The President of the Republic of Korea Yoon Seok Yeol said that he "sincerely regrets" that he caused public concern by declaring martial law on December 3. The politician addressed the people a few hours before the vote on impeachment against him.
This is reported by the Korean news agency Yonhap.
Yoon Seok Yeol assured that martial law will not be imposed again, because he resorted to such measures "out of desperation". After the decision, he seemed to admit that it had caused a stir among people.
"I sincerely regret and apologize to people who were probably very surprised. I will not avoid the legal and political responsibility associated with this declaration of martial law," said the countryʼs president.
He promised to entrust all decisions, including his tenure, to his Peopleʼs Power Party to stabilize the political situation. After Yoon Seok Yeolʼs speech, the leader of the opposition Democratic Party Lee Jae Moon repeated his call for the immediate resignation of the president.
The opposition bloc, which has 192 seats in parliament (out of 300 deputies), is expected to vote to impeach Yoon Seok Yeol at a later date. This requires at least eight votes from the ruling party, which holds 108 seats in the National Assembly.
What preceded
Yoon Seok Yeol declared martial law in the country on the night of December 3-4 to "protect the constitutional order" — the first time since the 1980s. The reason was that the opposition Democratic Party of South Korea, which has a majority in parliament, rejected the governmentʼs budget proposal and decided to impeach the state auditor and the chief prosecutor.
An hour later, South Koreaʼs parliament passed a resolution calling for martial law to be lifted. 190 MPs out of 190 who took part in the vote spoke in favour of the decision. In total, South Korea has 300 MPs, but only 190 of them were able to get into the parliament building, despite being surrounded by soldiers who stormed the National Assembly building.
After that, the South Korean government supported the "plan to lift martial law" demanded by the parliament. The office of the countryʼs prime minister reported that the proposal was approved at 04:30 local time. Martial law lasted for about six hours.
When the parliamentarians adopted the resolution, people sang the national anthem and applauded in the streets. According to preliminary estimates, four thousand citizens gathered near the parliament building. Korean trade union flags could be seen in the crowd.
The opposition of South Korea submitted a draft law on the impeachment of the president.
- President Yoon Seok Yeol has low approval ratings in the country, particularly due to rising food and housing prices, labour conflicts and a sharp drop in the birth rate. The presidentʼs reputation has also been under fire over a hidden camera video of First Lady Kim Keon Hee allegedly accepting a $2 200 Dior bag as a gift.
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