South Korean opposition agreed on Thursday it will conduct a vote to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol for failing in his bid to declare martial law, while police stated they are probing charges of treason against the president and his cabinet.
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Martial Law Sparks Protests, Impeachment Bid Against Yoon
To achieve this, Yoon declared martial law late on Tuesday to centralise authority, outlaw political actions and control the media. They vehemently protested in the streets of South Korea and even bothered their international counterparts. The defence minister who has called for such a change has been fired.
Members of the opposition Democratic Party said they were preparing for a parliamentary debate to impeach Yoon at around 7 p.m. (1000 GMT) on Saturday, a spokesman stated.
“Emergency martial law declared by the Yoon Suk Yeol regime has created a lot of confusion and fear among our people,” a member of the Democratic Party Kim Seung-won said at the National Assembly yesterday.
Yoon’s ruling People Power Party is split over the crisis but stated it would vote against impeachment with the party in disarray and two years remaining of Yoon’s five-year term.
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Yoon Faces Impeachment Threat Amid Martial Law Controversy
The ruling party currently has 108 lawmakers in the 300 seat parliament and the Democratic Party requires at least eight of those to cross the floor in order to pass the bill in the parliament with a two-thirds majority.
Under pressure to defend his party’s reform agenda, Yoon has dismissed Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun on Thursday and proposed his Saudi Arabian envoy Choi Byung-hyuk in his stead. Kim said he advised Yoon to declare martial law on Tuesday as per pla interior minister a senior military officer and an opposition motion to impeach Yoon.
Martial Law Sparks Resignations, Investigations in South Korea
Kim also moved to surround the parliament with troops, according to Vice-Defence Minister Kim Seon-ho; he said he was unaware of the order to declare martial law until Yoon did.
Kim Seon-ho said he has been against the mobilisation of military forces under martial law and has been dispatching negative opinions about it, Kim apologised and taking full responsibility for not stopping it during the parliamentary hearing on Thursday. South Korea’s army chief has also tendered his resignation, according to the Yonhap news agency.
The head of investigation of the national police in an appearance before a parliamentary committee assured the lawmakers that the police force was investigating alleged Certificate of Treason and other offenses in statement of martial law. It was lodged by an opposition party and activists.
It involves Yoon, his interior minister nominee, and the dismissed defence minister. Yonhap news agency said that both the prosecution and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials has received and was discussing about requests to investigate. The former defence minister will be prohibited from foreign travel until the investigations are finished, according to broadcaster YTN.
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