'Bogus claim that N Korea infiltrated S Korea opposition roundly rejected across political spectrum'

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00:00Impeachment proceedings launched against South Korea's president a vote could

00:04take place as early as this coming Friday this after that failed attempt 24

00:11hours ago by Yoon Seok-yool to impose martial law Liza Herbert has more

00:18a candlelit vigil in Seoul continued the mass mobilization against Yoon Seok-yool

00:28just hours after the South Korean president declared martial law he was

00:33forced to rescind it and his political future is on the brink

00:39those who tried this crazy move they are still in their seats and until they step down we are not

00:52we don't feel we are safe enough these demonstrators are not the only ones who

00:57want to see him held accountable South Korea's largest labor union has called

01:02for an indefinite general strike until Yoon resigns and the country's main

01:07opposition has tabled a motion to impeach the president over what they

01:12called insurrectionary behavior by blocking lawmakers access to the

01:17National Assembly and allowing armed soldiers and police officers to

01:19forcibly enter the Parliament building Yoon has committed the crime of rebellion

01:23undermining the Constitution to be successful at least 200 votes or two

01:29thirds of South Korea's 300 member National Assembly have to support the

01:34motion a trial would then be held before South Korea's Constitutional Court if

01:39six of the nine member council vote for it to be sustained Yoon will be removed

01:44from office it was a rapid backfire for the president Yoon imposed martial law

01:51without warning on Tuesday night vowing to eliminate quote anti-state forces in

01:57a few tense hours armed officers and army helicopters then surrounded

02:01Parliament the country that was chafed under military dictatorship for decades

02:06responded swiftly to the bombshell announcement demonstrators took to the

02:11streets and opposition leaders accused him of trying to suppress democracy

02:15defying police they forced their way back inside the building 190 lawmakers

02:21then passed a unanimous vote to block the martial law and as you heard in that

02:27report a call for a general strike by trade unions Yenna Lee has more the

02:35pressure is on for South Korea's president Yoon Seok-yeol to take

02:39responsibility for his actions on Tuesday evening the opposition wants him

02:44to step down and face the music if not they say they will force him out an

02:49impeachment in South Korea requires two-thirds of the Parliament to vote of

02:54with them that's 200 people and the opposition and its allies as well as a

03:00few independent lawmakers all tallied up say that they are just missing eight

03:05votes so eight lawmakers from the ruling Conservative People's Power Party to

03:11vote alongside them for this to work as you can imagine a lot of closed-door

03:15meetings have been taking place throughout the day it won't be a

03:19complete shoe and it's not going to be as easy as one might think the vote in

03:23Parliament then is likely to take place either on a Friday or Saturday because

03:26legally there's a 72-hour window in which this has to take place and if this

03:32vote passes then there's also a second step for impeachment here as well in

03:37South Korea what is required is a constitutional court decision as well it

03:42has to go to trial and this could last six months and they will or will not

03:47confirm the impeachment six of the nine judges would have to vote yes public

03:53pressure here could make a bit of a difference and if you remember back in

03:572016 when the then South Korean president Park Geun-hye face an impeachment vote

04:02in Parliament before she managed to await out that constitutional court

04:07trial there were huge protests the protest against her got bigger and

04:11bigger towards the end there were 500,000 700,000 at one point organizers

04:15said 1 million people on the streets at these weekly protests and then if this

04:21is to happen the president who has been impeached by Parliament will then be

04:25officially impeached with that seal on from the Constitutional Court at the end

04:30of that six-month investigation.

04:33Dana Lee reporting from Seoul the Korean South Korean capital

04:38where it is gone 2 a.m. and we can speak with John Nilsen Wright senior fellow

04:44for northern for the northern Asia at the Asia program at the think tank a

04:50Chatham house thank you for being with us here on France 24 pleasure and and

04:56you for burning the midnight oil on what's been a momentous 24 hours where

05:03you are first off what was the mood for you walking around the South Korean

05:09capital this Wednesday well I think there's a mood of cautious optimism on

05:17the part of the South Korean public obviously what they've been through the

05:21shock and awe if you like of the declaration by the president late at

05:26night had I think impressed on people the urgency of the situation to rally to

05:32find a means of expressing their discontent relief that the National

05:36Assembly had met in a way that was decisive and cast that vote

05:40another in the order of martial law and I think a sense that now the

05:46institutions of government are working in the right way to hold their president

05:51to account for his illegal action but there remains I think questions

05:55important questions about what that will actually amount to in the next few days

06:00and as your report was pointing out we are expecting a vote tomorrow which

06:04should usher in I think the procedure that will enforce the the will of the

06:10National Assembly I think there is a question really now about president

06:16and his priorities we've already seen members of his own cabinet resign to

06:22tender their resignation in protest against his actions those resignations

06:26have not been accepted and if the impeachment vote passes as I think is

06:32extremely likely extremely likely because because the votes are not quite

06:37there for for an impeachment well I mean I do think if you if you look at the

06:43public media discourse and if you look at those conservatives who themselves

06:48voted as part of that initial vote I think it's it's it would be

06:54extraordinary if the conservatives block if you like the PPP decided not to

06:59endorse this decision by the National Assembly this action you know is such a

07:05threat to the integrity of the democratic process and already you know

07:09we were seeing in the run-up to the impeachment to the decision the

07:14announcement of martial law we saw plenty of conservatives who themselves

07:18were privately challenging the government there were reports that there

07:21were conservatives who were leaking information that was discrediting the

07:24president so it would be extraordinary if if the vote was not carried and we're

07:29you know we're talking about 200 votes so I suppose it is possible but that

07:35would really place us back in a constitutional crisis of enormous

07:39proportions so I do think that it's really very much incumbent now on the

07:46elected officials to do the political duty if you like John let me ask you

07:52because 24 hours ago whether we were speaking to journalists or analysts

07:57everybody was shocked by this attempt to declare martial law nobody saw this

08:04coming have you had time to make sense of it yes I mean I think the prevailing

08:12view talking to experienced Koreans here both civil servants politicians

08:19academics I mean I think there is a sense that President Yun given his lack

08:26of political experience given his his own authoritarian tendencies and given

08:33the fact that he was politically cornered acted in a way that seemed

08:38either stupid or impulsive or politically naive or some combination of

08:43all three thinking that it would be possible for him to carry out the

08:49imposition of martial law but what was really striking of course was that none

08:53of the ingredients of martial law the control of the media the use of the

08:57military were evident I mean there was the decision to send troops to the

09:01National Assembly to try and prevent those elected politicians from doing

09:05precisely what they've not been able to do which was to try and actually block

09:10the vote in the course of that response it was very clear that the the broad

09:16majority of public opinion was strongly opposed to this action and those voices

09:22will continue to be expressed we've seen demonstrations here just a few minutes

09:27away from my hotel where I'm speaking to you tonight in Kwan woman one of the

09:31main public for if you like in in central Seoul very clear expression of

09:37the opposition of mainstream Koreans and that movement will build if if the

09:45president doesn't resign or doesn't bow to the pressure coming from the National

09:48Assembly and we heard one lawmakers talking about how he had to climb the

09:54gates of Parliament to get in a lawmaker of 60 years old who lived

09:59through the last time martial law was declared in 1980 a reminder that you

10:05know South Korea's democracy was hard-fought with those student protests

10:09of the 1980s is that a generational thing or is that in the collective

10:15memory of everybody where you are I think it's and it's the latter I mean

10:20there's no doubt that of course 44 years ago or thereabouts ordinary

10:25Koreans fought aggressively and fearlessly to protect their emerging

10:31democratic rights and the events of 1980 were really a catalyst for the emergence

10:37of a vibrant liberal democratic state you know that memory is ingrained in

10:43public consciousness we see it reflected in popular literature in film

10:49the winner of the Nobel Prize Hong Kong her own novels reflect that historical

10:55moment and very much a part of of her experience in the experience of people

11:02like her a generation that maybe didn't experience directly those events but

11:07certainly it's part of their their mental framework their national identity

11:11and I think what's interesting again coming back to this question of the vote

11:16tomorrow is that no politician can afford to be ignorant of the

11:21significance of that and you know so much of what I mean this is part of the

11:26tragedy president Yoon has been trying to do in his foreign policy in

11:30emphasizing the rule of law in stressing the importance of South Korea's

11:34contribution to global order is also expressing some of that democratic

11:41identity so it would be inconceivable I think if if those elected politicians

11:47and public opinion were not able to prevail tomorrow one final question for

11:52you I'm sitting here in Western Europe many time zones away the the last time

11:59we ever experienced anything like this was in Spain in 1981 but it was only six

12:05years after the death of General Franco it's been a lot longer since South

12:11Korea's had military rule again it's this question of why now why now I mean

12:20I suppose I mean if you if you look at the nature of politics in South Korea

12:28you know we've seen in so many countries across the world in the United States

12:32dare I say it also in France you know where populist politics is creating

12:37sharp political divisions questions of legitimacy questions of political agency

12:42all of the the the churn if you like of adversarial politics and the emotion

12:49that underlies adversarial politics is also very present in South Korea and we

12:54see a kind of left-wing and right-wing populism where individual political

13:00parties do not see their political opponents as legitimate as representing

13:05if you like the national interest and there are some people on the right

13:10aligned with President Yun who've made similar arguments who've denounced the

13:16political opponents as being as President Yun has tried to characterize

13:21the left in some ways unpatriotic and that is I think part of the reason why

13:27the division between the progressive forces and the conservative ones have

13:31been has been so pronounced but ordinary Koreans do feel that their democratic

13:38political institutions need to be able to function and the application of

13:42martial law based on what is in effect a pretext this claim this bogus claim that

13:47North Korea was somehow infiltrating the political left in South Korea has been

13:52roundly rejected by so many people across the political spectrum which is

13:56why I'm confident that this impeachment vote will be successful

14:00John Nilsson-Wright so many thanks for speaking with us from Seoul

14:03Pleasure

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