South Korea’s opposition party urges Yoon to resign or face impeachment over martial law decree

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol faces impeachment after failed martial law declaration and opposition demands resignation.

South Korea’s main opposition party on Wednesday (December 4, 2024) urged President Yoon Suk Yeol to resign immediately or face impeachment, hours after Mr. Yoon ended short-lived martial law that prompted troops to encircle parliament before lawmakers voted to lift it.

Mr. Yoon didn't make any immediate public response to the opposition's demand. But his office said senior presidential advisers and secretaries for Mr. Yoon offered to resign collectively and the President also put off his official Wednesday morning schedule.

On Tuesday night, Mr. Yoon abruptly imposed the emergency martial law, vowing to eliminate “anti-state” forces after he struggled to push forward his agenda in the opposition-dominated parliament. But his martial law was effective for only about six hours, as the National Assembly voted to overrule the President. The declaration was formally lifted around 4:30 a.m. during a Cabinet meeting.

The liberal opposition Democratic Party, which holds a majority in the 300-seat parliament, said Wednesday that its lawmakers decided to call on Mr. Yoon to quit immediately or they would take steps to impeach him.

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“President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law declaration was a clear violation of the constitution. It didn’t abide by any requirements to declare it," the Democratic Party said in a statement. “His martial law declaration was originally invalid and a grave violation of the constitution. It was a grave act of rebellion and provides perfect grounds for his impeachment.”

Impeaching him would require support from two-thirds of the parliament, or 200 of its 300 members. The Democratic Party and other small opposition parties together have 192 seats. But when the parliament rejected Mr. Yoon’s martial law declaration in a 190-0 vote, about 10 lawmakers from Yoon’s ruling People Power Party cast ballots supporting the rejection, according to National Assembly officials.