Seoul (Agenzia Fides) — “The behavior of President Yoon, a man who denies what exists and asserts what does not exist, no longer surprises us. We ask ourselves: how can someone behave like this?”.
If the group of 1,466 Catholic priests, including five high-ranking clergymen, expected a response to the statement published about ten days ago in which they accused the President of neglecting his constitutional responsibilities and accusing him of fomenting division in society and calling for his resignation, it was not long in coming.
Last night at 10 o’clock, President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law live on television. Yoon said he wanted to protect democracy through martial law in order to “eliminate the pro-North Korean forces and protect the democratic constitutional order”. At 2 a.m. Seoul time, the law was repealed in a parliamentary vote by 190 out of 300 votes. The vote was made possible by the fact that the MPs gathered in the building despite the blockade imposed by the military.
Photo of the grounds around the Hapdeok Catholic Church (South Chungcheong Province, Korea). The statue is of Saint Andrew Kim Taegon. Image credits: Korea.net / Korean Culture and Information Service, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
