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The president denies charges of rebellion as police make a second attempt to raid the presidential office over a failed attempt to impose martial law.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has vowed to “fight to the end” after opposition parties tabled a new joint motion to impeach him over a failed attempt to implement martial law last week.
The National Assembly said the main opposition liberal party, the Democratic Party, and five smaller opposition parties tabled the impeachment motion on Thursday afternoon.
The impeachment vote will take place on Saturday around 5:00 p.m. (08:00 GMT), the parties said. The motion needs to gain the support of eight members of the ruling People’s Power Party (PPP) to secure the necessary two-thirds majority.
PPP leader Han Dong-hoon urged party members to attend the meeting and vote “according to their convictions and conscience.”
The move comes after authorities sent police to the presidential office grounds to “obtain documents and materials,” according to local Yonhap news agency. A similar attempt was blocked Wednesday by security guards.
Yoon denies rebellion charges
South Korea’s capital Seoul has been rocked by daily protests since December 3, when Yoon shocked the nation by declaring emergency martial law, saying he was acting to protect the country from “threats” posed by North Korea and accused the opposition of being “anti-state forces.”
Yoon later apologized for the decree, which he rescinded just hours after a unanimous vote by the National Assembly, and promised not to shirk his legal or political responsibility.
But in a lengthy televised speech Thursday, Yoon defended the decree as an act of government and denied accusations of rebellion.
“I will fight to the end to prevent the criminal forces and 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.
“The opposition is now doing a sword dance of chaos, claiming that the declaration of martial law constitutes… an act of rebellion. But was it really like that?
The main opposition party, the Democratic Party, quickly criticized Yoon’s speech as “an expression of extreme deceit” and “false propaganda.”
Protests, investigations
Also on Thursday, police blocked the road to prevent protesters from marching during a demonstration Thursday calling for Yoon’s impeachment trial.
The first motion to impeach Yoon failed on December 7 after ruling party lawmakers boycotted the vote. The strike came hours after the embattled leader apologized and said he would not try to reimpose martial law.
Law enforcement authorities in the country were investigating whether Yoon and others committed rebellion, abuse of power and other crimes. A conviction for rebellion carries a maximum penalty of death.
On Thursday afternoon, Parliament passed motions to impeach national police chief Cho Ji-ho and Justice Minister Park Sung-jae, suspending them from official duties, for their implementation of martial law.
Yoon’s former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun became the first person to be formally arrested.
He attempted to take his own life in a Seoul prison on Wednesday night, but prison officers detained him and said he was in stable condition.
