South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol apologized Saturday for his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law for the first time in 44 years.
"This declaration of martial law was born out of desperation as the president, the ultimate head of state," Yoon said in his televised address. "But it has caused anxiety and discomfort to the people in the process."
Yoon said his fate rested with his People Power Party. Later, during a vote to impeach Yoon, all but three of the 108 members of his party walked out rather than vote, making for the absence of a quorum and preventing any vote from taking place.
But the leader of the People Power Party in parliament, Han Dong-hoon, said that the party decided Yoon should resign.
"The declaration of martial law was a clear and serious violation of the law," Han said. Han had publicly clashed with Yoon over various issues, so it was unclear whether he was expressing a personal preference or the determination of the party.
"The People Power Party will pursue an orderly departure of the president in order to minimize confusion for the people," Han added. He also said that the president would be "effectively excluded from his duties, and the prime minister will consult with the party to manage state affairs."
Korea's opposition Democratic Party (DP) is trying to make the process of getting rid of Yoon as painful as possible. Korean law states that if the president leaves office, an election must be held in 60 days. The DP already controls the National Assembly, and winning the presidency would give them control of the government.
His party said it could not allow a repeat of the 2016 impeachment of then-President Park Geun-hye, who left office after months of candle-lit protests over an influence-peddling scandal. Her downfall triggered the implosion of the party and a victory by liberals in presidential and general elections.
"We cannot repeat the tragedy of paralysis of state affairs and suspension of constitutional government through the impeachment of the president," PPP spokesperson Shin Dong-uk said after the failed vote, noting that Yoon had apologised and had vowed to leave his future up to the party.
In scenes reminiscent of the protests against Park, tens of thousands of demonstrators holding candles and lights flooded the streets outside parliament on Friday and Saturday nights, demanding Yoon's impeachment.
Why did Yoon make the fatal misstep of declaring martial law? Some observers of Korean politics think it was sheer frustration at the opposition.
Elected by the slimmest margin in South Korean history, Yoon was in trouble from the beginning of his presidency.
In late 2022, he was criticized for his government’s response to the horrific crowd crush during Halloween, which killed 159 young people in Seoul.
Then there were calls to investigate his wife after she was caught accepting a Dior handbag as a gift - a scandal that is always hovering close to the headlines.
In April this year, his party was defeated in parliamentary elections, leaving him in a lame-duck position. This week alone he has been locked in a political battle with opposition lawmakers over the country's budget.
Even before he told South Koreans he was suspending their rights, his approval rate was below 20%.
Yoon tried to tar the opposition with the "Communist" label, which means a lot more in South Korea than in America. It was clearly a bid to garner support from the right in Korea, except few people believed that the DP was in North Korea's pocket.
Yoon was also frustrated with democratic government. The former prosecutor said in his Tuesday night address that parliament is a “monster that destroys the liberal democratic system." He was complaining about the aggressive obstructionist tactics of the opposition.
The DP may have conducted politically motivated investigations, but that could be considered just the push/pull of partisan politics. It was inconvenient and it slowed the workings of government to a crawl, but it wasn't illegal.
Yoon was out of his depth from the start. He will probably be gone in the next few days.
