South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday apologized for his short-lived declaration of martial law earlier in the week, as he now prepares for a parliamentary vote on whether to impeach him.
Yoon said in a televised address Saturday morning that he will evade legal or political responsibility for the declaration and vowed not to make another attempt to impose it, according to The Associated Press. The president, a conservative, said he would leave it to his party to offer a path forward amid the country’s political turmoil, “including matters related to my term in office.”
“The declaration of his martial law was made out of my desperation,” Yoon said. “But in the course of its implementation, it caused anxiety and inconveniences to the public. I feel very sorry over that and truly apologize to the people who must have been shocked a lot.”
In his martial law declaration on Tuesday, Yoon called parliament a “den of criminals” blocking state affairs and pledged to eliminate “shameless North Korea followers and anti-state forces.”
A National Assembly vote on an opposition-led motion to impeach Yoon is slated for Saturday afternoon. The opposition parties that jointly brought the impeachment motion hold 192 of the legislature’s 300 seats, meaning they need at least eight additional votes from Yoon’s conservative People Power Party to secure the needed two-thirds to pass the motion.
Yoon’s party called for his removal on Friday, although the party remained formally opposed to impeachment.
Opposition lawmakers say that Yoon’s declaration of martial law was a self-coup, so they drafted the impeachment motion on rebellion charges.
If Yoon is impeached, his powers will be suspended until the Constitutional Court decides whether to remove him from office. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the second in command in the South Korean government, would take over his presidential responsibilities.
Should the president be removed, an election to replace him must be held within 60 days.
On Tuesday, special forces troops were observed encircling the parliament building and army helicopters were hovering over it. The military withdrew after the National Assembly unanimously voted to overturn Yoon’s declaration of martial law, forcing him to lift it just hours after it was issued.
The declaration of martial law was the first of its kind in more than 40 years in South Korea.
Thousands of demonstrators have since protested in the streets of Seoul, waving banners, shouting slogans and singing along to K-pop songs with lyrics changed to demand Yoon’s removal.
Han said he had received intelligence that, during the period of martial law, Yoon ordered the country’s defense counterintelligence commander to arrest and detain key politicians based on accusations of “anti-state activities.”
After Yoon’s televised address, Han again called for the president to resign. Han said the president wasn’t in a state where he could normally carry out official duties.
“President Yoon Suk Yeol’s early resignation is inevitable,” Han told reporters.
Hong Jang-won, first deputy director of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing that Yoon called after imposing martial law and ordered him to help the defense counterintelligence unit to detain key politicians including Han, the main liberal opposition Democratic Party’s leader Lee Jae-myung and National Assembly speaker Woo Won Shik, according to Kim Byung-kee, one of the lawmakers who attended the meeting.
Phil Mickelson took to X on Friday to praise Daniel Penny for defending his country as a Marine and intervening to restrain “deranged” homeless man Jordan Neely after he threatened passengers on a New York City subway.
That desperate people have to look online for help with disability and sickness benefits is what should truly upset us
Have you heard of the “sickfluencers”? I admit the phenomenon had passed me by until this week. “Sickfluencer” sounds like a term to describe the world’s least aspirational Instagrammer, where instead of trips to Bali and fine jewellery, brands send codeine and incontinence pads. #gifted #bestlife
In fact, it’s about the disability benefits system. But then what isn’t, nowadays? Just a week after the government published its unemployment white paper, Channel 4’s Dispatches: Britain’s Benefits Scandal reported that disabled and chronically ill social media users – dubbed “sickfluencers” – are using platforms such as YouTube and TikTok to share advice on securing disability benefits. Some are publishing template answers that followers can use to fill out their own forms. Others are sharing tips on Facebook and Reddit.
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A Florida man is accused of breaking into a home where he was found plantless and holding a carpet cleaner, though he claims not to remember because he was on methamphetamine.
Austin Alexander Smith, 23, was charged with burglary of an occupied dwelling and was booked into the Polk County Jail.
According to Winter Haven Police, residents inside a home on 6th St SW in Winter Haven, Florida, were suddenly awakened on Thursday at about 1:36 a.m. to a loud bang at the front door.
The residents then discovered Smith in the living room wearing only a shirt but without pants or shoes while holding in his hand a carpet cleaner belonging to the residents.
One of them yelled at Smith, who then dropped the carpet cleaner and ran out the door.
Minutes later, police located a person matching Smith’s description walking in the area of Ave. M and 5th St. SW. The officers detained the suspect, and he was later identified by the resident as the suspect who broke into his home.
Smith had broken into the home by kicking in the door, police said.
What holiday songs do you enjoy or hate? If you have ever worked in retail during the holiday season, then you might hate all of them. After all, if you are forced to hear the same holiday songs over and over for an entire work shift, then you might not be so jolly. This blogger knows from experience.
I avoid hearing holiday songs when I can. They make want to put my hands in the air and yell “AAUGGHH!!” the way that Charlie Brown does when Lucy freaks him out.
Alas, I can’t avoid holiday songs whenever I attend church services. One particular church holiday song puts me into Charlie-Brown mode. That song is The First Noel, which originated in the Cornwall region of England sometime prior to year 1823, which is when the song was first published. The song in its modern form is horrible from a poetic perspective.
The original Cornish version isn’t bad. Here is its first stanza as recorded in the Cornish Songbook:
“O well, O well, the Angels did say
To shepherds there in the fields did lay;
Late in the night a-folding their sheep,
A winter’s night, both cold and bleak.
O well, O well, O well, O well,
Born is the King of Israel.”
Now, here is the modern version of the same stanza:
“The first Noel the angel did say
Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay;
In fields where they lay, keeping their sheep,
On a cold winter’s night that was so deep.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,
Born is the King of Israel.”
The modern version is comprised of lazy poetry. That is if it is supposed to be poetry.
A cold winter’s night that was so deep? Seriously? How can a night be deep?
I suppose that the night could have been deep if the shepherds were the Saracens who guarded Robin of Loxley in the film Robin Hood: Men in Tights. One of those guards did find himself in something deep:
I could ask the pastor of my new church to keep The First Noel out of the church’s worship service. However, he might not have time for my request. He is busy portraying Jim Carrey’s version of the Grinch who stole Christmas.
Yes, seriously.
Granted, the pastor does a decent job, and he certainly looks better than the 49-year-old bearded man in my church who is portraying little Cindy Lou Who.
Yes, seriously.
So, a moment may come during a church service when I impersonate Charlie Brown.
What with the Grinch and a bearded Cindy Lou Who leading the church service, my Charlie Brown impersonation would fit right in.
Oh, speaking of the Grinch, did you know that stealing Christmas isn’t the only thing that he did?
As it turns out, the Grinch really likes Christmas now. In fact, he found a way to personally profit from Christmas:
Other critters who have profited from Christmas are three talking chipmunks who made their Christmas singing debut in 1958. Alvin, Simon and Theodore are still making records. Here is their latest album:
If that album isn’t your idea of a Christmas gift, then here is something that might be:
Instead of fighting over parking spots at retail stores, this blogger prefers to spend the holiday season watching a live holiday performance such as this one:
I also prefer to watch the classic holiday films that natives of planet Melmac produced, such as
Theodor Seuss Geisel gave the world The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. I wish that he had also given us older adults something more useful to us, such as
