It looks like President Yoon’s days in office are coming to an end very soon now since he is now losign support from within his political party:
The leader of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) on Thursday threw his support behind a parliamentary vote to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed bid to impose martial law, while calling for convening an ethics committee to discuss whether to demand Yoon leave the party.
PPP leader Han Dong-hoon made the call after Yoon defended the Dec. 3 martial law declaration as an act of governance and rejected insurrection charges against him in a public address.
“The president’s duties must be swiftly straightened out and suspended through the impeachment process,” Han told reporters at the National Assembly in western Seoul. “Our party must support impeachment as the party line.”
Han said it has become “more clear” that Yoon is unable to carry out his duties as president, adding that his address came as a surprise.
The main opposition Democratic Party is set to file a new motion to impeach Yoon later in the day, after a parliamentary impeachment vote failed Saturday as the majority of PPP lawmakers boycotted it.
Earlier in the day, Han voiced support for Yoon’s impeachment, calling on lawmakers to vote on the next impeachment motion based on their own “conviction.”
You can read more at the link.
Whether the decree was legal or not, I believe declaring martial law sets a dangerous precedent that a future left wing President could use to get their way as well:
President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday defended his botched martial law declaration as an act of governance and denied insurrection charges facing him, while vowing to fight until the last moment against whether it is impeachment or a martial law probe.
In a televised public address, Yoon said sending troops to the National Assembly during martial law can’t amount to insurrection, while defying calls to step down.
Yoon said he used his presidential power to declare martial law “to protect the nation and normalize state affairs” against the opposition that paralyzed the government, calling it a “highly calibrated political judgment.”
“Whether I am impeached or investigated, I will fairly confront it,” he said.
You can read more at the link.
It seems like the major objective of the martial law decree was to prove election fraud. If fraud was going on it would seem any evidence would have been disposed of long ago. Additionally why wasn’t legal means taken against the National Election Commission instead of attempting a military raid?:
President Yoon Suk Yeol had conducted a legal review of last week’s martial law decree in person while rewriting it, the ex-defense minister, one of the key suspects in the alleged insurrection, said Wednesday.
Former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun was questioned by prosecutors at a detention facility for the first time since his arrest earlier in the day.
During the five-hour questioning, he reportedly testified that President Yoon conducted a legal review of the martial law declaration by himself, and that he and the president co-wrote the final draft, with Yoon editing part of the content.
Additionally, Kim is said to have assigned duties related to martial law to top military officials on Dec. 1 and attempted to access facilities connected to the National Election Commission to secure evidence concerning allegations of election fraud.
You can read more at the link.
I have said this before, but it was foolish of President Yoon to think Soldiers in the modern day ROK Army would want anything to do with being part of a Gwangju Uprising like event. This just shows what a disconnect the elites in the ROK government have with their rank and file Soldiers if they thought they would follow these martial law orders:
The actions of military officers who resisted what they viewed as unconstitutional orders during the chaos of the Dec. 3 martial law declaration are drawing renewed attention, highlighting how many, despite their duty to obey, took a stand against unjust commands.
Rep. Lee Gi-heon of the opposition Democratic Party of Korea said in a press release on Dec. 9 that “on the night of Dec. 3, when President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, there were counterintelligence officers and personnel who resisted the orders in various ways.”
He cited cases brought to his attention. The military counterintelligence command had been designated as a key unit to be deployed to the National Election Commission (NEC) under martial law.
Former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun has said the decision to deploy martial law troops to the National Election Commission was made “to assess the need for investigations into alleged fraud in the general election” in which opposition parties scored landslide wins over the ruling People Power Party.
The soldiers of the key investigative unit exhibited passive behavior before, during, and after their deployment to the NEC.
Kim Dae-woo, the commander of the Counterintelligence Command, is said to have summoned over 100 investigators prior to the declaration of martial law to assign tasks related to entering the commission.
When Major Choi expressed disbelief at the orders, Kim allegedly beat him severely, forced him onto a bus, and sent him to the commission, instructing him to secure the servers.
Despite the coercion, soldiers continued their resistance. Upon arriving at the NEC, they delayed executing the orders, which they believed were illegal, by engaging in trivial activities, such as eating instant noodles at a nearby convenience store.
You can read more at the link, but that must have been quite the site for the convenience store worker to see all these heavily armed Soldiers come in late at night and eat noodles.
