South Korean president vows to fight ‘until the very last minute’

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed on Thursday to fight “until the very last minute” in a defiant address defending his shock decision to declare martial law and deploy troops to the country’s parliament last week, The Daily Gazette reported.

The South Korean leader is barred from foreign travel as part of a probe into his inner circle over the dramatic events of December 3-4 that stunned Seoul’s allies and threw the country into some of its deepest political turmoil in years.

Yoon, staring down an impeachment vote in parliament on Saturday, vowed to “fight with the people until the very last minute”.

“I apologise again to the people who must have been surprised and anxious due to the martial law,” he said in a televised address.

“Please trust me.”

Saturday’s impeachment vote will take place at around 5:00 pm (0800 GMT).

It needs to win support from eight members of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) to secure the necessary two-thirds majority.

PPP leader Han Dong-hoon urged party members on Thursday to attend the meeting and vote “according to their conviction and conscience”.

That came as police attempted another raid on Yoon’s presidential office compound, Yonhap news agency reported, a day after a similar attempt was blocked by security guards.

The main opposition Democratic Party has said it would file legal complaints for insurrection against the president’s staff and security if they continued to obstruct law enforcement.

Yonhap said Thursday’s raid focused on the headquarters of the military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, which reportedly agreed to cooperate with the investigation.