By Joyce Lee and Hyunjoo Jin
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean opposition lawmakers said on Thursday they would vote this weekend to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed attempt to impose martial law, while the defense minister blamed for recommending the move resigned.
Yoon’s declaration of martial law on Tuesday night was aimed at consolidating power, banning political activity and censoring the media in Asia’s fourth-largest economy and a key US ally.
This sparked anger in the streets and concern among South Korea’s international allies.
Lawmakers from the opposition Democratic Party planned to seek a parliamentary vote to impeach Yoon around 7 p.m. (1000 GMT) on Saturday, a party spokesman told reporters.
“The declaration of martial law by the Yoon Suk Yeol regime has caused great confusion and fear among our people,” Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Seung-won told the National Assembly earlier.
Yoon’s ruling People’s Power Party is divided over the crisis, but has said it will oppose impeachment as the party is in turmoil with two years left in Yoon’s five-year term.
The Democratic Party needs at least eight of the ruling party’s 108 MPs to support the bill to be passed with a two-thirds majority in the 300-seat parliament.
Fighting for his political future, Yoon on Thursday accepted the resignation of Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and named his ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Choi Byung-hyuk, as his replacement, Yoon’s office said.
Kim recommended Yoon declare a state of emergency on Tuesday, according to the interior minister, a senior military official and the opposition’s demand for Yoon’s impeachment.
Kim also ordered the deployment of troops to parliament, Deputy Defense Minister Kim Seon-ho said, adding that he was not aware of the martial law until Yoon declared it.
“I was fundamentally opposed to the mobilization of military forces under a state of emergency and expressed a negative opinion about it,” Kim Seon-ho told a parliamentary hearing on Thursday, apologizing and taking responsibility for not preventing it.
The South Korean army chief also offered to resign, Yonhap news agency reported.
The former defense minister now faces a travel ban as prosecutors investigate an attempt to impose a state of emergency, broadcaster YTN reported. Yoon and the interior minister were also under investigation, Yonhap said.
INSTABILITY ALARMS
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said “the security situation in Japan could change fundamentally” in light of instability in Seoul and North Korea’s growing military resolve.
“What will happen to South Korea? There seems to be a lot of domestic criticism and opposition,” he told parliament, adding that Yoon’s efforts to improve relations with Tokyo “must never be undermined.”
There is no reaction from North Korea yet to the drama in South Korea.
On Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Reuters the United States had no advance notice of Yoon’s statement, while his deputy, Kurt Campbell, said Yoon had misjudged him.
The United States has 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea as a legacy of the 1950-1953 Korean War.
The commander of U.S. forces in Korea, Gen. Paul LaCamera, warned U.S. troops to remain alert, avoid protest areas and tell superiors of travel plans in case “something unexpected” happens.
Western leaders have embraced Yoon as a partner in US-led efforts to unite democracies against rising authoritarianism in China, Russia and elsewhere.
But he caused discomfort among South Koreans by calling his critics “communist totalitarian and anti-state forces.” In November, he denied wrongdoing in response to influence peddling allegations against him and his wife and took a hard line against labor unions.
NIGHT OF CHAOS
The impeachment plan followed a night of chaos after Yoon declared a state of emergency and armed troops tried to force their way into the National Assembly building in Seoul, only to retreat when parliamentary aides sprayed them with fire extinguishers.
The commander of the emergency troops said he had no intention of using firearms against the public, and Kim, the deputy defense minister, said the troops had not been supplied with live ammunition.
“The people and the aides who protected the parliament protected us with their bodies. The people won and now it’s time for us to protect the people,” said Kim of the Democratic Party.
Many protesters said they feared a return to the dictatorship and martial law that characterized much of South Korea’s postwar period.
“For the sake of my children, this has to stop no matter what,” said one protester, Kim Hye-Min, at protests outside parliament on Thursday. “We can’t go back to the 1970s.”
The crisis rocked global financial markets and South Korea’s benchmark index. Currency traders reported doubts on Wednesday that government intervention had kept the won stable.
If the impeachment bill passes, South Korea’s Constitutional Court will then decide whether to uphold the request – a process that could take up to 180 days.
If Yoon were to be suspended from power, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo would replace him as leader.
If Yoon resigns or is removed, new elections will be held within 60 days.
Yoon, a professional prosecutor, pulled off victory in the tightest presidential election in South Korean history in 2022, riding a wave of discontent over economic policies, scandals and gender wars.
But his support has been around 20 percent for months, and the opposition won almost two-thirds of the seats in parliament in the April election.
