dpa
Seoul
Pressure on South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to resign following his flubbed martial law declaration mounted on Wednesday as opposition parties submitted a motion to impeach him.
The main opposition Democratic Party and five more minor opposition parties submitted the motion at 2:43pm (0543 GMT), the Yonhap news agency reported. It was signed by 191 lawmakers with no support from ruling party members of parliament (MPs).
The plan is to report the motion to a parliamentary plenary session on Thursday, with a vote either on Friday or Saturday, Yonhap reported.
After South Korean Defence Minister Kim Yong Hyun’s resignation on Wednesday, several other cabinet ministers are planning to follow suit, media reported.
The finance, education and justice ministers are planning to take responsibility for Yoon’s actions by stepping down from their posts, the Yonhap news agency said. Apart from the impeachment move, members of Yoon’s own party urged him to sack his defence minister, while top advisers threatened to resign, the central bank offered liquidity to help the plunging won and allies watched with concern.
On Tuesday, Yoon suddenly called for martial law to be instituted, accusing the country’s opposition of sympathizing with North Korea and saying that the ruling aimed to “eradicate pro-North Korean forces and protect the constitutional order of freedom.”
The National Assembly swiftly voted to lift the state of emergency and Yoon was obliged to lift martial law, which he did early on Wednesday. The leader of Yoon’s own ruling People Power Party (PPP) urged the president to explain his decision and called for the sacking of defence minister over what he calls a “disastrous situation.” “As the ruling party, we feel deeply apologetic to the public for today’s disastrous situation,” Han Dong-hoon told reporters at the National Assembly after Yoon lifted martial law, as reported by Yonhap.
“President Yoon should directly explain the disastrous situation and hold those responsible strictly accountable, including the immediate dismissal of the defence minister who proposed the martial law,” Han added.
Kim, a former head of the Presidential Security Service and close aide to Yoon, was inaugurated as the defence minister in September.
The Defence Ministry in Seoul confirmed Kim proposed the martial law to Yoon.
Han said his party will work to minimize the impact on the nation’s economy and diplomacy, vowing to thoroughly investigate the situation and take necessary measures.
The monetary policy board of South Korea’s central bank on Wednesday said it would provide “ample liquidity” to the market through repurchase agreements and other measures in order to minimize the impact of the political turmoil on the financial and foreign exchange markets, Yonhap reported. The South Korean won was highly volatile in trading following the martial law announcement and plunged to its lowest level in more than two years in overnight offshore trading.
Seoul and Washington are delaying key nuclear deterrence talks and a related exercise originally set to take place in Washington on Wednesday, a Pentagon spokesperson said on Tuesday, according to Yonhap.
The two allies had planned to hold the fourth session of the Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) to strengthen their deterrence efforts against North Korea’s evolving nuclear and missile threats.
Also in Washington, Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a statement saying the US was closely monitoring the events surrounding the martial law declaration and welcomed Yoon’s decision to lift it.
“We welcome President Yoon’s statement that he would rescind the order declaring emergency martial law,” Blinken said, noting that rescinding the order complies with South Korea’s constitution following “the National Assembly’s unanimous vote to reject the declaration.”
