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South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun has resigned following short-lived declaration of martial law by President Yoon Suk-yeol.
South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol has accepted the resignation of the country’s Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun and nominated the country’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Choi Byung-hyuk, as the new defence minister, according to the country’s Yonhap news agency.
The president’s office confirmed the nomination of Choi, a former army general, as the new defence minister on Thursday.
Yonhap reports that Kim had proposed to President Yoon that he declare martial law on Tuesday night, a move that was quickly cut short after South Korea’s parliament voted for Yoon to reverse his decision.
Yoon’s nomination of a new defence minister is his first official act since revoking the declaration of martial law in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The reversal sent hundreds of South Korean troops, who had briefly stormed into the National Assembly compound in Seoul, back to their barracks.
Chung Jin-suk, Yoon’s chief of staff, said Choi was a fitting choice for the role of new defence minister as he was a retired four-star army general who had served as deputy commander of the South Korea-US Combined Forces Command from 2019 to 2020.
He described Choi as being a defence minister who would “fulfil the military’s core responsibilities, including maintaining a firm readiness posture based on the robust South Korea-U.S. alliance”, Yonhap reports.
Opposition moves to impeach Yoon
Amid public outrage at the attempt to impose martial law and condemnation of Yoon by opposition parties, South Korea’s parliament introduced a motion early on Thursday to impeach the president.
The main opposition Democratic Party has called Yoon’s martial law attempt a treasonous act, and its lawmakers could lead a vote for impeachment as early as Friday.
Yoon’s own party, however, has promised to oppose efforts to remove the president, throwing the process into doubt.
The floor leader of Yoon’s ruling People Power Party party said on Thursday that all their lawmakers would “unite” to defeat the opposition-led motion to impeach the president.
“All 108 lawmakers of the People Power Party will stay united to reject the president’s impeachment,” Choo Kyung-ho said at a livestreamed party meeting.
The opposition does not have enough votes in parliament to pass an impeachment bill and will require eight ruling party lawmakers to vote with them for the initiative to be successful.
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