South Korea’s Yoon ignored cabinet opposition to martial law: prosecutors

According to a prosecutors’ report seen by AFP on Sunday, Yoon Suk Yeol, the suspended president of South Korea, disregarded the protests of important cabinet members before to his unsuccessful attempt to impose martial law last month.

With his disastrous declaration of martial law on December 3, Yoon threw the nation into political turmoil. Since then, he has holed up in his home, surrounded by hundreds Korean security guards who are thwarting attempts to arrest him.

The nation’s then-prime minister, foreign minister, and finance minister all voiced concerns the evening of the decision, according to the full 83-page prosecution report to indict former defense minister Kim Yong-hyun.

They made their concerns clear about the economic and diplomatic fallout in a cabinet meeting, which Yoon called before his short-lived power grab.

“The economy would face severe difficulties, and I fear a decline in international credibility,” then prime minister Han Duck-soo told Yoon, according to the report seen by AFP.

Han became acting president after Yoon was stripped of his duties, but was also impeached by opposition MPs who argued he refused demands to complete Yoon’s impeachment process and to bring him to justice.

“Diplomatic repercussions but also destroy the achievements South Korea has built over the past 70 years” is what Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul allegedly remarked about martial law.

The decision will have “devastating effects on the economy and the country’s credibility,” according to acting president and finance minister Choi Sang-mok.

Despite the criticism, Yoon declared that “there is no turning back” and that the opposition, which dominated the parliamentary election in April, will bring about the downfall of the nation.

“Neither the economy nor diplomacy will function,” he reportedly said.
An earlier summary of the report provided to the media last month revealed Yoon authorised the military to fire their weapons to enter parliament during the failed bid.

Yoon Kab-keun, the suspended president’s attorney, rejected the prosecutors’ report.
He told AFP that “it doesn’t align legally, and there’s no evidence either” and that the indictment report by itself does not amount to an uprising.

Yoon is still being investigated on insurrection-related accusations and might be arrested, imprisoned, or, in the worst case scenario, executed.

Yoon’s impeachment trial was scheduled to begin on January 14 by the Constitutional Court, and it would proceed without him if he did not show up.

The court may take the prosecutors’ report on Kim — one of the first indicted over the martial law bid — into consideration.