South Korea’s embattled President Yoon Suk Yeol apologised but stopped short of resigning Saturday over his declaration of martial law, as protesters gathered outside parliament ahead of a crucial impeachment vote that could decide his political fate.
Yoon stunned the nation and the international community Tuesday night by imposing martial law for the first time in over four decades and deploying troops and helicopters to parliament.
But lawmakers managed to vote down the decree, forcing Yoon to rescind the order in the early hours of Wednesday in a night of extraordinary drama for a country assumed to be a stable democracy.
“The declaration of martial law arose from my desperation as president,” he said in a televised address, the first time he has appeared before the public since plunging the country into political chaos.
“I caused anxiety and inconvenience to the public. I sincerely apologise,” he said.
The opposition and key members of his own party have called for him to step down, and parliament is set to vote later Saturday on his impeachment, although opposition leader Lee Jae-myung told AFP it was not clear the motion would pass.
Hundreds of protesters began to gather outside the parliament building by lunchtime Saturday ahead of the vote, with organisers hoping 200,000 people would attend to pile pressure on lawmakers.
Yoon did not offer to resign in his brief address, saying only that he would “entrust the party with measures to stabilise the political situation, including my term in office.”
His People Power Party (PPP) is divided on the issue, with lawmakers late Friday sticking to the official line that they would block impeachment, even after party head Han Dong-hoon said Yoon must go or Seoul risked more political chaos.
“The normal performance of the president’s duties is impossible under the (current) circumstances, and an early resignation of the president is inevitable,” Han Dong-hoon told reporters Saturday.
speculated that the elite special forces soldiers may have slow-walked following orders, after discovering themselves to be involved in a political rather than national security incident.
The episode brought back painful memories of South Korea’s autocratic past and blindsided its allies, with the US administration only finding out via television.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his Korean counterpart Cho Tae-yul on Friday that he “expects the… democratic process to prevail”.
AFP
