South Korean opposition submits impeachment bill for President Yoon

Opposition parties have submitted an impeachment motion against South Korea‘s President Yoon Suk-yeol over his declaration of martial law.

Six opposition parties lodged the bill in parliament on Wednesday, local media reported. The opposition had earlier threatened to launch the process should Yoon not immediately step down over the botched order, which prompted chaotic scenes overnight as lawmakers tussled with troops in order to enter the National Assembly to vote it down.

“Yoon’s declaration of martial law is a clear violation of the constitution,” the Democratic Party, the main opposition that holds a parliamentary majority, said in a resolution issued following an emergency meeting at the National Assembly, according to the state-funded Yonhap News Agency.

The resolution described Yoon’s actions as a “serious act of rebellion” and “a perfect reason for impeachment”.

The opposition parties are understood to be planning to report the motion to a parliamentary plenary session on Thursday and to put it up for a vote on Friday or Saturday.

The Democratic Party currently holds 170 seats in parliament, meaning it would need some members of Yoon’s governing People Power Party to support the bid to remove the president.

The leader of the ruling party on Wednesday slammed the incident and called for those involved to be held accountable.

“The president must directly and thoroughly explain this tragic situation,” Han Dong-hoon told reporters in a televised broadcast.

If the National Assembly does agree to impeach, Yoon will be temporarily stripped of his presidential authority while the constitutional court considers his fate.

Several senior officials have offered their resignations in the wake of the bungled events, including Presidential Chief of Staff Chung Jin-suk, National Security Adviser Shin Won-sik, and Presidential Chief of Staff for Policy Sung Tae-yoon.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo pledged to continue serving the people “until the last moment” and asked the cabinet to fulfil its responsibility together with the public officials of all ministries.

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, one of the country’s largest labour organisations, had called for a strike until the president’s resignation.

Overreach

Yoon announced he would lift the martial law order hours after he announced it on Tuesday.

He had said he was forced to issue the order “to defend the free Republic of Korea from the threats of North Korean communist forces” and accused the political opposition of “paralysing” his government and “undermining” the constitutional order.

Lawmakers then tussled with soldiers in order to enter parliament where they passed a unanimous, legally binding motion forcing Yoon to reverse the order.

A Democratic Party leader, Park Chan-dae, warned soon after the martial law order ended that Yoon “cannot avoid the charge of treason”.

Greg Scarlatoiu, the president and CEO of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, told Al Jazeera that Article 77 of the South Korean Constitution stipulates that martial law may be declared when the country basically faces an existential threat.

“It seems that this is a fairly frivolous exercise in declaring martial law,” he said.

Scarlatoiu noted that there may be some basis to Yoon’s assertion of a threat to national security. The Democratic Party, which holds the majority in parliament, has made it impossible for the executive branch to operate.

Yet, the fact that 190 members of parliament rejected martial law was a sign the president had overreached.