South Korean defence minister resigns

South Korean Defence Minister, Kim Yong Hyun, resigns after the Tuesday turmoil in the country. He offered his resignation over the martial law turmoil in the country, media reports said on Wednesday.

Kim was considered to have supported President Yoon Suk Yeol’s decision to declare martial law, which has since been withdrawn.

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“I have offered my will to resign to the president, taking responsibility for all the turmoil caused by the emergency martial law,” Kim said in a statement quoted by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

The defence minister also publicly apologised for his part in the situation.

Yoon declared martial law on Tuesday night but the action was overruled by the National Assembly which blocked the martial law in majority vote of 190 to 0, compelling the President to cancel it hours later in the face of massive political resistance.

In the meantime, the opposition had signed a motion for impeachment proceedings; the motion is to be submitted to the National Assembly on Thursday and will be voted on either on Friday or Saturday.

The largest opposition party had previously accused the conservative head of state of breaching the constitution and called for him to resign immediately.

dpa/NAN