South Korea ends martial law, rejecting president’s surprising move
South Korea’s main opposition party on Wednesday urged President Yoon Suk Yeol to resign immediately or face impeachment, hours after Yoon ended short-lived martial law that prompted troops to encircle parliament before lawmakers voted to lift it.
Yoon didn’t make any immediate public response to the opposition’s demand. But his office said his senior presidential advisers and secretaries offered to resign collectively, and the president also put off his official Wednesday morning schedule.
In the capital, tourists and residents walked around, traffic and construction were heard, and other than crowds of police holding shields, it seemed like a normal sunny, cold December morning.
On Tuesday night, Yoon abruptly imposed the emergency martial law, vowing to eliminate “anti-state” forces after he struggled to push forward his agenda in the opposition-dominated parliament. But his martial law was effective for only about six hours, as the National Assembly voted to overrule the president. The declaration was formally lifted at about 4:30 a.m. local time during a cabinet meeting.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said he would lift the martial law declaration he imposed overnight after parliament voted to reject his declaration. Yoon declared martial law late Tuesday, vowing to eliminate ‘anti-state’ forces.
The liberal opposition Democratic Party, which holds a majority in the 300-seat parliament, said Wednesday that its lawmakers decided to call on Yoon to quit immediately or they would take steps to impeach him.
“President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law declaration was a clear violation of the constitution. It didn’t abide by any requirements to declare it,” the Democratic Party said in a statement. “His martial law declaration was originally invalid and a grave violation of the constitution. It was a grave act of rebellion and provides perfect grounds for his impeachment.”
Impeaching him would require support from two-thirds of the parliament, or 200 of its 300 members. The Democratic Party and other small opposition parties together have 192 seats. But when the parliament rejected Yoon’s martial law declaration in a 190-0 vote, about 10 lawmakers from Yoon’s ruling People Power Party cast ballots supporting the rejection, according to National Assembly officials.
If Yoon is impeached, he’ll be stripped of his constitutional powers until the Constitutional Court can rule on his fate. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the No. 2 position in the South Korean government, would take over his presidential responsibilities.
Yoon’s martial law declaration was the first of its kind in more than 40 years. It hearkened to South Korea’s past military-backed governments, when authorities occasionally proclaimed martial law and other decrees that allowed them to station combat soldiers, tanks and armoured vehicles on streets or at public places like schools to prevent anti-government demonstrations. Such scenes of military intervention had not been seen since South Korea achieved a genuine democracy in the late 1980s until Tuesday night.
“It’s a shocking development. There’s no other way to describe it,” said Vina Nadjibulla, vice-president of research and strategy with the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.
Jeremy Chan, senior analyst for China and Northeast Asia at Eurasia Group, says South Korean President’s Yoon Suk Yeol’s tenure is likely at risk after lawmakers including members of his own party unanimously rejected his declaration of martial law. Yoon’s term was set to end in 2027, but he is likely to face direct impeachment articles in the coming weeks, Chan says.
Nadjibulla said it was “important to note” there is no immediate threat from North Korea that might have influenced the president’s choice.
“At least, that’s not the reason why this has happened,” she told CBC News Network on Tuesday.
“This is very much about a domestic power struggle and a deeply unpopular president essentially bringing in this measure in the midst of a number of debates in its domestic parliament on the budget as well as scandals — including with his own wife — and other issues that have been plaguing democracy and the constitutional system in South Korea for the last few months.”
Vina Nadjibulla, vice-president of research and strategy at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, called the South Korean president’s declaration of martial law a ‘shocking development’ that speaks to domestic issues and the challenges of a ‘deeply unpopular’ president.
After Yoon’s declaration, troops carrying full battle gear, including assault rifles, tried to keep protesters away from the National Assembly as military Blackhawk helicopters flew overhead and landed nearby. One soldier pointed his assault rifle at a woman who was among protesters outside the building demanding that the martial law be lifted.
It wasn’t clear how the 190 lawmakers were able to enter a parliamentary hall to vote down Yoon’s martial law decree. Some reportedly climbed over walls, and while troops and police officers blocked some from entering they didn’t aggressively restrain or use force against others.
No major violence has been reported. The troops and police personnel were later seen leaving the ground of the National Assembly after the parliamentary vote to lift the martial law. National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik said, “Even with our unfortunate memories of military coups, our citizens have surely observed the events of today and saw the maturity of our military.”
Han Dong-hoon, leader of the ruling People Power Party, demanded that Yoon explain his decision and fire Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun, who he said recommended the martial law decree to Yoon. The Defence Ministry has not commented.
Under South Korea’s constitution, the president can declare martial law during “wartime, war-like situations or other comparable national emergency states” that require the use of military force to restrict the freedom of press, assembly and other rights to maintain order. Many observers questioned whether South Korea is currently in such a state.
The constitution also states that the president must oblige when the National Assembly demands the lifting of martial law with a majority vote.
In Washington, the White House said the U.S. was “seriously concerned” by the events in Seoul. A spokesperson for the National Security Council said U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration was not notified in advance of the martial law announcement and was in contact with the South Korean government.
Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said there was no effect on the more than 27,000 U.S. service members based in South Korea.
In Seoul, the streets seemed busy like a normal day. Tourist Stephen Rowan, from Brisbane, Australia, who was touring Gyeongbokgung Palace, said he wasn’t concerned at all.
“But then again, I don’t understand too much about the political status in Korea,” he said. “But I hear they are now calling for the current president’s resignation, so … apparently there’s going to be a lot of demonstrations … I would have been concerned if martial law had stayed enforced.”
Supporters of South Korea’s opposition gathered in Seoul to call for the dismissal of martial law after a declaration from the country’s president late Tuesday.
Yoon’s government and ruling party have been embroiled in an impasse with the Democratic Party over next year’s budget bill and a Democratic Party-led attempt to to impeach three top prosecutors.
During his televised announcement, Yoon also described the opposition as “shameless pro-North Korean anti-state forces who are plundering the freedom and happiness of our citizens.” He did not elaborate. North Korea has no immediate comments.
Natalia Slavney, research analyst at the Stimson Center’s 38 North website that focuses on Korean affairs, said Yoon’s imposition of martial law was “a serious backslide of democracy” that followed a “worrying trend of abuse” since he took office in 2022.
South Korea “has a robust history of political pluralism and is no stranger to mass protests and swift impeachments,” Slavney said, citing the example of former president Park Geun-hye, who was ousted from office and imprisoned for bribery and other crimes in 2017. She was later pardoned.
Published at Tue, 03 Dec 2024 17:26:53 +0000
Israeli defence minister threatens to expand Lebanon war if Hezbollah ceasefire collapses
Israel threatened on Tuesday to return to war in Lebanon if its truce with Hezbollah collapses — and said this time its attacks would go deeper and target the Lebanese state itself, after the deadliest day since the ceasefire was reached last week.
In its strongest threat since the truce was reached to end 14 months of war with Hezbollah, Israel said it would hold Lebanon responsible for failing to disarm militants who violated the truce.
“If we return to war, we will act strongly, we will go deeper, and the most important thing they need to know: that there will no longer be an exemption for the state of Lebanon,” Defence Minister Israel Katz said.
“If until now we separated the state of Lebanon from Hezbollah … it will no longer be [like this],” he said during a visit to the northern border area.
Despite last week’s truce, Israeli forces have continued strikes in southern Lebanon against what they say are Hezbollah fighters ignoring the agreement to halt attacks and withdraw north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres from the Israeli-Lebanese border.
On Monday, Hezbollah shelled an Israeli military post, while Lebanese authorities said at least 12 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon. Another person was killed on Tuesday by a drone strike, Lebanon said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said any infraction of the truce would be punished, however small.
“We are enforcing this ceasefire with an iron fist,” he said ahead of a cabinet meeting in the northern border city of Nahariya. “We are currently in a ceasefire, I note, a ceasefire, not the end of the war.”
Lebanon asks U.S., France to press Israel on holding truce
The Lebanese government must “authorize the Lebanese army to enforce their part, to keep Hezbollah away beyond the Litani and to dismantle all the infrastructure,” Katz said.
“If they don’t do it and this whole agreement collapses, then the reality will be very clear.”
Top Lebanese officials urged Washington and Paris to press Israel to uphold the ceasefire, after dozens of military operations on Lebanese soil that Beirut has deemed violations, two senior Lebanese political sources told Reuters on Tuesday.
The sources said caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, a close Hezbollah ally who negotiated the deal on behalf of Lebanon, spoke to officials at the White House and French presidency late on Monday.
Mikati, quoted by the Lebanese news agency, said that diplomatic communications had intensified since Monday to stop Israeli violations of the ceasefire. He also said a recruitment drive was underway by the Lebanese army to strengthen its presence in the south.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Matt Miller told reporters on Monday that the ceasefire “is holding” and that the United States had “anticipated that there might be violations.”
Neither the French presidency nor the Foreign Affairs Ministry were immediately available to comment. French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noël Barrot spoke to his Israeli counterpart, Gideon Saar, on Monday, saying both sides should adhere to the ceasefire.
The truce came into effect on Nov. 27 and prohibits Israel from conducting offensive military operations in Lebanon, while requiring Lebanon to prevent armed groups, including Hezbollah, from launching attacks on Israel. It gives Israeli troops 60 days to withdraw from south Lebanon.
Lebanese residents are returning to their hometowns to salvage what they can of their properties, nearly a week after the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire began. CBC’s Margaret Evans spoke Tuesday with people in Nabatiyeh, in southern Lebanon, who are eager to rebuild their homes and businesses but fear the fragile truce may not hold.
Hassan Sadek is among thousands of residents who returned to south Lebanon after fleeing earlier due to the fighting. He took his 84-year-old father to Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon on Tuesday to see what is left of their family home that was destroyed in an Israeli strike.
“This house means a lot to [my father], especially since he inherited from his father and his grandfather,” Sadek told CBC News. “It has a very symbolic meaning. It’s not just stones and materials. It’s more than that.”
Sadek said the family will rebuild despite concern that fighting will restart. “As humans, we’re very adaptable. So no matter what happened, life moves on, so we just have to push through,” he said.
International monitoring
A mission chaired by the U.S. is tasked with monitoring, verifying and helping enforce the truce, but it has yet to begin work.
Berri, the Speaker of Lebanon’s parliament, on Monday called on the mission to “urgently” ensure Israel halts its breaches, saying Beirut had logged at least 54 Israeli violations of the ceasefire so far.
Israel has said its continued activity in Lebanon is aimed at enforcing the ceasefire.
At least nine people were killed and three injured overnight from Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, as the Israeli military said it struck dozens of Hezbollah targets across the country. These strikes came shortly after Hezbollah accused Israel of violating the ceasefire and fired missiles on an Israeli military position in the disputed Shebaa Farms area.
Lebanon’s Mikati met in Beirut on Monday with U.S. Gen. Jasper Jeffers, who will chair the monitoring committee.
Two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that France’s representative to the committee, Gen. Guillaume Ponchin, would arrive in Beirut on Wednesday and that the committee would hold its first meeting on Thursday.
“There is an urgency to finalize the mechanism, otherwise it will be too late,” the source said, referring to Israel’s gradual intensification of strikes despite the truce.
Published at Tue, 03 Dec 2024 14:53:27 +0000
