South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has accepted the resignation of Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and appointed Saudi Arabia’s ambassador, Choi Byung-hyuk, as the new defense minister, the presidency said Thursday.
Kim, who tendered his resignation on Wednesday, was seen as a key figure in Yoon’s declaration of martial law on Tuesday. A senior military official and calls to impeach Yoon by members of the opposition said that Kim made recommendations to Yoon.
Yoon’s chief of staff, Chung Jin-suk, called Choi “a principled person who does his job with dedication and abides by regulations.”
The appointment is Yoon’s first official move after he announced the lifting of martial law early Wednesday, amid a storm of political unrest and political fallout.
Parliament introduced a motion early Thursday to impeach Yoon over botched attempts to impose martial law, but his party vowed to oppose the move, throwing the plan into doubt.
Thousands of people marched in Seoul on Wednesday demanding the resignation of President Yoon Suk Yeol over his temporary declaration of martial law in South Korea. Lawmakers are expected to vote on Yoon’s impeachment on Friday or Saturday.
The main opposition Democratic Party has called Yoon’s martial law an act of treason, and its lawmakers are likely to vote on the bill as early as Friday.
US officials say they were caught off guard by Yoon’s declaration of martial law, which US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell called “misjudged.”
Yoon’s declaration of martial law, the first of its kind in decades, was a setback for South Korea’s military-backed governments when authorities occasionally declared martial law and other laws that allowed them to station troops, tanks and armored vehicles on roads or in such public areas. such as schools to prevent protests against the government.
Until Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, these scenes of military intervention had not been seen since South Korea achieved democracy in the late 1980s.
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