South Korea Tries Second Impeachment After President Defends Martial Law Decree

The leftist Democratic Party of South Korea formally filed an impeachment motion against conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol on Thursday, the second of its kind after a first one failed this weekend.

The Democrats, alongside several minorities parties, are seeking to impeach Yoon after a dramatic series of events on December 3 in which Yoon abruptly declared martial law and deployed soldiers to keep National Assembly lawmakers out of their chambers. Yoon claimed the move was necessary to stop “the threats of North Korean communist forces, to immediately eradicate the unscrupulous pro-Pyongyang anti-state forces that pillage the freedom and happiness of our people and to protect free constitutional order.”

Ultimately, Yoon only presented evidence that the Democrat-led National Assembly was blocking his policy proposals, as occurs in nearly every republic where lawmakers are of a different political party than the executive. The martial law state lasted for only six hours as assemblymen stormed into the legislative chambers, elbowing their way past throngs of heavily armed soldiers who did little to stop them. The South Korean constitution grants the National Assembly the power to override a martial law decree with a vote, but martial law prohibits any political activity, including voting.

Yoon’s move to impose military rule alarmed the nation and turned even his own People Power Party (PPP) against him. The party is split on how to address the problem, however – leader Han Dong-hoon has called for his party to impeach and remove Yoon as soon as possible, but PPP lawmakers blocked the first impeachment vote on Saturday by simply not attending, making it impossible to vote due to a lack of quorum.

Given the failure of the first attempt to impeach Yoon, the Democratic Party promised to hold an impeachment vote every week until they oust him. The second motion to impeach will result in another Saturday afternoon final vote, according to the South Korean Yonhap News Agency.

As no vote occurred on the first motion, the PPP lawmakers are not on the record supporting or opposing impeachment. The Democrats’ first motion caused controversy, however, by listing not just the failed attempt at imposing military rule as the reason for impeachment, but Yoon’s foreign policy, which has prioritized improving relations with the United States and Japan over communist China and Russia. The Democrats have traditionally preferred conciliatory policies toward the North, which allows the bloodthirsty communist regime to strengthen its stranglehold on power and increase its threats towards the South.

The Korea JoongAng Daily reported on Thursday that, to entice more PPP lawmakers to come aboard, the new impeachment motion did away with complaints that Yoon was too anti-communist, instead focusing on the martial law fiasco. The inclusion of support for a more pro-communist foreign policy outraged enough of the country that the Democratic Party walked it back directly this week.

“The DP’s impeachment motion has never included the strengthening of the Korea-U.S.-Japan alliance as grounds for impeachment, and no related expressions will be included in the second motion,” senior party spokesperson Jo Seung-lae promised. “While the party has criticized Yoon’s ideologically biased diplomacy and submissive diplomacy toward Japan, the DP firmly believes that Korea-U.S.-Japan cooperation must be strengthened.”

The impeachment motion requires a two-thirds majority to pass, which means eight PPP lawmakers must vote in favor of ousting their president. Yonhap counted seven lawmakers as of Thursday night supporting impeachment.

Han, the PPP leader, also vocally reiterated his support for impeachment on Thursday. Han was among the first to condemn the martial law decree after Yoon announced it on December 3.

“We must stop further confusion. There is only one effective method now,” Han told reporters on Thursday. “In the next (impeachment motion) vote, our party’s lawmakers should enter the assembly hall and take part in the vote based on their own conviction and conscience.”

Yoon has remained largely out of the public eye since the martial law decree. He appeared in a televised address on Saturday following rumors emerging that he was planning a second martial law declaration to clarify that he had no intention of attempting military rule again – and apologized for the affair.

“This declaration of martial law was born out of desperation as the president, the ultimate head of state. But it has caused anxiety and discomfort to the people in the process,” Yoon said. “I am deeply sorry for this, and I sincerely apologize to the people who must have been greatly surprised.”

Yoon promised “there will never be a second martial law.”

On Thursday morning, however, Yoon appeared on television defiant, defending the martial law decree and repeating his accusations of rampant communism among the National Assembly members.

“The National Assembly, dominated by the giant opposition party, is not the foundation of liberal democracy but a monster that destroys the constitutional order of liberal democracy,” Yoon asserted. “If this is not a state of government paralysis and a national crisis, what is it?”

Yoon accused the Democrats of “abusing” the use of impeachments and refusing to accept the results of the free and fair election that made him president in 2022. He also accused them of “taking North Korea’s side” on international issues and joked that he could not “tell which country’s National Assembly this is,” the North or the South.

“The opposition parties are currently dancing a frenzied sword dance, saying that the declaration of emergency martial law was a crime of insurrection, but is that really so?” asked Yoon. “Who are the forces currently paralyzing the government and disrupting the constitution of Korea?”

Yoon promised to “firmly” face impeachment, without elaborating.

The major incident in between the apologetic remarks on Saturday and the fiery remarks on Thursday appears to be the attempted suicide of foreign Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun on Tuesday. Kim, who shares a high school alma mater with Yoon, has widely been reported to have given Yoon the idea of imposing martial law. Several members of Yoon’s cabinet, according to anonymous leaks to South Korean media, reacted to the plan with outrage and discouraged Yoon from executing it, but those reports consistently indicated that Kim’s judgment prevailed.

Kim resigned shortly after the failed martial law decree and was imprisoned. Prison guards reported that he unsuccessfully attempted to kill himself on Tuesday.

Yoon also faces criminal problems in addition to impeachment. Prosecutors have banned him from leaving the country and police investigators have opened a case on charges of treason against him.

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