(Bloomberg) — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol apologized on Saturday for plunging the country into political crisis with a martial law decree, saying he would leave it up to the ruling party to decide his fate.
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“I sincerely apologize to the public,” Yoon said in a televised address, as opposition parties prepare to vote on an impeachment motion later in the day. Yoon declared martial law late on Tuesday but the order was retracted hours after the National Assembly voted unanimously to nullify it.
“I will not avoid legal and political responsibility for declaring martial law. I am leaving it to the ruling party to decide ways to stabilize the state affair going forward, including my term,” he added in a speech that lasted just two minutes.
After the speech, ruling party leader Han Dong-hoon said it was now inevitable that Yoon would step down early. Han was set to hold a meeting with Prime Minister Han Duck-soo before the impeachment vote, according to Yonhap.
“The president’s normal performance of duties is impossible, and the president’s early departure is inevitable,” Han said. “I will discuss and deliberate the best way forward for South Korea and its people.”
Minutes after Yoon’s speech, the opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung criticized it as “very disappointing,” vowing to continue pushing for impeachment of the president.
“The biggest risk to South Korea right now is the very existence of the president,” Lee said. “The only way to solve this is for the president to step down immediately or be removed from office early through impeachment.”
The vote on the impeachment motion is set to take place at 5 p.m. local time at the National Assembly. The outcome hinges on whether the opposition can muster at least eight votes from members of Yoon’s party to obtain the two-thirds majority needed to carry the motion.
If the vote passes, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo will take the helm of the nation as Yoon becomes the third South Korean president subject to impeachment proceedings likely to last months.
Should the motion fail, then Yoon will continue for now as president but with a large question mark hanging over his prospects of finishing his term and a potential wave of public demonstrations against him.
Either result will likely leave one of the world’s key suppliers of semiconductors and tech equipment in a chaotic inward-looking political limbo. That weakened position could put Seoul on the back foot in responding to the protectionist trade policies of Donald Trump’s incoming US administration and the security challenges presented by North Korea and its deepening alliance with Russia.
Earlier in the week, the chances of the motion passing were deemed less likely with the ruling People Power Party vowing to prevent the impeachment. But its leader Han made an abrupt U-turn on Friday when he called for Yoon to be suspended from office.
Han said it would be dangerous to allow the president to stay in power, citing evidence that Yoon ordered the arrest of key politicians on the night he made his blindsiding move to impose martial law and ban all political activity.
The outcome of the vote remains unclear after hours of talks late into Friday night appeared to show there was still no party-wide agreement on what action to take on Saturday. Many senior members oppose an impeachment that would likely trigger an election they may fare badly in.
But Han’s faction has about 20 lawmakers, some of whom joined with the opposition in the early-morning hours of Wednesday to vote down the martial law order. If they stay united, that would be enough to swing the vote against Yoon.
A gathering of protesters outside the National Assembly on Friday night echoed the start of candlelight vigils in 2016 that eventually culminated in the ousting of former President Park Geun-hye. Park was removed from office over an influence-peddling scandal and Yoon was one of the prosecutors who investigated her for corruption that ultimately put her behind bars.
Yoon’s relatively late switch from prosecutor to politician meant he was an outsider in the political realm from the start. But he has become more and more isolated since squeaking to victory in the March 2022 election, the closest race in South Korea’s history. He still has two and a half years to go for his single, five-year term.
The president’s popularity has steadily declined, falling to a record low of 16% this week. Since then, the Democratic Party has sought to thwart his agenda, filing impeachment motions against government officials and negotiating hard on next year’s budget.
Yoon’s high-risk political gamble came at a time of high uncertainty for the nation as its trade-dependent economy faces potential tariffs from Trump. Bloomberg Economics estimates that full imposition of tariffs on China, South Korea and other US trading partners could reduce Seoul’s exports to the US by as much as 55%.
–With assistance from Shinhye Kang.
(Adds report of emergency meeting between Han and Yoon.)
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