K-Drama not over: South Korea's Yoon Suk Yeol faces investigation over martial law
The former defense minister Kim Yong-hyun has also been arrested in connection with the declaration.
The South Korean political crisis doesn't seem to be ending just yet even after President Yoon Suk Yeol survived an impeachment vote on Saturday. The prosecutors’ office has been reported to have opened an investigation into his role in last week’s brief imposition of martial law.
The former defense minister Kim Yong-hyun has also been arrested in connection with the declaration, Bloomberg reported.
Park Se-hyun, chief of the Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office, opened the probe into Yoon after receiving several complaints.
The President’s office is yet to issue a statement on the report.
The investigation marks a dramatic turn of events for Yoon, a former prosecutor who made his name pursuing an influence-peddling case that involved former president Park Geun-hye — who was ultimately impeached and jailed.
The effects of the martial law declaration were still being felt on Sunday as interior minister Lee Sang-min quit his role.
The ruling People Power Party’s Han Dong-hoon tried to reassure the citizens by announcing that prime minister Han Duck-soo will manage the nation’s affairs as the party prepared an orderly exit plan for Yoon.
“The president will not be involved in any state affairs including diplomacy before his exit,” the party leader said.
The martial law imposition late on Tuesday caught some of South Korea’s closest allies by surprise, and Han said his government would do its best to regain the trust of the international community.
“It is very important that we keep strong ties with the US and Japan in terms of national security, while maintaining the US-Korea alliance firm,” Han said.
He said that the approval of the government budget plan and accompanying bills is key to the country’s normal operation.
The reaction of the opposition
The move to club the powers of the president and the prime minister wasn't received very well by the opposition. Parliament speaker Woo Won-shik denounced it as “unconstitutional”. Woo proposed a meeting between the rival parties to immediately suspend the president from his duties.
“The prime minister and the ruling party saying they would jointly exercise the presidential power that nobody gave them is a clear violation of the Constitution,” Woo said. “The people and the world are asking who is in charge of South Korea right now. I myself, the national assembly speaker, cannot answer who that is,” he added
The opposition party, which controls a majority in the legislative body, also reacted strongly to the move.
“Prime minister Han assuming Yoon’s role is unconstitutional and anarchic," it said.
The leader of the main opposition Democratic Party declared on Saturday that it would push quickly for another impeachment vote.
Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok assured the country that the government would deploy all available measures and take bold and swift steps to contain the situation.
President Yoon revoked his martial law imposition within hours of announcing it after parliament unanimously rejected the declaration. Yoon managed to survive the impeachment motion because the ruling party lawmakers boycotted the vote.
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