Fmr. South Korean FM on Pres. Yoon’s Now Reversed Declaration of Martial Law

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Welcome to the program, Foreign Minister. I just want to get your immediate reaction, both politically and perhaps even emotionally, since you’re far away from your country.

KYUNG-WHA KANG, FORMER SOUTH KOREAN FOREIGN MINISTER AND PRESIDENT, ASIA SOCIETY: Yes, I was watching this on TV this morning, as I usually do every morning, watching what’s happening in my country and saw the president making this announcement, which was just completely out of the blue. Nothing in the circumstances around the country warranted this. Yes. So, it was shocking, to put it mildly, but then was relieved to see the National Assembly acting very quickly to pass a resolution overturning this. And so, the only step remaining in this process is for the president to accept and acknowledge that the declaration that he made on martial law is now null and void. But he — the presidential office, I understand is currently very quiet. Citizens have gathered around the National Assembly to protest and to make their point that this is completely unacceptable, the way it’s been handled, the way it’s been announced. So, we’ll see — we’ll get a better sense in the morning hours, but I think, currently, all sides, including some key figures in the ruling party, clearly pressing the point that this is completely unacceptable. This is an aberration.

AMANPOUR: Foreign Minister Kang, you’re of course now the president of the Asia Society in the United States and you come across so many, you know, issues of bilateral importance with Asia in the United States and so many other issues. Again, in your early morning tweet, you said, stunned at the presidential decision. He must accept the National Assembly vote overturning it. What if he doesn’t? What power does he have? It looks like, according to, you know, the information we have now, that the military is following the parliamentary decree, annulling this martial law and declaring it void. Do you expect that to hold? Do you expect the military to obey the parliament or to obey the person of the president?

KANG: Well, I think the rule of law requires in accordance with the rule. And the way the martial law itself was declared was not in accordance with the requirements as far as the constitution is concerned because it was done out of the blue, without going through the necessary requirement of going through a cabinet decision. So, it doesn’t seem any of the ministers were aware that this was going to happen aside from the defense minister, obviously. It seems that there was preparation in that side because the tanks were rolling in, the helicopters are in the air minutes after the decree was announced. So, clearly, the minister of defense and his close advisers were prepared. But on the political side, none of the key political actors, even within the ruling party, seems to have been aware of what was coming in the middle of the night from the president’s office. The two key political leaders from the ruling party and the opposition party have, after the National Assembly vote, has come up with a statement that I think is very stabilizing, pointing this out, that the way the law – – the martial law was decreed was unconstitutional. It didn’t follow process. So, it is illegal. It is — and therefore, any order given under the so- called declared martial law is unconstitutional, unlawful, and therefore, any public servant, including the military and police should not be following any orders coming from that authority, which in itself is unlawful.

AMANPOUR: Foreign Minister, the president is from the right-wing People Power Party, President Yoon. And so, you know, the question is, who is he and why did he do this? The reasons he gave was that he couldn’t, you know, do the business of government because of the treachery of North Korean spies and communist holdouts, you know, inside the body politic. Who is this person?

KANG: I think — well, there are key advisers, key ministers, who are staunch anti-communists ideologues, I would even call it. And so, the way his view has been shaped has been very much influenced by these hardline conservatives, anti-communists. But from that to jump to this idea that there are communist sympathizers, anti-state agents scheming to overthrow the government is completely out of the blue, completely unrelated to anything I can see happening in the country. Yes, the politics is very fragmented, very divisive, very polarized, but then, it is the role of the president, the duty of the president to be trying to bring the country back together, and he has gone exactly the opposite, more polarized, more extremist in the messages that he’s been delivering to the country. And this is aside from the — all the all the wrongdoings that are being put to — before him and his — and the first lady. And I think that probably was also a big part of the political pressure that he was feeling that then led to him deciding to go this way.