South Korea: Pressure mounts on Yoon to resign amid impeachment threat

President Yoon Suk-yeol says he will lift a martial law order after the South Korean parliament passed a motion requiring it be lifted.

In an unannounced live address earlier, Yoon said the imposition of martial law was aimed at safeguarding a “liberal South Korea from the threats posed by North Korea’s communist forces and to eliminate anti-state elements”.

Already, six opposition parties have filed a motion to impeach President Yoon over his short-lived declaration of martial law, reports Al Jazeera.

“We’ve submitted an impeachment motion prepared urgently,” representatives for the parties, which include the main opposition Democratic Party, said at a news conference.

Under South Korea’s constitution, the support of two-thirds of the 300-member National Assembly is required to impeach a sitting president.

The Democratic Party, minor opposition parties and independents have a combined 192 seats, meaning they would need the support of at least eight members of Yoon’s People Power Party to pass the motion.

If the National Assembly votes to impeach Yoon, he will be temporarily stripped of his presidential authority and wait till the Constitutional Court considers his fate.

If at least six of the court’s nine judges vote to uphold the impeachment, Yoon will be removed from office.

The leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung, said that he felt like Alice in a strange land last night as President Yoon called for the shocking order that had to be lifted – martial law – when parliament was able to get enough votes to require him to cancel it, ultimately.

The opposition leader also called for vigilance saying there could be another attempt at martial law or what he called “localised war”.

Now the president’s party, the People Power Party, are also taking action. They are urging his cabinet to resign en masse in an act of taking responsibility; also for the dismissal of the defence minister – his senior secretaries have already resigned en masse.

It remains to be seen, however, whether they will call on the president to leave the party as well, reports Al Jazeera.