South Korean President Eun Suk Yeol on Thursday accepted the resignation of his defense minister and appointed a new defense minister. Choi Byung Hyuk has been elected as South Korea’s new defense minister. The country’s former defense minister, Kim Yong Hyundai, took responsibility for enforcing martial law in the country and resigned from his post, which has now been accepted.
President Eun Suk Yeol was forced to accept the resignation of his defense minister after opposition parties tabled an impeachment motion against the two in parliament to protest the imposition of ‘martial law’. The main opposition Democratic Party and other smaller opposition parties on Wednesday tabled an impeachment motion against President Eun Suk Yeol in protest against the ‘martial law’ he declared last night.
Martial law was lifted within six hours
The ‘martial law’ remained in effect for about six hours and the ‘National Assembly’ (South Korea’s parliament) immediately voted to reject the president’s decision, prompting his cabinet to lift it before Wednesday morning. On Thursday, Yoon appointed Choi Byung Hyuk to replace Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, who retired with the rank of general with four stars, the presidential office said. He is currently the ambassador of South Korea to Saudi Arabia. There was no further comment from Yun. He has not been seen at any public event since he announced in his televised address that his government was revoking the declaration of ‘martial law’.
The ruling and opposition parties protested
Ever since martial law was imposed in the country, the ruling party and the opposition have turned against it. Many ruling party leaders also called it undemocratic and unconstitutional. At the same time, Han Dong-hoon, leader of the President’s Party, also openly criticized the decision and participated in the vote in parliament. After the martial law decision, large-scale protests started across the country. (input-ap)
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