Transcript: President Yoon Suk Yeol’s speech to declare emergency martial law

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Transcript: President Yoon Suk Yeol’s speech to declare emergency martial law

Published: 04 Dec. 2024, 00:23 Updated: 04 Dec. 2024, 14:10

SARAH CHEA
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks in an unannounced press conference at the Yongsan presidential office in central Seoul Tuesday night. [YONHAP]

Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol held an unannounced press conference Tuesday night to declare emergency martial law against "antistate forces." This marks the first time in 45 years that martial law has been declared in South Korea.

The full transcript of Yoon's speech at the conference is below:

Dear respected citizens,

As president, I appeal to you with a heart full of sorrow.

Since the inauguration of this government, the National Assembly has proposed 22 motions to impeach government officials, and has been pushing for the impeachment of a 10th individual since the 22nd National Assembly took office in June.

This is not only unprecedented in any country in the world, there has been nothing like it in the history of our country since its founding.

The Assembly has paralyzed judicial work by intimidating judges and impeaching prosecutors. It has even paralyzed the administration with attempts to impeach the minister of the interior and safety, the chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, the president of the Board of Audit and Inspection, and the minister of national defense.

The National Assembly cut all major budgets for key essential functions of the state, such as anti-drug crime measures and public safety maintenance, sabotaging the core functions of the state, turning Korea into a "drug paradise," and causing panic over public security.

The Democratic Party (DP) has slashed 4.1 trillion won ($2.85 billion) for next year’s budget, including 1 trillion won from funds to prepare for disasters, 38.4 billion won in child care support, and more for youth employment and deep-sea gas development projects. They even put the brakes on enhancing the welfare of military officials including the pay raises for junior military officers and raising the cost of them working on duty.

This kind of reckless movement regarding the budget is nothing less than the cajolement of the national finances.

The DP’s legislative dictatorship, using the budget only as a tool for political strife, has even gone as far as to not hesitate to propose a budget impeachment.

The state administration is paralyzed, and the sighs of our citizens are deepening. This is clearly an act of inciting internal rebellion by trampling the constitutional order of the free Republic of Korea and disrupting legitimate state institutions established by the Constitution and law.

The people’s lives are not considered and the administration is paralyzed due to its only focus on impeachment, special prosecution, and shielding its party leader from prosecution.

Now, our National Assembly has become a den of criminals, paralyzing the nation's judicial and administrative systems through legislative dictatorship and planning for the overthrow of our liberal democratic system.

The National Assembly, which should be the foundation of liberal democracy, has become a monster trying to destroy it.

At this moment, Korea faces a fate that is never strange even if it collapses immediately.

My fellow citizens,

I declare martial law to protect the Republic of Korea from the threats of North Korean communist forces, to immediately eradicate the unscrupulous pro-Pyongyang antistate forces that pillage the freedom and happiness of our people and to protect free constitutional order.

Through this emergency martial law, I will rebuild and protect the free Republic of Korea, which is falling into ruin.

For this, I will certainly eradicate such antistate forces and the culprits of the country's ruin who have committed evil acts up until now. It’s an inevitable measure to guarantee the people's freedom, safety and national sustainability against the actions of antistate forces seeking to overthrow the system.

The declaration of martial law will cause some inconveniences for good citizens who believe in and follow the constitutional values of free people, but we will focus on minimizing such inconveniences.

I will eliminate antistate forces and normalize the country as soon as possible. Such a measure is inevitable for the permanence of a free Republic of Korea and there is no change in Korea’s foreign policy stance of fulfilling its responsibilities and contributions to the international community.

As president, I sincerely appeal to the people.

I will dedicate my life to protecting the free Republic of Korea. Please trust in me.

Thank you.

BY SARAH CHEA [[email protected]]