South Korean opposition parties have formally submitted a motion to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol, over a brief declaration of martial law.
Earlier on Thursday, lawmakers presented to parliament an impeachment motion alleging Yoon “severely and widely violated the constitution and the law” and accusing him of using military law “unconstitutionally and unlawfully to evade imminent investigations… into alleged illegal acts. He implicated himself and his family.”
Representatives for the six opposition parties, including the main Democratic Party, said the vote could come in the first Friday, but Yoon’s ruling People’s Party said they would oppose the measure. The Democratic Party needs at least eight of the party’s ruling lawmakers to withdraw the bill in order for it to pass.
Earlier on Wednesday, Yoon called for immediate resignation or face prosecution after an . they try to bring It sparked protests and political condemnations. The opposition Liberal Democratic Party, which holds a majority in the 300-seat parliament, said lawmakers had decided to call on Yoon to resign immediately or face impeachment.
“President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial law was a clear violation of the constitution. He did not abide by any requirements to declare it,” the Democratic Party said in a statement. “His declaration of martial law was originally null and a serious violation of the constitution. It was a serious act of rebellion and provides a perfect reason for impeachment.
In a further development on Wednesday evening, Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun offered his resignation, while at the same time opposing the impeachment motion by the Democratic Party. If Yoon accepts Kim’s resignation before the parliamentary vote, the defense minister would be subject to a longer impeachment process.
Yoon’s offensive was ordered as South Korea’s first state of martial law in four decades, plunging the country into the worst turmoil in modern democratic history and taking its closest allies around the world under protection.
The US – which stations nearly 30,000 troops in South Korea to defend it from a nuclear-armed North – expressed deep concern at the declaration, followed by relief that martial law had ended.
Congress has indefinitely postponed the US’s nuclear consultative group (NCG), Yoon’s signature effort to have South Korea play a bigger role in the ally’s plan for a potential nuclear war on the peninsula.
The declaration of martial law also cast doubt on a possible visit next week by the US defense secretary, Lloyd Austin.
The dramatic developments have left the future of Yoon – a conservative politician and former star public prosecutor who has been elected president in 2022 – in serious jeopardy.
South Korea’s main opposition party – whose lawmakers have jumped fences and clashed with security forces in an effort to overturn the law – previously called Yoon an attempted “insurgency”.
The main umbrella labor union also called it an “indefinite general strike” until Yoon resigned. Meanwhile, the leader of Yoon’s own ruling People’s Party, People’s Power, Han Dong-hoon, described the attempt as “tragic” as he called for those to be held accountable.
The opposition parties are in control of one hundred sessions in the parliamentary elections, as lawmakers from Yoon’s own party needed to gather the required two-thirds majority in the legislature for impeachment.
If the national assembly votes to impeach Yoon, then at least six of the nine judges in the constitutional court must stand. If removed from office, Yoon would become South Korea’s only president since that fateful democracy.
The other was Park Geun-hye, who in 2017. Ironically, Yoon, then the prosecutor general, precipitated the corruption case that precipitated Park’s downfall.
Lighting vigils were held in major cities across the country on Wednesday evening, echoing the loud noises that led to Park’s impeachment in 2016-17.
Yoon backed into martial law early Wednesday after lawmakers decided to oppose the declaration, which he made Tuesday night citing threats from North Korea and “anti-state forces.”
“As a short time ago there was a request from the national assembly to lift the state of emergency, and the military went to manage the war,” Yoon said in a televised address at about 4.30am.
“We will accept the proposal of the national assembly and remove the martial law through the box of the assembly.”
Yonhap news agency reported at the time that Yoon’s cabinet approved the motion to lift the order.
The U-turn sparked jubilation among protesters outside parliament who had taken up an overnight vigil against Yoon’s freezing temperatures against martial law. Demonstrators waving South Korean flags and chanting “Arrest Yoon Suk Yeol” erupted in cheers outside the national assembly.
There was ridicule on the streets of Seoul, as newspapers across the political spectrum published editorials about Yoon’s actions.
The left-leaning Hankyoreh declared Yoon’s fake drafting of martial law as a “betrayal of the people.”
Yoon had given a wide range of reasons to declare martial law – South Korea’s first in more than 40 years.
“To protect liberal South Korea from the threats of North Korea’s communist forces and anti-state elements robbing it of freedom and happiness, we are declaring emergency martial law,” Yoon said in a televised address.
Yoon did not give details of the North’s threats, but the South remains technically at war with nuclear-armed Pyongyang.
“The National Assembly has become a haven for criminals, a den of legislative dictatorship that seeks to undermine the courts and administrative institutions and overthrow our democratic liberal order,” Yoon said.
The president labeled the main opposition Democratic Party, which holds the majority in parliament, as “anti-state forces intent on overthrowing the government.”
Yoon and his People’s Power party are bitterly at odds with the opposition over next year’s budget. Opposition MPs last week approved a plan to significantly reduce the economy during the parliamentary elections.
The imposition of emergency martial law came after Yoon’s approval rating dropped to 19% in the latest Gallup poll last week, with many expressing displeasure over the handling of the economy and controversies with his wife Kim Keon Hee.
South Korea is a major democratic ally for the US in Asia, but Washington said it had not been warned by Yoon’s plan to impose martial law.
“We are relieved President Yoon has reversed his course regarding the declaration of martial law and observed the vote of the ROK national assembly to end it,” a spokesman for the US national security council said in a statement, an acronym for South Korea’s official name.
China, North Korea’s key ally, urged its nationals in the South to exercise calm and caution, while Britain said it was “closely monitoring the outcome”.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said: “We are vigilant” [the South Korea situation] with the greatest and gravest concern. “A group of lawmakers on Korean affairs, led by former Japanese PM Yoshihide Suga, canceled a planned visit to Seoul in mid-December, multiple Japanese outlets reported.
With Agence France-Presse