Multiple wings of the South Korean military apparatus assured the public on Friday that President Yoon Suk-yeol would not attempt to impose martial law for a second time this week, responding to spreading rumors that Yoon may attempt to exercise that power before an impeachment vote scheduled for Saturday.
A senior army official, Commander Kwak Jong-keun, went further, telling lawmakers on Friday that, even if Yoon attempted to decree martial law, the Army Special Warfare Command would ignore him, according to the Korea JoongAng Daily.
An unnamed top official in the Defense Ministry issued the same promise to disregard presidential orders should they come to impose military rule on the country.
Some members of the left-wing Democratic Party and a group called the Center for Military Human Rights Korea suggested on Friday that Yoon may attempt to declare military rule a second time before he was impeached, prompting the multiple denials and assurances that, even if Yoon tries, the military would not follow his orders.
“If there ever is a call for declaring martial law once again, the Defense Ministry and the Joint Chiefs of Staff will not allow it,” the news agency Yonhap quoted a Defense Ministry official as saying. Yonhap added that the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) itself also said it would not obey a martial law order, but emphasized, “there will not be a second declaration.”
Acting Defense Minister Kim Seon-ho said at an emergency press conference on Friday that “rumors … on signs of another martial law declaration are not true.”
“Even if there is an order for martial law issuance, the defense ministry and the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) will never accept it,” he promised.
Kim Seon-ho took over from Yoon’s longstanding defense minister, Kim Yong-hyun, on Thursday, after he tendered his resignation. Kim Yong-hyun, a high school classmate of Yoon’s, is rumored to have been the only cabinet official informed of the martial law plans before they were enacted; some reports suggested that Kim may have even been the originator of the idea.
Yoon, a conservative, appeared on television and declared martial law late on Tuesday, a shocking announcement that almost no one in the nation expected or had previous knowledge of, including many in Yoon’s inner circle. Yoon claimed the martial law decree was necessary to combat leftist obstructionism in the National Assembly and alleged that the government had been infiltrated by “North Korean communist forces” and “unscrupulous pro-Pyongyang anti-state forces,” but never named any of the alleged infiltrators or offered evidence for these claims.
The declaration prompted disgust and opposition from every sector of South Korean politics, including Yoon’s own People Power Party (PPP), which moved rapidly to distance itself from the announcement. Lawmakers stormed the National Assembly to use their constitutional power to vote against martial law, forcing their way through a column of soldiers dispatched to enforce a ban on political action. The Assembly unanimously voted against martial law and Yoon rescinded the order a few minutes later. Yoon has not addressed the public since.
Even in obeying this order, the military appeared not to enforce the ban on entering the National Assembly with much force, as unarmed lawmakers in suits managed to keep throngs of young, heavily armed soldiers from breaking up the vote against martial law. Kwak, the army commander, said on Friday that he refused to follow the orders to break up the meeting.
“I judged that dragging out lawmakers was clearly illegal, and so though it would be considered disobedience I did not follow orders,” he asserted.
Yoon is scheduled to face an impeachment vote on Saturday. To pass, and to oust him from power, two-thirds of the National Assembly must vote in its favor, which would require eight members of the PPP to vote to expel their own president.
The PPP initially opposed impeachment, proposing instead to pass a constitutional amendment to shorten term limits and in that way get rid of Yoon before the end of his tenure. By Friday, however, at least one PPP assemblyman said he would vote for impeachment and the party leader, Han Dong-hoon, told reporters Yoon needs to vacate the presidency as soon as possible.
“Although it would be hard to change the party’s stance on Yoon’s impeachment vote, my opinion is that Yoon should be suspended from duty,” Han said, according to the Korea JoongAng Daily, stating that he “had not heard any remarks to reverse a judgment of suspending Yoon Suk Yeol from presidential duty.”
Han made the comments after meeting with Yoon on Friday – and after reports surfaced that Yoon had ordered Han’s arrest on Tuesday, among other political leaders.
In addition to impeachment, Yoon is facing a police investigation into criminal charges of treason for the martial law order. The Rebuilding Korea party filed criminal charges against Yoon this week; police have confirmed an investigation into whether Yoon acted outside of his constitutional authority in a criminal fashion or not is underway.
