South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol yesterday apologized for his short-lived declaration of Martial Law earlier in the week. President Yeol survived an Impeachment Motion in the Opposition-led Parliament yesterday that was prompted by his short-lived attempt to impose Martial Law, after members of his party boycotted the vote.
Only 195 votes were cast, below the threshold of 200 needed for the vote to count.
Yoon said in a televised address yesterday morning that he will not evade legal or political responsibility for the declaration and vowed not to make another attempt to impose it.
The President, a Conservative, said he would leave it to his party to offer a path forward amid the country’s political turmoil, “including matters related to my term in office.”
“The declaration of Martial Law was made out of my desperation,” Yoon said. “But in the course of its implementation, it caused anxiety and inconvenience to the public. I feel very sorry over that and truly apologize to the people who must have been shocked a lot.”
In his Martial Law declaration on Tuesday, Yoon called Parliament a “den of criminals” blocking State affairs and pledged to eliminate “shameless North Korea followers and anti-State forces.”
The Opposition parties that jointly filed an Impeachment Motion against the President hold 192 of the Legislature’s 300 Seats, meaning they needed at least eight additional votes from Yoon’s Conservative People Power Party (PPP) to secure the needed two-thirds to pass the Motion.
Yoon’s party also called for his removal on Friday, although the party remained formally opposed to Impeachment.
Opposition lawmakers say that Yoon’s declaration of Martial Law was a self-coup, so they drafted the Impeachment Motion on rebellion charges.
On Tuesday, Special Forces troops were observed encircling the Parliament building and Army helicopters were hovering over it. The military withdrew after the National Assembly unanimously voted to overturn Yoon’s declaration of Martial Law, forcing him to lift it just hours after it was issued.
The declaration of Martial Law was the first of its kind in more than 40 years in South Korea, which has a history of harsh military rule.
(Fox News)
