People watch a TV screen showing the live broadcast of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's announcement at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Dec. 7.Lee Jin-man/The Associated Press
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol apologized to the country Saturday in his first address since an aborted attempt to declare martial law earlier this week.
In a terse, five-minute-long address, Mr. Yoon said he had been motivated by desperation to enact military rule for the first time in 45 years, and bowed deeply to express his regret. He promised there would be no second attempt and vowed to face the consequences of his actions, but did not resign.
The East Asian country was plunged into chaos on Tuesday night when Mr. Yoon made a surprise enactment of martial law, claiming South Korea was in a state of emergency few outside the embattled President’s circle perceived. This was rescinded within six hours, after lawmakers barricaded themselves inside the National Assembly and voted to overturn Mr. Yoon’s edict.
With protests breaking out nationwide demanding Mr. Yoon’s removal, the opposition Democratic Party said it would seek to impeach him in a vote on Saturday evening. Members of the ruling People Power Party had initially opposed this, but changed tack amid new revelations Mr. Yoon had attempted to have leading members of multiple political parties arrested and fears he would again seek to exercise military rule.
Battling for his political life, Mr. Yoon on Friday met with ruling party leader Han Dong-hoon and attempted to enter the National Assembly to lobby People Power members there directly. Opposition lawmakers blockaded the building, however, saying if Mr. Yoon entered there was a risk he could use his bodyguard to seize control, forcing the President to turn his motorcade around in another humiliation in a week full of them.
Fears were running high Friday morning that Mr. Yoon would make another stab at martial law, with Mr. Han warning: “I believe it is necessary to promptly suspend President Yoon Suk Yeol from his duties to protect the Republic of Korea and its people.”
Democratic Party representative Kang Yoo-jung said it had become clear Mr. Yoon’s initial martial law order was “an attempted coup d’état.”
“He poses a serious threat to democracy and the constitutional order,” she told The Globe and Mail.
What the President’s intentions were Friday remains unclear, but both the Defence Ministry and leading military figures quickly came out publicly to say they would not obey a second martial-law order. Three commanders who were involved in the initial attempt were also suspended pending an investigation.
Increasing pressure on Mr. Yoon, opposition lawmakers said Saturday they would first vote on whether to launch a special prosecution into his wife on corruption charges, ahead of the impeachment measure.
It was unclear Saturday how many People Power lawmakers would vote to back that measure, with eight defections needed for the impeachment to go ahead. After Mr. Yoon’s speech, in which he said he was entrusting running of the country to his party and government, PPP leader Mr. Han said Mr. Yoon had to go.
Mr. Yoon’s removal would bring to a close a short-lived and highly controversial political career for the former chief prosecutor, who had never held elected office before he won the presidency on a whisper-thin margin in 2022.
After that acrimonious election, Mr. Yoon failed to reach an accord with an opposition-dominated National Assembly, which sought to stymie his agenda. In April legislative elections, with Mr. Yoon’s approval rating through the floor, the Democratic Party increased its majority, setting the stage for months of gridlock, which appear to have prompted the President’s fateful decision this week.
Frustrated politically, and facing investigations of top officials and his wife on corruption charges, Mr. Yoon may have gambled on the assumption that he was likely to be impeached in coming months regardless. Few of even his own ministers knew about the move in advance, they say now, blaming it on Mr. Yoon and Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun, his former bodyguard, who resigned Thursday.