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South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol delivering an address at the Presidential Office in Seoul. Image Credit: AFP
South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol said he would fight until the last minute to defend himself after accusing the opposition of trying to paralyze his administration. Yoon's defiant Thursday morning speech came as the chief of his own party called for his impeachment.
Yoon said the purpose of imposing martial law last week was to save the country and protect "free democracy." He said the move was aimed at sending a warning to the opposition by letting the public know about their "anti-state" moves and their sympathies for North Korea.
"I wanted to thereby prevent the collapse of the constitutional order of a free democracy and normalize state functions," Yoon said in a televised address.
The comments come as the president's grip on power weakens, with more ruling party members saying they'll support impeachment moves against him.
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"Whether they impeach me or investigate me, I will face them down with confidence," Yoon said. "I will fight until the end."
The leader of Yoon's People Power Party, Han Dong-hoon, said earlier Thursday that the only way to get the president to stand down was to impeach him.
The benchmark Kospi stockmarket index was up 0.7 per cent after paring earlier gains of as much as 1.1 per cent after the start of Yoon's comments, but didn't show the abrupt gyrations seen last week. The won was down 0.1 per cent.
"If the parliament passes the impeachment bill, the political uncertainties will be significantly reduced and that seems to be the reason why the market isn't so shocked," said Seo Sang-Young, a market strategist at Mirae Asset Securities Co.
The president is fighting to stay in his role after his brief declaration of martial law last week stunned the nation and its allies. The shock move has sparked political chaos, initially spooked financial markets and fueled public outrage.
Yoon said he ordered the dispatch of just a small number of troops on the day of the declaration to maintain order, without arming them. He also said he planned to pull out the troops if the parliament voted to lift the martial law.
In parliamentary hearings commanders have said Yoon ordered the military to drag lawmakers out of the chamber.
"We just saw the president delivering a speech that cannot be tolerated from a democratic perspective," Han told lawmakers at a party meeting following the address. "I tell you as party leader that we should proceed swiftly to lawfully suspend the president from his duties."
Han's comments were met with jeers from some members of his party, in an indication that opinions still diverge within the PPP.
Still, even with continued resistance to immediately ousting Yoon within the party, the president may find it more difficult to escape a second impeachment vote as just eight of 108 lawmakers in Yoon's party need to switch sides for the motion to pass.
Already six ruling party lawmakers have said they will vote for Yoon's impeachment in the anonymous poll.
"It remains to be seen how Yoon's defiant speech this morning affects the outcome of the vote on Saturday, " said Homin Lee, senior macro strategist at Lombard Odier Singapore Ltd. "But its extreme nature is certain to inflame the opinions of the large swath of the public favoring his immediate departure."