South Korea’s president defends the short-lived martial law decree and rejects efforts to impeach him

South Korea’s president defended his martial law decree as an act of governance and denied accusations of rebellion on Thursday, rejecting opposition-led impeachment attempts and investigations in a move last week.

Yoon Suk-yeol’s televised statement on Thursday came hours before the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party filed a new motion to impeach Yoon. The opposition party intends to put the proposal to a vote on Saturday.

Her previous attempt to isolate Yoon It fell last SaturdayWith ruling party representatives boycotting voting in the National Assembly.

yon December 3 martial law This announcement, the first of its kind in decades in South Korea, sparked political chaos and protests demanding his ouster. The decree led hundreds of armed forces to attempt to surround Parliament and raid the Election Commission, although no violence or major casualties occurred. He had to remove it after about six hours.

“I will fight to the end to prevent the criminal forces and groups responsible for paralyzing the country’s government and disrupting the country’s constitutional order from threatening the future of the Republic of Korea,” Yoon said.

Yoon, a conservative, said the imposition of martial law was intended to issue a warning to the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, which he said was paralyzing state affairs and destroying the country’s constitutional order. He said that the deployment of fewer than 300 soldiers in the National Assembly was aimed at preserving the system, not dissolving or paralyzing it.

“The Knives Dance of Chaos”

Calling the Democratic Party a “monster” and “anti-state forces,” Yoon said it had repeatedly tried to use its legislative power to remove top officials, undermine government budget bills and sympathize with North Korea.

“The opposition is now performing the knife dance of chaos, claiming that declaring martial law constitutes an act of rebellion. But was it really so?” Yoon said.

Yoon said his martial law decree was an act of governance that could not be the subject of investigations, and did not rise to the level of rebellion.

It is unclear how Yoon’s statement will affect his fate. Earlier Thursday, his conservative party leader, Han Dong-hun, said Yoon had made clear he was not willing to step down voluntarily and called on party members to vote in favor of his removal in the upcoming National Assembly vote.

Opposition parties and many experts say the martial law decree is unconstitutional. The law allows the president to declare martial law only in times of war or similar emergencies, but they say South Korea has never been in such a bind. They say that deploying troops to close the National Assembly and suspend its political activities amounts to rebellion because the constitution does not allow the president to use the army to suspend Parliament in any situation.

Yoon’s statement was seen as a shift from his previous position. last Saturday, He apologized for the martial law decreeSaying that he will not evade legal or political responsibility for this. He said he would leave it to his party to chart a course through the country’s political turmoil, “including matters related to my term in office.”

On Wednesday, Yoon’s office She resisted the police attempt To inspect the complex.

The main focus of the investigation is to find out whether Yun and other senior military and government officials involved in imposing martial law committed rebellion, the conviction of which carries the maximum penalty of death.

Earlier this week, Yoon’s former defense minister was the first to be formally arrested over the decree, accused of playing a key role in the rebellion and committing abuse of power.

Kim Young-hyun, a close confidant of Yoon, has been accused of recommending that martial law be imposed on Yoon and sending troops to the National Assembly to prevent lawmakers from voting on it. A sufficient number of lawmakers were eventually able to enter the parliament hall and unanimously rejected Yoon’s decree, forcing the government to rescind it before dawn on December 4.