South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has been banned from leaving the country due to a failed try to impose martial law, a Justice Ministry official said Monday. Calls for his resignation and the worsening leadership crisis were increasing.
Yoon has apologized for the botched attempt and said he was leaving his political and legal fate to his ruling People Power Party (PPP), but has not resigned. According to local media reports, he’s the topic of a criminal investigation.
On Monday, the Defense Ministry said Yoon was still legally commander-in-chief, but his grip on power had come into query as disunity grew amongst senior military officers against the president and his own party said it will arrange a task force to manage his decision Resignation.
Oh Dong-woon, head of the Corruption Investigation Office for Senior Officials, said he had ordered a foreign travel ban for Yoon when asked at a parliamentary hearing what measures were taken against the embattled president.
A Justice Ministry official, Bae Sang-up, told the committee that the travel ban order had been implemented.
The panel was arrange in 2021 to research high-ranking officials, including the president and their relations, but doesn’t have the authority to prosecute the president. Instead, the law requires the matter to be referred to the general public prosecutor.
While Yoon survived an impeachment vote in Parliament on Saturday, his party's decision to delegate presidential authority to the prime minister has plunged the US's key ally right into a constitutional crisis.
Yoon rejected calls to resign, including from inside his own ruling party, and his future appeared more uncertain over the weekend when the Yonhap news agency reported that he was under criminal investigation for alleged treason.
Prosecutors arrested former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun on Sunday for his alleged role in declaring martial law on Dec. 3, Yonhap reported.
Yoon granted the military sweeping emergency powers on December 3 to stamp out “anti-state forces” and obstructive political opponents. He revoked the order six hours later after Parliament defied military and police barricades and voted unanimously against the decree.
Amid the backlash, several military officials, including the acting defense secretary, have said they’d not follow any latest orders to reimpose martial law.
The important opposition party, the Democratic Party, has called for Yoon's power to manage the military to be stripped away. The DP has also called for the arrest of Yoon and all military officials involved within the martial law fiasco.
Yoon's People Power Party (PPP) has arrange a task force to take care of, amongst other things, “political stabilization under martial law and (Yoon's) orderly early resignation,” a spokesman said on Monday.
On Sunday, PPP leader Han Dong-hoon said the president can be excluded from foreign and other state affairs and that Prime Minister Han Duck-soo would lead government affairs until Yoon eventually resigns.
This proposal has been criticized by the opposition, who consider it unconstitutional. It says Yoon have to be impeached or resign and be prosecuted, and plans to introduce one other impeachment bill on Saturday.
Chang Young-soo, a professor at Korea University's School of Law, said the president can delegate authority to the prime minister, particularly his control over the military, but there may be debate over whether the prime minister has the authority to function commander-in-chief of the state in diplomatic matters.
“Furthermore, unlike a US vice president, a South Korean prime minister is not elected, meaning democratic legitimacy is weak. “So it will also be a question of how long this system can last,” he said.
Military backlash
Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung warned on Monday that the political crisis could cause irreversible damage to Asia's fourth-largest economy and the world's largest supplier of memory chips.
South Korea's finance ministry and regulators said they’d make every effort to stabilize financial markets by introducing contingency plans and increasing liquidity by the top of December.
In the most recent sign of dissent inside the military ranks, the commander of South Korea's special forces said he was ordered last week to send his troops to parliament to forestall a vote rejecting martial law.
Col. Kim Hyun-tae, the commanding officer of the 707th Special Mission Group, told reporters he accepted responsibility for his troops' actions but was acting on orders from then-Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun.
“We were all victims who were taken advantage of by the former defense minister,” the colonel told reporters outside the Defense Ministry in Seoul.
He said he didn’t tell the military about his plan to talk to the media for fear he can be stopped.
Yoon's decision to declare a state of emergency and grant the military broad powers sparked protests within the streets and raised alarm amongst Seoul's allies.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin scrapped plans to travel to South Korea and Secretary of State Antony Blinken called his South Korean counterpart and said he expected the democratic process to prevail.
The United States stationed 28,500 troops in South Korea as a legacy of the 1950-1953 Korean War.
The unrest in Seoul comes at a crucial geopolitical moment within the region, as North Korea is reportedly sending troops to support Russia's war against Ukraine, while military ties between Moscow and Pyongyang are growing.
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul said he was “just sad” that the incident occurred at a time of accelerating security threats to the country.
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