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South Korea’s president defended his martial law decree as an act of government and denied charges of rebellion on Thursday, rejecting impeachment attempts and investigations into last week’s move.
Yoon Suk Yeol’s televised statement on Thursday came hours before the main liberal opposition party, the Democratic Party, filed a new impeachment motion against Yoon. The opposition party plans to put the motion to a vote this Saturday.
His previous attempt to impeach Yoon failed last Saturday, when ruling party lawmakers boycotted a vote in the National Assembly.
Yoon’s martial law decree on December 3 has sparked political chaos and protests calling for his overthrow.
“I will fight to the end to prevent the forces and criminal 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.
Yoon said the introduction of martial law was aimed at defending the county’s liberal democracy and constitutional order against the opposition liberal party, which he said threatens the constitution.
The decree was an act of government that cannot be the subject of investigations, he stated, and does not constitute rebellion.
‘A dance of chaos with knives’
“The opposition is now doing a chaos dance with knives, claiming that the declaration of martial law constitutes an act of rebellion. But was it really?” Yoon said.
On Wednesday, Yoon’s office resisted a police attempt to search the premises.
The primary goal of the investigation is to determine whether Yoon and other senior military and government officials involved in the imposition of martial law committed rebellion, for which a conviction carries a maximum penalty of death.
Earlier this week, Yoon’s former defense minister was the first to be formally arrested over the decree, accused of playing a key role in a rebellion and committing abuse of power.
