Seoul, Apr 5: Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Friday he was sorry for not being able to meet public expectations after the Constitutional Court removed him from office over his short-lived martial law declaration in December.Yoon issued an apology through his lawyers hours after the court unanimously ousted him from office.
“I deeply regret not being able to live up to your hopes and expectations,” Yoon said in a statement.
“It has been the greatest honour of my life to serve our nation. I am sincerely grateful for your unwavering support and encouragement, even when I fell short.”
Later in the day, Yoon met the ruling People Power Party’s (PPP) interim leader, Kwon Young-se, and PPP floor leader Kweon Seong-dong at the presidential residence.
In the meeting, Yoon expressed his thanks to his supporters and wished for the country to prosper though he is leaving his post.
He also hoped the ruling party will prepare well for the upcoming presidential election and win without fail, Yonhap news agency reported.
Yoon, who dramatically rose from a top prosecutor to the presidency in about three years, became the nation’s second President to be formally removed from office, with his surprise martial law bid rattling the nation for months and deepening political polarisation.
With the ruling, Yoon, 64, follows in the footsteps of former South Korean President Park Geun-hye, who was ousted in 2017 when the Constitutional Court upheld her impeachment over a corruption scandal.
Before taking the nation’s highest office, Yoon began his career as a prosecutor in 1994, rising through the ranks to lead an investigation team into Park’s corruption scandal that ultimately led to her ouster and subsequent imprisonment.
In 2019, he was appointed as the nation’s top prosecutor under then South Korean President Moon Jae-in but clashed with the administration as he oversaw investigations into family members of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk.
Amid mounting pressure from the Moon administration, Yoon stepped down from his post in 2021, only to enter politics shortly after and win the presidential election in 2022 as the candidate for the conservative People Power Party.
Yoon’s term was riddled with conflict with an uncooperative National Assembly dominated by the main Opposition Democratic Party (DP). Yoon exercised his presidential veto power against 25 Bills passed by the National Assembly.
Tensions with the DP appeared to reach an extreme in early December as the main Opposition introduced motions to impeach the country’s top auditor and a senior prosecutor, with Yoon declaring martial law on December 3, which ultimately led to his downfall.