South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has pledged to “fight to the end” after opposition parties submitted a new joint motion to impeach him over a botched martial law bid last week.
The National Assembly said the main liberal opposition Democratic Party and five smaller opposition parties submitted the impeachment motion on Thursday afternoon.
The impeachment vote will take place on Saturday at about 5pm (08:00 GMT), the parties said. The motion needs to win support from eight members of the ruling People 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 conviction and conscience”.
The move comes after authorities dispatched police to the presidential office compound to “obtain documents and materials”, according to the local Yonhap news agency. A similar attempt was blocked on Wednesday by security guards.
Yoon denies rebellion charges
South Korea’s capital, Seoul, has been rocked by daily protests since December 3, when Yoon stunned 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 “antistate forces”.
Yoon later apologised for the decree, which he rescinded within hours after a unanimous vote by the National Assembly, and promised not to shirk legal or political responsibility.
But in a lengthy televised address on Thursday, Yoon defended the decree as an act of governance and denied rebellion charges.
“I will fight to the end to prevent the forces and criminal groups that have been responsible for paralysing 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?”
The main opposition Democratic Party quickly slammed Yoon’s speech as “an expression of extreme delusion” and “false propaganda”.
Protests, investigations
Also on Thursday, police blocked the road to stop protesters marching during a rally on Thursday calling for the impeachment of Yoon to go through.
The first motion to impeach Yoon failed on December 7 after legislators from the governing party boycotted the vote. The walkout came hours after the embattled leader apologised, saying he would not attempt to impose martial law again.
The country’s law enforcement authorities were investigating whether Yoon and others committed rebellion, abuse of power and other crimes. A conviction for rebellion carries a maximum penalty of death.
Parliament on Thursday afternoon passed motions to impeach national police chief Cho Ji-ho and Justice Minister Park Sung-jae, suspending them from official duties, over their enforcement of martial law.
Yoon’s former defence minister, Kim Yong-hyun, became the first person to be formally arrested.
He tried to take his own life at a Seoul prison on Wednesday night, but correctional officers stopped him and officials said he was in stable condition.
