, so the existence of the president himself is a risk,” he reiterated, adding: “Of course, (President Yoon) must be investigated in his current state and, if necessary, arrested, detained, prosecuted and punished.”
Along these lines, the parliamentary leader of the opposition Democratic Party, Park Chan-dae, has alleged that, “if the impeachment bill is rejected, we will immediately put pressure on it again in the extraordinary session of the National Assembly.”
IMPEACHMENT PROMOTED BY THE OPPOSITION
The opposition parties have started the procedures to initiate an impeachment trial in Parliament, although the ruling party has clarified that it will not support it. Lee, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, the main driving force behind the impeachment process of the president, has admitted that it will be difficult to gain the necessary support to achieve Yoon’s departure this week, but has pointed out that his dismissal is “a simple matter of time,” according to information collected by Yonhap.
On the agenda confirmed by the South Korean Parliament, before the motion against the president, there is the vote on the proposal to call for an investigation into the first lady following an investigation into stock manipulation, a scandal that has been at the center of political debate in South Korea for the last year and has been one of the key factors in the crushing defeat suffered by the ruling People’s Power Party (PPP) in the elections of last April 10.
For the measure to be approved in the Lower House, the support of two thirds of the deputies is necessary, which means the vote in favor of 200 of the 300 legislators. For the vote to be valid, more than half of the parliamentarians must be present.
Yoon’s People’s Power Party currently has 108 seats to the opposition’s 192, so if all the ruling party’s deputies vote against the motion, the initiative will be rejected.
The impeachment process has been opened following the request of the six opposition parties, which presented the measure on Wednesday after revoking the martial law imposed the previous day by the president, who accused the opposition of maintaining positions close to North Korea by blocking his budget measures and seeking the dismissal of several prosecutors.
“The problem is that some deputies from Yoon’s party are willing to vote in favor, but that would imply breaking party discipline and would put them in a difficult situation,” said Lee. However, he asserted that the president “will be dismissed, whether it is in a day, two, a week, a month or three months.”
The situation has caused strong protests in the South Korean capital, where groups of activists, opponents and unions have attacked a president who had been registering a low popularity rate. All of them have asked for his resignation to return stability to the Asian country, they have denounced.
