South Korea’s ex-defence minister is arrested days after Yoon Suk Yeol’s calamitous martial regulation bid falls flat as tons of of 1000’s of protesters name for ‘politically useless’ president to go
South Korea‘s former defence minister has been arrested just a day after President Yoon Suk Yeol survived an impeachment vote over his calamitous attempt to impose martial law.
The motion failed due to a boycott of the vote by Yoon’s party, even though huge crowds braved freezing temperatures in another night of protests outside parliament in Seoul to demand the president’s ouster.
Kim Yong-hyun had already resigned as defence minister after the brief suspension of civilian rule late on Tuesday by Yoon that saw soldiers and helicopters sent to parliament.
Yoon was forced to rescind the order hours later and parliament voted down his decree, and Kim had already been slapped with a travel ban.
Police have launched an investigation into Yoon, Kim and others for alleged insurrection.
The prosecutors’ office was not immediately available for comment on Kim’s arrest, reported by the Yonhap news agency and other local media outlets Sunday morning.
Party leader Han Dong-hoon said that the party had ‘effectively obtained’ Yoon’s promise to step down, and said until this happened he would ‘be effectively excluded from his duties’, leaving the prime minister and party to manage state affairs.
The failure of the impeachment motion came as a huge blow to the massive crowds – numbering 150,000 according to police, one million according to organisers – demonstrating outside parliament.
Former defence minister Kim Yong-hyun (pictured) has been arrested just a day after President Yoon Suk Yeol survived an impeachment vote over his calamitous attempt to impose martial law
Police officers block protesters outside the National Assembly after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law
Opposition Democratic Party members of parliament gather after the vote to impeach Yoon failed in the National Assembly
National Assembly speaker Woo Won-shik called the PPP’s walkout ‘a failure to engage in the democratic process’ on the part of the ruling party.
‘Even though we didn’t get the outcome we wanted today, I am neither discouraged nor disappointed because we will get it eventually,’ protester Jo Ah-gyeong, 30, said Saturday.
‘I’ll keep coming here until we get it,’ she added.
Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung also claimed: ‘I will impeach Yoon Suk Yeol, who has become the worst risk for South Korea, at any cost.’
Before the vote, Yoon, 63, had apologised for the turmoil but said he would leave it to his party to decide his fate.
‘I caused anxiety and inconvenience to the public. I sincerely apologise,’ he said in the televised address, his first public appearance in three days.
He said he would ‘entrust the party with measures to stabilise the political situation, including my term in office’.
Yoon addressing the nation on December 7, when he announced his shock decision to declare martial law and grant sweeping emergency powers to the military
Protesters hold candlelights and placards calling for the impeachment of South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol
Soldiers try to enter the National Assembly building in Seoul on December 4 2024, after South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law
The backing of PPP lawmakers came despite party head Han – who was allegedly on an arrest list on Tuesday night – saying Yoon must go.
Only three PPP lawmakers – Ahn Cheol-soo, Kim Yea-ji and Kim Sang-wook – voted in the end.
The failure of the impeachment motion ‘means a more protracted political crisis,’ Vladimir Tikhonov, professor of Korean Studies at the University of Oslo, told AFP.
‘We will have a politically dead president – basically unable to govern any longer – and hundreds of thousands coming to the streets every week until Yoon is removed,’ he said.
In Tuesday’s declaration, Yoon made the sudden move in response to unspecified threats from ‘North Korean communist forces’ and ‘to eradicate the shameless pro-North anti-state forces’.
He also accused the National Assembly of launching an unprecedented number of impeachment efforts against members of his administration, effectively paralysing key operations, and of handling the budget in a way that undermined the fundamental functions of the government, including public safety.
