South Korea's Yoon faces impeachment after martial law debacle

PHOTO CAPTION: Military forces walk outside the National Assembly, after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, in Seoul, South Korea, December 4, 2024. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

By Hyunjoo Jin and Joyce Lee

SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korean lawmakers on Wednesday proposed impeaching President Yoon Suk Yeol for his sudden decision to declare martial law, which he rescinded after a chaotic standoff between parliament and the army that damaged the country's standing.

Yoon's declaration of martial law late on Tuesday attempted to ban political activity and censor the media in South Korea, which has Asia's fourth largest economy and is a key U.S. ally.

Washington had no advance notice of the decision, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Reuters, adding that he expected to speak with his South Korean counterpart in the coming days.

Armed troops had forced their way into the National Assembly building in Seoul but stood back when parliamentary aides sprayed them with fire extinguishers. Lawmakers rejected the martial law decision while protesters scuffled with police outside.

On Wednesday evening, civic and labour groups held a candlelight vigil in downtown Seoul calling for Yoon's resignation - a reminder of the massive candlelight protests that led to the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye in 2017. They then marched to the presidential office.

Six South Korean opposition parties submitted a bill in parliament to impeach Yoon, who had already faced accusations of heavy-handed leadership from his opponents and from within his own party, with voting set for Friday or Saturday.

A plenary session to formally introduce the bill was scheduled to begin shortly after midnight (1500 GMT) on Wednesday.

"We couldn't ignore the illegal martial law," DP lawmaker Kim Yong-min told reporters. "We can no longer let democracy collapse."

The leader of Yoon's ruling People Power Party called for Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun to be fired and the entire cabinet to resign. Kim has offered to resign, the defence ministry said.

The crisis rattled global financial markets and left South Korea's benchmark KOSPI index .KS11 down 1.4%, taking its year-to-date losses to over 7% and making it the worst performing major stock market in Asia this year.

The won was stable but close to a two-year low, with dealers reporting suspected intervention by South Korean authorities after overnight talks between Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok and Bank of Korea Governor Rhee Chang-yong.

Choi sent an emergency note to global financial chiefs and credit rating agencies late on Wednesday which said the market was functioning as usual, and that the finance ministry was working to alleviate any adverse impact from political turmoil, the ministry said in a statement.

NO SPECIFIC THREATS

Yoon told the nation in a television speech late on Tuesday that martial law was needed to defend the country from pro-North Korean anti-state forces, and protect the free constitutional order, although he cited no specific threats.

Within hours, South Korea's parliament, with 190 of its 300 members present, unanimously passed a motion for martial law be lifted, with 18 members of Yoon's party present.

The president then rescinded the declaration of martial law, around six hours after its proclamation.

Protesters outside the National Assembly shouted and clapped. "We won!" they chanted, and one demonstrator banged on a drum.

"There are opinions that it was too much to go to emergency martial law, and that we did not follow the procedures for emergency martial law, but it was done strictly within the constitutional framework," a South Korean presidential official told Reuters by telephone.

There has been no reaction yet from North Korea to the drama in the South.

Yoon was embraced by leaders in the West as a partner in the U.S.-led effort to unify democracies against growing authoritarianism in China, Russia and elsewhere.

But he caused unease among South Koreans by branding his critics as "communist totalitarian and anti-state forces" as his approval ratings slipped. In November, he denied wrongdoing in response to influence-peddling allegations against him and his wife and he has taken a hard line against labour unions.

Seoul appeared largely normal on Wednesday, with the usual rush hour traffic in trains and on the streets.

But Hyundai Motor's labour union announced plans to stage strikes on Thursday and Friday and some major employers, including Naver Corp and LG Electronics Inc, advised employees to work from home.

Sales of canned goods, instant noodles and bottled water had soared overnight, said a major South Korean convenience store chain, which sought anonymity.

"I'm deeply disturbed by this kind of situation, and I'm very concerned about the future of the country," 39-year-old Seoul resident Kim Byeong-in told Reuters.

The National Assembly can impeach the president if more than two-thirds of lawmakers vote in favour. A trial by the constitutional court follows, which can confirm the motion with a vote by six of the nine justices.

Yoon’s party has 108 seats in the 300-member legislature.

'DODGED A BULLET'

If Yoon resigned or was removed from office, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo would fill in as leader until a new election was held within 60 days.

"South Korea as a nation dodged a bullet, but President Yoon may have shot himself in the foot," Danny Russel, vice president of the Washington-based Asia Society Policy Institute, said of the first martial law declaration in South Korea since 1980.

Blinken said he welcomed Yoon's decision to rescind the martial law declaration.

"We continue to expect political disagreements to be resolved peacefully and in accordance with the rule of law," he said in a statement.

South Korea hosts about 28,500 American troops as a legacy of the 1950-1953 Korean War.

Planned defence talks and a joint military exercise between the two allies were postponed amid the broader diplomatic fallout from the debacle.

South Korea's political situation is an "internal matter", China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said. Russia said it was following the "tragic" events in South Korea with concern.

Yoon, a career prosecutor, squeezed out a victory in the tightest presidential election in South Korean history in 2022, riding a wave of discontent over economic policy, scandals and gender wars.

But he has been unpopular, with his support ratings hovering at around 20% for months and the opposition captured nearly two-thirds of seats in parliament in an April election.

Martial law been declared more than a dozen times since South Korea was established as a republic in 1948. In 1980, a group of military officers forced then-President Choi Kyu-hah to proclaim martial law to crush calls for the restoration of democratic government.

(Reporting by Jack Kim, Ju-min Park, Hyonhee Shin, Hyunsu Yim, Heekyong Yang, Joyce Lee, Josh Smith, Hyunjoo Jin and Cynthia Kim; Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols at the United Nations, David Brunnstrom in Washington, Trevor Hunnicutt in Luanda and Humeyra Pamuk in Brussels; Writing by Stephen Coates, Raju Gopalakrishnan and James Pearson; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Clarence Fernandez, Philippa Fletcher)