Amid the controversy over martial law in South Korea, Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun resigned from his post on Thursday. According to Korean news agency Yonhap, Kim Yong said that he is taking responsibility for the massive turmoil in the country. The President’s Office said that President Yoon Suk Yol has accepted the resignation of the Defense Minister. The President had announced the imposition of martial law on the advice of Defense Minister Kim. The Deputy Defense Minister confirmed this in a media briefing on Thursday. He said that the army entered the Parliament on the orders of Kim Yong. The Deputy Defense Minister also said that he did not know anything about the martial law. He got information about it on TV. He is sad that he did not know anything and due to this he could not stop this incident at the right time. Choi Byung-hyuk has now been made the new Defense Minister of South Korea in place of Kim Yong. He has been a four-star general in the army and is currently holding the post of South Korea’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia. What is the Chungam group that is accused of plotting martial law? Opposition party MP Kim Min Sok has alleged that the ‘Chungam group’ is behind the imposition of martial law in the country. Chungam is a high school in the capital Seoul where the President and his friends have studied. After becoming the President, Yoon appointed his friends to important positions. All of them had many powers to impose martial law and they were preparing for it for many months. Defense Minister Kim has also studied from Chungam and is an old friend of the President. According to the report, the President had called a cabinet meeting 3 hours before imposing martial law, in which apart from him 4 people were present. Apart from the Prime Minister, the Finance and Foreign Ministers opposed the imposition of martial law. However, the President ignored their advice. A police officer told Reuters that four hours before the imposition of martial law, he had received a message from the President’s Office to the National Police Chief and he was asked to be on standby. Why did President Yol need to impose martial law? There are a total of 300 seats in the Parliament of South Korea. In the elections held earlier this year, the public gave a huge mandate to the opposition party DPK. The ruling People Power got only 108 seats, while the opposition party DPK got 170 seats. Due to being in majority, the opposition DPK was interfering more in the functioning of the President’s government, and they were not able to work according to their agenda. President Yol won the election by a narrow margin in 2022. Since then his popularity kept declining. His image was also affected due to his wife being embroiled in many controversies. At present, the popularity of the President is close to 17%, which is the lowest among all the presidents of the country. To deal with all this, the President imposed martial law. He accused the DPK of sympathizing with North Korea and being involved in anti-national activities. The President’s image suffered because of his wife
The President’s credibility was tarnished due to his wife and First Lady Kim Kyon accepting a luxury brand bag as a gift. In fact, earlier this year, a YouTuber leaked a video in which the President’s wife was seen accepting an expensive gift from a pastor. This video was filmed with a spy camera. This bag was from Christian Dior company, which is said to be worth 2 lakh Indian rupees. She started getting criticized in the country for accepting such an expensive gift. In South Korea, it is illegal for any person holding a public office (including family) to accept a gift worth more than 1 million Korean Won (60 thousand rupees). The President’s wife has a long history of controversies. In 2021, she was accused of lying about professional records and plagiarism in her Ph.D thesis. The First Lady was also accused of manipulating stock prices about 13 years ago. Will impeachment be filed against the President? Opposition parties in South Korea together started the impeachment process against the President on Wednesday. The opposition parties have a total of 192 MPs. To impeach a person in the 300-seat Korean Parliament, two-thirds i.e. 200 MPs are required. In such a situation, unless the MPs of the ruling party vote against the President, it is difficult to bring impeachment. The ruling People’s Party has refused to support the opposition to remove the President. Situation after imposition of martial law in South Korea… Why did martial law end in just 6 hours in South Korea? After President Yol’s declaration of martial law, the entire opposition reached the Parliament in a short time. To remove the martial law law, there should be more than 150 MPs in the Parliament. By the time the army reached to capture the Parliament, enough MPs had reached the Parliament and the proceedings had started. However, the army tried to stop the proceedings. Many opposition MPs going to vote in the Parliament were detained. They started breaking the windows of the Parliament to enter inside. But, by the time the soldiers reached inside, 190 out of 300 MPs of the National Assembly voted and rejected the President’s proposal of martial law. According to the constitution of South Korea, if the majority of MPs in the parliament demand the removal of martial law in the country, then the government will have to accept it. The opposition leaders took advantage of this provision of the constitution and the army had to stop its proceedings. The army immediately vacated the parliament and returned. Helicopters were stationed above the parliament and military tanks were stationed on the road, they had to go back. ——————————————— Also read this news related to South Korea’s politics… President imposed martial law in South Korea: The army reached to surround the parliament, but by then the MPs had already voted; had to withdraw it within 6 hours South Korea’s President Yun Suk Yol has withdrawn the order to impose martial law in the country. The President had announced the imposition of martial law at 7 pm (according to Indian time) on December 3, after which protests started across the country and a situation of anarchy was created. Read the full news here…
