South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol has defended the declaration of martial law he launched last week and accused opposition parties of being “on North Korea’s side” to stall government affairs.
During a televised address on Thursday morning, Mr. Yoon defended the temporary declaration of martial law as a “judicial act” and said his order to send troops to the National Assembly on Tuesday night could not amount to “rebellion.”
As MPs prepare to vote on Saturday whether to remove them, Mr Yoon vowed to “fight with the people until the last minute”.
In a controversial statement, the president said the declaration of martial law was “to protect the country and solve the problems of the government” amid what he described as an attempt by the opposition to “establish the state of the government through abuse”. He described the imposition of martial law as “a strong political decision.”
“Even if I am accused or investigated, I will face it,” said Yoon, adding that he will not avoid legal or political responsibility related to martial law.
Mr. Yoon’s address was pre-recorded and screened in South Korea on Thursday – Kim Hong-Ji
He also apologized to “the people who must have been surprised and worried because of the martial law,” but urged them to “please trust me in my loyalty to the people.”
‘Crazy sword play’ by critics
Besides strongly defending the declaration of martial law, Mr. Yoon accused the opposition parties of stalling the government and disrupting the constitution of South Korea.
He said: “The opposition parties are currently playing a sword game saying that the declaration of martial law is a crime of rebellion, but is it true?” Who is stopping the government and undermining the Korean constitution?”
They criticized the opposition parties for trying to remove them from office and their leadership while threatening to suspend them and the members of the council of ministers. “They still haven’t accepted the results of the presidential election,” Yoon said, referring to his 2022 election victory.
Yoon also accused the main opposition Democratic Party and its allies of starting “political chaos” by proposing 27-fold impeachment bills, which he said were “illegal”. He also said that the opposition forces were also pushing for a law that would allow criminals to give themselves away for free.
Mr. Yoon said: “The National Assembly, ruled by the main opposition party, is not the foundation of democratic freedom but a monster that destroys the order of the constitution. If this is not a state of government paralysis and a national crisis, what is it?”
The embattled leader accused opposition parties of “taking North Korea’s side” and said he had ordered former defense minister Kim Yong-hyu, who was arrested on Wednesday, to oversee South Korea’s National Election System following hacking by Pyongyang.
“It is clear that the opposition party is trying to destroy even the growth of our country if we look closely at the budget proposed by the DP for next year,” he said.
Meanwhile, the leader of the ruling party in South Korea, the People Power Party, Han Dong-hoon, openly supported the National Assembly’s vote to impeach Mr. Yoon and said the party will discuss the expulsion of the president.
“The role of the president of the country must be rectified as soon as possible by suspending the role through the process of exoneration. Our party must support impeachment as a party line,” Han told reporters at the National Assembly on Thursday.
The National Assembly will hold another vote on the decision made by the main opposition Democratic Party at 5pm on Saturday.
Mr Yoon narrowly escaped impeachment last Saturday after many PPP MPs abstained from voting.
However, a growing number of PPP lawmakers have made it clear that they would support the moratorium in the upcoming vote.
The suspension of the court needs about 200 votes to pass and the opposition parties want eight MPs to resign in order to remove Yoon.
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