South Korea's Yoon vows to 'fight to the end', defying impeachment threat
Yoon is staring down a second impeachment vote in parliament on Saturday.
Demonstrators from a labour group take part in a protest calling for the ouster of South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol outside City Hall in Seoul on Dec 12, 2024. (Photo: AFP/Anthony Wallace)
SEOUL: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said in a defiant address on Thursday (Dec 12) he would "fight to the end" as his own political party shifted closer to voting with the opposition to impeach him over his short-lived martial law order that threw the US ally into turmoil.
In a lengthy televised address, he alleged that North Korea had hacked South Korea's election commission, casting doubt on his party's landslide election defeat in April.
Yoon, whose country has Asia's fourth-largest economy, hopes political allies will rally to support him but this appeared less likely after his address. The leader of his ruling People Power Party (PPP) said the time had come for Yoon to resign or be impeached by parliament.
His comments were the first since he apologised on Saturday and promised to leave his fate in the hands of his political allies.
The 63-year-old said the opposition was "dancing the sword dance of madness" by trying to drag a democratically elected president from power.
"I will fight to the end," he said in a lengthy address broadcast on television. "Whether they impeach me or investigate me, I will face it all squarely."
Yoon faces a second impeachment vote in parliament on Saturday, a week after the first one failed because most of the ruling party boycotted the vote.
It will take place at about 5pm local time (4pm Singapore time).
PPP leader Han Dong-hoon urged party members on Thursday to attend the meeting and vote "according to their conviction and conscience".
"President Yoon Suk Yeol is no longer able to fulfil his duties as president, and I think that has become clearer and clearer," he said.
The opposition has formally submitted a second impeachment motion against Yoon and the bloc needs eight MPs from the ruling party to vote in favour of the impeachment.
Several ruling lawmakers have indicated their intention to do so. To impeach Yoon, two-thirds of the parliament must vote in favour.
His defiant new comments raise the possibility that Yoon, a career prosecutor and a legal expert, may have decided to take his chances to court, hoping to make a comeback.
"It appears that he just doesn't want to step down and is trying to hang in there as he still thinks he did the right thing," said Shin Yul, a Myongji University political science professor.
A vote to impeach Yoon would send the case to the Constitutional Court, which has up to six months to decide whether to remove him from office or reinstate him.
Yoon is separately under criminal investigation, and barred from foreign travel, for alleged insurrection over the Dec 3 martial law declaration. He rescinded the order hours later, causing South Korea's biggest political crisis in decades.
In comments echoing his justification for declaring emergency rule in the first place, Yoon said "criminal groups" that have paralysed state affairs and disrupted the rule of law must be stopped at all costs from taking over government.
He was criticising the opposition Democratic Party which has blocked some of his proposals and demanded his wife be investigated over alleged wrongdoing. He gave no evidence of criminal activity.
A member of the Democratic Party leadership, Kim Min-seok, said Yoon's address was a "display of extreme delusion" and urged members of the president's party to join the impeachment vote.
NORTH KOREAN HACK
Yoon also spoke at length about an alleged hack by communist-ruled North Korea into the National Election Commission (NEC) last year, again without citing evidence.
He said the attack was detected by intelligence agents but the commission, an independent agency, refused to cooperate fully in an investigation and inspection of its system.
The hack cast doubt on the integrity of the April 2024 election - which his party lost in a landslide - and led him to declare martial law, he added.
The NEC said it had consulted with the National Intelligence Service last year to address "security vulnerabilities" but manipulating elections was "effectively impossible".
Troops entered the election commission's computer server room after Yoon's martial law declaration, officials said and closed-circuit TV footage showed, but it was not clear if they removed any equipment.
Yoon's People Power Party suffered a crushing defeat in the April election, allowing the Democratic Party overwhelming control of the single-chamber assembly.
Yoon defended his decision to declare martial law as a "symbolic" move intended to expose an opposition plot to "completely destroy the country" and collapse the alliance with the United States.
"I apologise again to the people who must have been surprised and anxious due to the martial law," said Yoon.
"Please trust me in my warm loyalty to the people."
He added that he would "not avoid legal and political responsibility regarding the declaration of martial law".
"I WANT TO WITNESS HISTORY"
South Korea's capital has been rocked by daily protests since last week, with thousands gathering to demand Yoon's resignation.
Kim Jae-hee, 34, told AFP she would be hitting the streets on Saturday to protest for Yoon's impeachment.
"I want to witness history," she said. "I also know a lot of friends who are doing the same."
Police on Thursday attempted another raid on Yoon's presidential office compound, Yonhap news agency reported, a day after a similar attempt was blocked by security guards.
The main opposition Democratic Party has said it would file legal complaints for insurrection against the president's staff and security if they continued to obstruct law enforcement.
Police have also raided the headquarters of the military's capital defence command, which was deployed during the martial law declaration.
Former defence minister Kim Yong-hyun, who is accused of urging Yoon to impose martial law, tried to kill himself in prison on Tuesday, authorities said.
Kim was first detained on Sunday and later formally arrested on charges of "engaging in critical duties during an insurrection" and "abuse of authority to obstruct the exercise of rights".
The former interior minister and the general in charge of the martial law operation are also barred from foreign travel.
The PPP has said that, pending Yoon's resignation, he has agreed to hand power to Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and party chief Han.
In North Korea, AFP footage showed students scrolling through photos of anti-Yoon protests posted on the website of ruling party daily the Rodong Sinmun.
Pyongyang's state media - which has long hurled insults against Yoon - has described the South as being in "chaos" following his decision to impose martial law.
