South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol defends his order for martial law and calls it an "act of governance."
In a statement broadcast on national television, Yoon who previously apologised to the nation for his actions and vowed to not make such an order again blamed "forces" and "criminal groups" for the interference in South Korea’s democratic run.
“I will fight to the end, to prevent the forces and criminal groups that have been responsible for paralysing the country’s government and disrupting the nation’s constitutional order from threatening the future of the Republic of Korea,” he said.
Yoon claimed that he declared martial law to defend the country’s liberal democracy and constitutional order in the face of the liberal opposition party, and threatened the constitution calling his opponents “anti-states forces”.
The 13th President of South Korea questioned the opponent party who claimed that martial law was an act of rebellion, “But was it really?”.
Yoon Suk Yeol’s statement came right before the opposition is set to submit a new impeachment motion against him and motion to a vote this Saturday, December 14.
Previously, the impeachment vote was boycotted by the ruling party, making it an unsuccessful attempt to remove Yoon from the cabinet.
Furthermore, President Yoon and other military officials are under investigation to determine if the call to martial law was due to rebellion, which if convicted would result in the death penalty.
For those unfamiliar, Yoon declared martial law on December 3, 2024, and deployed military troops to prevent the National Assembly members from entering the assembly to vote against martial law, though the members managed to reach and block the breach of democracy, making the decision very short-lived.
