South Korea’s president defends martial legislation decree, denies rebel expenses
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s president defended his martial law decree as an act of governance and denied rebellion charges Thursday, rejecting the opposition-led impeachment attempts against him and investigations into last week’s move.
Yoon Suk Yeol’s televised statement came hours before the main liberal opposition Democratic Party submits a new impeachment motion against Yoon. The opposition party plans to put the motion on a floor vote this Saturday.
Its earlier attempt to impeach Yoon fell through last Saturday, with ruling party lawmakers boycotting a vote at the National Assembly.
Yoon’s Dec. 3 martial law decree has generated political chaos and protests calling for his ouster.
“I will fight to the end, to prevent the forces and criminal groups that have been responsible for paralyzing the country’s government and disrupting the nation’s constitutional order from threatening the future of the Republic of Korea,” Yoon said.
Yoon said his martial law introduction was meant to defend the county’s liberal democracy and constitutional order in the face of the liberal opposition party, which he says has paralyzed state affairs and threatened the constitution.
Yoo said his martial law decree was an act of governance that cannot be the subject of investigations and doesn’t amount to rebellion.
“The opposition is now doing a knife dance of chaos, claiming that the declaration of martial law constitutes to an act of rebellion. But was it really?” Yoon said.
On Wednesday, Yoon’s office resisted a police attempt to search the compound.
The main focus of the investigation is finding whether Yoon and other top military and government officials involved in imposing martial law committed rebellion. A conviction for rebellion carries a maximum penalty of death.
Earlier this week, Yoon’s former defense minister was arrested on allegations of playing a key role in a rebellion and committing abuse of power. He became the first person formally arrested over the martial law decree.
Kim, one of Yoon’s close associates, has been accused of recommending martial law to Yoon and sending troops to the National Assembly to block lawmakers from voting on it. Enough lawmakers eventually managed to enter a parliament chamber and they unanimously rejected Yoon’s decree, forcing the Cabinet to lift it before daybreak on Dec. 4.
