South Korea president sarcastically 'forgiven' by internet as he's 'very sorry' for martial law chaos

South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol – who avoided impeachment on Saturday (7 December) due to a boycott from members of his own party, which led to the vote being five legislators short of reaching quorum – is being mocked online over how he chose to apologise for imposing a short-lived period of martial law.

President Yoon called in the military to protect the country from “the threat of North Korean communist forces, to eradicate the despicable pro-North Korean anti-state forces that are plundering the freedom and happiness of our people and to protect the free constitutional order”.

Except, in humiliating scenes for the political leader, the country’s parliament voted 190-0 to overrule its implementation, he ended up calling off the action and a formal motion was soon filed to impeach him.

Ahead of that vote, Yoon issued an apology in which he said he was “very sorry” for “anxiety” caused by bringing in the army and unnecessarily sparking a political crisis in just a few hours.

He promised there wouldn’t be a second attempt to impose martial law and said: “I leave it up to my party to take steps to stabilise the political situation in the future, including the issue of my term in office.”

Yet Yoon’s comments have been met with sarcasm and ridicule online, as people pretended a simple ‘sorry’ was enough to make South Koreans forgive such a chaotic and reckless decision which has shocked the world.

Others compared it to the kind of apology you’d see from a social media influencer:

And while he survived the impeachment vote, Yoon’s political future doesn’t look all that promising as the leader of his party – Han Dong-hoon of the People Power Party – said in a joint address with prime minister Han Duck-soo that Yoon would be excluded from his presidential duties.

Han Dong-hoon said: “Through Yoon’s early and orderly exit from office, we will minimise confusion, stabilise the political situation and properly establish free democracy.

“The president will effectively be excluded from his duties, including foreign policy and other state affairs and the prime minister will consult with the party to ensure that the administration of state affairs proceeds without any disruptions.”

He’s also been named as a suspect in a treason investigation by state prosecutors and his former defence minister – accused of suggesting the imposition of martial law to him – has been arrested.

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