AP NEWS
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday was facing mounting legislative and public pressure to leave office or be forced out, hours after he ended a short-lived martial law that prompted troops to encircle parliament before lawmakers voted to lift it.
Yoon’s senior advisers and secretaries offered to resign collectively and his Cabinet members, including Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun, were also facing calls to step down, as the nation struggled to make sense of what appeared to be a poorly-thought-out stunt.
In his speech announcing the abrupt order Tuesday night, Yoon vowed to eliminate “anti-state” forces and continued to criticize parliament’s attempts to impeach key government officials and senior prosecutors. But martial law lasted only about six hours, as the National Assembly voted to overrule Yoon and the declaration was formally lifted around 4:30 a.m. during a Cabinet meeting.
Impeaching him would require support from 200 of the National Assembly’s 300 members. The Democratic Party and other small opposition parties together have 192 seats. But the rejection of Yoon’s martial law declaration in a 190-0 vote included the votes of 18 lawmakers from Yoon’s ruling People Power Party, according to National Assembly officials.
The leader of the People Power Party, Han Dong-hun, who has long ties with Yoon dating to their days as prosecutors, criticized Yoon’s martial law declaration as “unconstitutional.”
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, seen as a potential presidential hopeful for the People Power Party, said Yoon’s martial law declaration went against the “fundamental spirit of democracy” and that the deployment of troops to the National Assembly was an act that violated the separation of powers.
“Right now, the most urgent task is a thorough investigation. Through this, we must clearly hold accountable those who participated in destroying democracy,” Oh said in a televised statement.
If Yoon is impeached, he’ll be stripped of his constitutional powers until the Constitutional Court rules. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the No. 2 position in the South Korean government, would take over his presidential responsibilities. As calls mounted for Yoon’s Cabinet to resign, Han issued a public message pleading for patience and calling for Cabinet members to “fulfill your duties even after this moment.”
