President Yoon Suk-yeol on Thursday accepted the resignation of defense minister Kim Yong-hyun, who proposed the martial law declaration that Yoon abruptly announced late Tuesday and rescinded six hours later under pressure from the National Assembly. The defense ministry revealed that Kim had ordered elite military units to enter the National Assembly and prevent lawmakers from entering the compound during the short-lived martial law.

Yoon named retired four-star Army general Choi Byung-hyuk as Kim’s replacement. Choi, currently South Korea’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, is a former deputy commander of the U.S.-ROK Combined Forces Command with extensive military experience. Choi also played a key role in shaping Yoon’s defense policies during his presidential campaign, making him a familiar figure to the administration.

WHY IT MATTERS

By accepting Kim’s resignation, Yoon appears to be deflecting responsibility for the martial law debacle, allowing his former defense minister to shoulder the blame while sidestepping mounting calls for his own resignation.

The People Power Party’s (PPP) move to block the opposition-led impeachment motion against Yoon reflects internal divisions within the ruling bloc. While PPP leader Han Dong-hoon criticized the martial law declaration as a “wrong” decision and maintains that Yoon should resign from the party, his effort to block Yoon’s impeachment signals the party’s reluctance to join forces with the opposition to impeach another conservative president.

Should the impeachment motion fail, the opposition will likely respond by impeaching other officials, such as prosecutors, and organizing mass protests that could drag on for weeks or months. Such unrest would deepen political instability, risk policy paralysis and undermine investor confidence at a time when South Korea faces slowing economic growth and global uncertainty heading into 2025.