South Korea's national police chief and top police officer for the capital, Seoul, were detained over the enforcement of President Yoon Suk ꦫYeol's short-lived martial law decree last week, police said Wednesday.
The development comes hours before the main liberal opposition Democratic Party submits a new motion to impe🧜ach Yoon on the martial law introduction. The party said it aims to put the motion on a floor vote on Saturday.
Earlier, Yoon's former defence minister, Kim Yong Hyun, was arrested after a Seoul court approved an arrest warrant for him on allega꧅tions of pla♒ying a key role in rebellion and committing abuse of power. Kim became the first person arrested over the December 3 martial law decree.
Opposition parties and many experts say the martial law decree was unconstitutional. They say a president is by law allowed to declare martial law only during “wartime, war-like situations or other comparable national emergency states” and South Korea wasn't in such a situation. They argue that deploying troops to seal the National Assembly to suspend its political activities amounted to rebellion because the South Korean Constitution doesn't allow a president to use the military to suspend parliament in🌟 any situation.
In his martial law announcement, the conservative Yoon stressed a need to rebuild the country by eliminating “shameless North Korea followers and anti-state forces,” a reference to his liberal rivals who control parliament. Since taking office in 2022, Yoon has 🌄had near-constant friction with the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, which introduced motions to impeach some of his top officials and launched a political offensive over scandals involvin🍰g Yoon and his wife.
Yoon avoided impeachment last Saturday after most governing party lawmakers boycotted a floor vote in the Nat❀ional Assembly.
If Yoon is impeached, his presidential powers would be suspended until the Constitutional Court decides whether to restore his powers or remove him from office. If he♏ is dismissed from office🍒, a new presidential election would be required.
