South Korean opposition leader holds Martial Law announcement for deepep.
South Korean opposition leader holds Martial Law announcement for deepep.
The chairman of the most important opposition party in South Korea initially thought that the president's announcement on the state of emergency was a fake when he saw it for the first time. He reported this to CNN on Thursday, while his party is now striving to leave the office of head of state.
President Yoon explains the state of emergency
President Yoon Suk Yeol announced that only a few hours was valid, before it was lifted by MPs who had violated parliament. This extraordinary notification was made in a late television address on Tuesday evening.
"That evening after I came from work, I was in bed with my wife when she suddenly showed me a YouTube video and said: 'The president explains the state of emergency'," reported Lee Jae-myung, the chairman of the liberal Democratic Party (DP), to Cnn.
"I replied: 'This is a fake. That can't be real.'" He added, referring to the term for fake audio and video recordings that are created with the help of artificial intelligence.
reactions to the announcement
"When I saw the video, the president actually explained the state of emergency - and I thought, 'This is fake, that's not true.'" Lee War was Yunis's main opponent in the presidential election 2022 and sees himself after he is faced with numerous legal difficulties Criminal charges were charged.
The message was particularly shocking in the past four decades. has transformed into a lively democracy that is shaped by frequent protests and protected freedoms - a hard -fought victory after a long history of bloody repression.
urgency in parliament
Within one hour after Yunus announcement of the state of emergency, Lee hurried to parliament in Seoul and asked his party colleagues in their Telegram group to "gather as soon as possible in the National Assembly in order to adopt the application to cancel the state of emergency".
When he reached the National Assembly, however, he saw that MPs were prevented from entering, while troops began to remove the main building and revolved over him. Therefore, he managed to climb over a fence to get into the building - and he streamed live all the time, in a viral video that has been viewed by many millions on platform X.
A total of 180 MPs - mainly the opposition, but also several members of Yunus own party - finally came to parliament to reject the decree, which caused Yoon to remove the state of emergency in the early Wednesday.
rising pressure on President Yoon
The pressure on the president has increased in the days after the announcement, since demonstrators and opposition representatives request his office. Also in Yunus's own party and in the military, support is.
The national police have initiated an investigation against Yoon and other high -ranking civil servants for treason. In the meantime, Lees Democratic Party has announced that it would raise charges against Yoon and other civil servants.
The opposition also brought in an office ceremony in the parliament, which could possibly be voted on on Saturday. If a two-thirds majority is reached, the application would be forwarded to one of the highest courts in the country.
The ruling party, the "People Power Party", tries to block this step. Party chairman Han Dong-Hoon said in a press conference on Thursday that he would speak out against the office, as this could cause "unprepared chaos". However, he emphasized that he "did not defend President Yoon's unconstitutional state of emergency".
Several government officials have resigned, including the Minister of Defense, who was heavily criticized for his role in the initiation of the state of emergency. Meanwhile, ranking military people have either distanced or declared that they were surprised by the state of state.
sleeping MPs in parliament
Many MPs meanwhile do not dare to leave the parliament building-including the opposition MP Kang Sun-Woo, who has been there since Tuesday evening. "We are concerned and are afraid that President Yoon could explain another state of emergency at any time ... since the last state of emergency failed," she told CNN on Thursday. "That's why we stay here and don't go home ... We sleep, eat and some colleagues wash themselves here in the National Assembly."
Now questions arise about the future of Yoon's presidency, the position of his party in the government and how this could affect the political landscape of a large Asian economy and an important regional US ally.
LEE, a human rights lawyer who became a former provincial governor, lost the election in 2022 only with a wafer -thin lead - but none of the candidates was particularly popular. Both men were involved in scandals and were pursued by legal cases and accusations in the years afterwards.
LEE is now facing several procedures, including bribery and allegations in connection with a real estate development scandal of $ 1 billion. In November, he was charged with public funds for personal abuse and also sentenced and punished for violation of the right to vote. He rejected and announced the allegations to make an appeal - he told CNN on Thursday that he had been arrested "without any evidence or basis" in an act of "political revenge".