South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol apologises for public anxiety due to martial law attempt

South Korea’s embattled president apologised on Saturday for public anxiety caused by his short-lived attempt to impose martial law hours ahead of a parliamentary vote on impeaching him.

President Yoon Suk Yeol said in a brief televised address on Saturday morning he won’t shirk legal or political responsibility for the declaration and promised not to make another attempt to impose it. He said he would leave it to his party to chart a course through the country’s political turmoil, “including matters related to my term in office”.

“The declaration of his martial law was made out of my desperation. But in the course of its implementation, it caused anxiety and inconveniences to the public. I feel very sorry over that and truly apologise to the people who must have been shocked a lot”, Yoon said.

Since taking office in 2022, Yoon, a conservative, has struggled to push his agenda through an opposition-controlled parliament and grappled with low approval ratings amid scandals involving himself and his wife. In his martial law announcement on Tuesday night, Yoon called parliament a “den of criminals” bogging down state affairs and vowed to eliminate “shameless North Korea followers and anti-state forces”.

A National Assembly vote on an opposition-led motion to impeach Yoon is set for Saturday afternoon, but it wasn’t immediately clear whether the motion would get the two-thirds needed to pass. The opposition parties that jointly brought the impeachment motion control 192 of the legislature’s 300 seats, meaning they need at least eight additional votes from Yoon’s conservative People Power Party.

That appeared more likely after the leader of Yoon’s party called for his removal on Friday, but the party remained formally opposed to impeachment.

If Yoon is impeached, his powers will be suspended until the Constitutional Court decides whether to remove him from office. If he is removed, an election to replace him must take place within 60 days.

The turmoil resulting from Yoon’s bizarre and poorly-thought-out stunt has paralysed South Korean politics and sparked alarm among key diplomatic partners, including neighbouring Japan and Seoul’s top ally the US, as one of the strongest democracies in Asia faces a political crisis that could unseat its leader.

Tuesday night saw special forces troops encircling the parliament building and army helicopters hovering over it, but the military withdrew after the National Assembly unanimously voted to overturn the decree, forcing Yoon to lift it before daybreak on Wednesday. The declaration of martial law was the first of its kind in more than 40 years in South Korea.

Since then, thousands of people have protested in the streets of Seoul, waving banners, shouting slogans and dancing and singing along to K-pop songs with lyrics changed to call for Yoon’s ouster. Smaller groups of Yoon’s supporters rallied near the National Assembly Friday, holding signs that read “We oppose unconstitutional impeachment”.

Opposition lawmakers say that Yoon’s attempt at martial law amounted to a self-coup and drafted the impeachment motion around rebellion charges.

Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, told reporters that Yoon’s speech was “greatly disappointing” and that the only way forward is his immediate resignation or impeachment.

Parliament said on Saturday that it would meet at 5 pm. It will first vote on a bill appointing a special prosecutor to investigate influence peddling allegations surrounding Yoon’s wife, and then on impeaching Yoon.

It’s not clear if members of Yoon’s PPP will break ranks to vote for impeachment. Eighteen lawmakers from a minority faction of the party joined the unanimous vote to cancel martial law, which passed 190-0. However, the party has decided to oppose the impeachment.

Experts say the PPP fears Yoon’s impeachment and possible removal from office would leave the conservatives in disarray and easily losing a presidential by-election to liberals.

On Friday, PPP leader Han Dong-hun, who also heads the minority faction that helped cancel martial law, called for suspending Yoon’s constitutional powers, describing him as unfit to hold office and capable of taking more extreme actions. But Han is not a lawmaker and the party’s position remains anti-impeachment.

Han said he had received intelligence that during the brief period of martial law Yoon ordered the country’s defence counterintelligence commander to arrest and detain unspecified key politicians based on accusations of “anti-state activities.”

Following Yoon’s televised address, Han reiterated his call for him to step down, saying that the president wasn’t in a state where he could normally carry out official duties. “President Yoon Suk Yeol’s early resignation is inevitable,” Han told reporters.

Hong Jang-won, first deputy director of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, later told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing that Yoon called after imposing martial law and ordered him to help the defence counterintelligence unit to detain key politicians. The targeted politicians included Han, Lee and National Assembly speaker Woo Won Shik, according to Kim Byung-kee, one of the lawmakers who attended the meeting.

The Defense Ministry said it had suspended the defence counterintelligence commander, Yeo In-hyung, who Han alleged had received orders from Yoon to detain the politicians. The ministry also suspended the commanders of the capital defence command and the special warfare command over their involvement in enforcing martial law.

Former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun, who has been accused of recommending Yoon to enforce martial law, has been placed under a travel ban and faces an investigation by prosecutors over rebellion charges.

Vice Defense Minister Kim Seon Ho has testified to parliament that it was Kim Yong Hyun who ordered troops to be deployed to the National Assembly after Yoon imposed martial law.