Yoon Suk Yeol in the South Korean presidential office, in Seoul, December 12, 2024. AP South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, threatened with impeachment after his attempt to impose martial law a week ago, said , Thursday December 12, wanting to fight “until the last minute”, accusing the opposition of causing “a national crisis”. The opposition-controlled Parliament, which plans to submit a new motion to vote on Saturday to dismiss him from office, “has become a monster destroying the constitutional order of liberal democracy,” castigated the South-South president. Korean in a televised speech. “I will fight with the people until the last minute,” insisted the conservative leader, whose popularity plunged to 13% after his coup. Since his election in 2022, with the narrowest margin in the country’s history against the leader of the Democratic Party, Yoon Suk Yeol has never had a majority in the Assembly. Citing in particular difficulties in passing his budget, he stunned the country by imposing martial law by surprise on the night of December 3 to 4, before being forced to repeal it six hours later under pressure from Parliament and from the street. On Saturday December 7, he narrowly escaped a motion for dismissal by the National Assembly, saved by his party. But the Democratic Party has set a second vote in this direction for Saturday, 5 p.m. (9 a.m. in Paris). Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers South Korea is sinking a little deeper into political uncertainty, after the rejection of the dismissal of its president Read later Ban on leaving the territory If eight deputies from the People’s Power Party (PPP) – the formation of Yoon Suk Yeol – support this new motion, it can be adopted. At the first attempt, on December 7, only two deputies voted for the motion. Since Tuesday, three others have announced that they will join. “I apologize again to those people who must have been surprised and worried due to martial law […] Please believe in my warm loyalty to the people,” the president declared Thursday, assuring that he “would not evade [sa] legal and political responsibility regarding the proclamation of martial law.” Targeted by an investigation for “rebellion”, the South Korean president, aged 63, is prohibited from leaving the territory, as are his former ministers of defense and the interior, and the commander of the brief martial law. Two senior police officials were also arrested. On Wednesday, South Korean police said they were obstructed in a search of presidential offices. The Democratic Party has warned that it will file a complaint for insurrection against its services if they continue to obstruct the application of the law. Le Monde Mémorable Test your general knowledge with the editorial staff of “Le Monde” Test your general knowledge with the editorial staff of “Le Monde” Discover A new attempt to search the presidency was launched early Thursday afternoon, reported the Yonhap National News Agency. In the morning, the police had also announced a search of the army headquarters in the capital, for its role during martial law. Thousands of demonstrators Popular pressure remains strong: thousands of demonstrators gathered Wednesday evening in front of Parliament, singing K-pop songs while brandishing colorful light sticks and signs demanding the dissolution of the PPP, “which supports the insurrection.” On Tuesday, a PPP working group proposed a road map on the president’s removal. She envisages the resignation of Yoon Suk Yeol in February or March, with a new presidential election in April or May. This plan has not yet been accepted by the entire PPP. Even if that were the case, it is unlikely that the opposition would give up trying to remove President Yoon from office. According to the PPP, the president left governance to his party and to Prime Minister Han Duck-soo. During martial law, helicopters and soldiers were deployed to Parliament to prevent MPs from meeting there and voting to lift it. But 190 of them managed to enter and unanimously adopt the end of this state of exception. Then-former defense minister Kim Yong-hyun was accused by opposition lawmakers of ordering drones to be sent to Pyongyang, apparently to create a casus belli with the North that would have justified martial law. Incarcerated since Sunday, notably for “abuse of power to obstruct the exercise of rights”, he, according to the authorities, attempted suicide in detention on Tuesday evening. A hard blow for the opposition, one of its leaders, Cho Kuk, saw, on Thursday, a two-year prison sentence confirmed against him in the final instance and lost his seat as deputy. He was convicted of falsifying his children’s academic documents. Le Monde with AFP Reuse this content
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