South Korea’s president defended his martial law decree as an act of governance and denied rebellion charges Thursday, rejecting the impeachment attempts and investigations into last week’s move.
Yoon Suk Yeol’s televised statement Thursday came hours before the main liberal opposition Democratic Party submitted a new impeachment motion against Yoon. The opposition party plans to put the motion on a floor vote this Saturday.
Its earlier attempt to impeach Yoon fell through last Saturday, with ruling party lawmakers boycotting a vote at the National Assembly.
Yoon’s Dec. 3 martial law decree has generated political chaos and protests calling for his ouster.
“I will fight to the end, to prevent the forces and criminal groups that have been responsible for paralyzing the country’s government and disrupting the nation’s constitutional order from threatening the future of the Republic of Korea,” Yoon said.
Yoon said his martial law introduction was meant to defend the county’s liberal democracy and constitutional order in the face of the liberal opposition party, which he says threatens the constitution.
The decree was an act of governance that cannot be the subject of investigations, he said, and doesn’t amount to rebellion.
‘A knife dance of chaos’
“The opposition is now doing a knife dance of chaos, claiming that the declaration of martial law constitutes to an act of rebellion. But was it really?” Yoon said.
On Wednesday, Yoon’s office resisted a police attempt to search the compound.
The main focus of the investigation is finding whether Yoon and other top military and government officials involved in imposing martial law committed rebellion, for which a conviction carries a maximum penalty of death.
Earlier this week, Yoon’s former defence minister was the first to be formally arrested over the decree, on allegations of playing a key role in a rebellion and committing abuse of power.