South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol addressed the nation on Saturday morning, apologizing for his controversial declaration of martial law earlier this week but stopping short of resigning.
In his televised speech, Yoon acknowledged the anxiety and inconvenience caused to the public and vowed to take full responsibility for the fallout from his actions. The apology comes ahead of a scheduled parliamentary vote on his impeachment.
“This declaration stemmed from my sense of urgency as the president, who bears the ultimate responsibility for state affairs,“ Yoon said. ”However, I caused anxiety and inconvenience to the citizens in the process. I feel deeply apologetic and sincerely apologize to the citizens who were greatly alarmed.”
The president said he would “not evade legal or political accountability,” and promised that he would never take that action again.
Yoon said he won’t be resigning, and said he would leave it to his party to navigate a path forward.
“As for the stability of state affairs, including my remaining term, I will leave it to my party. Moving forward, the party and the government will jointly take responsibility for managing state affairs,” he added.
“Once again, I bow my head and apologize for causing concern to the citizens.”
The apology follows a tumultuous week that began with Yoon’s controversial declaration of martial law late Tuesday night. Yoon had said that the decree, which granted sweeping emergency powers to the military, was aimed at rooting out “anti-state forces” and countering what Yoon described as obstructionist political opponents.
Since taking office in 2022, Yoon has been struggling to push his agenda though the opposition-controlled parliament.
His declaration of martial law sparked immediate opposition, with opposition lawmakers defying military and police blockades to reject the order. Facing intense backlash, Yoon rescinded the decree just six hours later.
The opposition parties that brought forth the impeachment motion against Yoon account for 192 seats of the 300 seats in the parliament. This means they need at least eight members of Yoon’s party to join them in the vote to secure the two-thirds needed to pass the motion.
This could be a possibility, as the leader of Yoon’s party has called for his removal, but his party has remained formally opposed to his impeachment.
In recent days, South Koreans have taken to the streets in scenes reminiscent of the candlelit protests that marked the impeachment of then-President Park Geun-hye, a fellow conservative leader who was in power 2013–17.
