South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday slammed his political opponents by calling them “anti-state forces” and vowed to continue his fight to the end.
“I will fight to the end [….] Whether they impeach me or investigate me, I will face it all squarely,” President Yoon said in a lengthy televised address.
Claiming that North Korea had hacked the country’s elections, he defended his short-lived martial law order as a legal move to protect democracy and said that the opposition was “dancing the sword dance of madness” by trying to drag a democratically elected president from power.
His comments, the first since he apologized on Saturday and promised to leave his fate in the hands of his political allies, came as the leader of his ruling People Power Party (PPP) said if Yoon did not resign he must be impeached.
“I propose we adopt a vote for impeachment as party policy [….] His address was akin to confessing to insurrection,” PPP leader Han Dong-hoon told a meeting of party members in the latest sign that the president was losing his grip on power.
President Yoon faces a second impeachment vote in parliament, which is expected on Saturday, a week after the first one failed because most of the ruling party boycotted the proceedings.
