SEOUL (UCAN): Catholic Church officials in South Korea joined several other religious groups in denouncing abortive attempt on December 3 to impose martial law by the country’s president, Yoon Suk Yeol, which was thwarted by lawmakers.
In a statement on December 4, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea [CBCK] denounced Yoon’s imposition of martial law and urged him to apologise to the people.
Yoon must appear “before the people to explain what happened, sincerely apologise to the people, and take responsibility for the process of declaring and lifting martial law,” Bishop Mathias Ri Iong-hoon of Suwon said.
Bishop Ri pointed out that South Korea’s “democracy has been built with great sacrifice” while adding that the Catholic Church “actively supports and stands in solidarity with the defense of our democracy.”
The bishop stressed, that Yoon and his government “respond sincerely to the demands of the Korean Catholic Church and the Korean people,” Mathias added.
Yoon’s move emerged from what he termed the opposition Democratic Party’s “legislative dictatorship,” and the paralysis of state affairs. However, in the early hours of December 4, the National Assembly overturned the martial law order followed by the Cabinet lifting it.
Opposition lawmakers then tabled a motion to impeach the president as top members of government offered to resign en masse.
Bishop Kim Chung-suk, president of the Korea Methodist Church, expressed shock at the sudden martial law declaration and called Yoon’s move “an affront to democracy.”
Bishop Kim said, “The martial law is a betrayal of the trust people have given to the government. And it is unconstitutional, befitting a dictatorship.”
In a statement, the Korean Church Human Rights Centre, one of Korea’s four largest Christian groups, said the order was “undemocratic” and Christians “will topple the Yoon government should it continue not to heed the voice of the people.”
Bible Korea and Nehemiah, a Christian research centre, also condemned the martial law declaration, the Logosian reported.
“The time has come for [Yoon] to step down,” Nehemiah said in a social media post.
Some Buddhist groups also said Yoon had “overthrown the constitutional order,” the Hankyoreh reported. They pointed out that Yoon has “legally created grounds for impeachment” through his actions.
