South Korea president sorry but stays put over martial law fiasco

South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol apologised but didn't resign Saturday over his declaration of martial law, as protesters heaped pressure on members of parliament to vote to impeach him.

Yoon stunned the nation and the international community Tuesday night by suspending civilian rule, deploying troops and helicopters to parliament and allegedly ordering the arrest of MPs.

But lawmakers managed to vote down the decree, forcing Yoon to rescind the order in the early hours of Wednesday during a night of extraordinary drama for a country assumed to be a stable democracy.

"I caused anxiety and inconvenience to the public. I sincerely apologise," he said Saturday in a televised address, his first appearance since plunging the country into political chaos.

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The opposition and key members of Yoon's own party have called for him to step down, and parliament was set to vote later Saturday on his impeachment.

Tens of thousands of protesters gathered outside the parliament building ahead of the vote, with organisers hoping 200,000 people would attend.

Yoon did not offer to resign in his brief address, saying only that he would "entrust the party with measures to stabilise the political situation, including my term in office."

His People Power Party (PPP) is divided, with lawmakers late Friday sticking to the official line that they would block impeachment, even after party head Han Dong-hoon said Yoon must go to avert more political chaos.

"The normal performance of the president's duties is impossible under the (current) circumstances, and an early resignation of the president is inevitable," Han told reporters Saturday.

Enough votes?

The opposition bloc holds 192 seats in the 300-strong parliament, while Yoon's PPP has 108.

Just eight ruling party lawmakers need to defect for the vote to get the necessary two-thirds majority, after which Yoon would be suspended from duties pending a ruling by the Constitutional Court.

"It seems that the ruling party has decided to oppose impeachment in the vote on the condition that the president hands over control to the party," Chae Jin-won, a professor at Kyung Hee University, told AFP.

"The key issue is that while they acknowledge the president's wrongdoing and that he is a criminal, they just don't want to give power to Lee Jae-myung," Chae said, referring to the opposition leader.

Police have also begun investigating Yoon and others for alleged insurrection.

"I will not shy away from the issue of legal and political responsibility regarding the declaration of martial law," Yoon said during his address.

Opposition leader Lee said Yoon's comments were "very disappointing" given widespread public demands for him to step down.

His speech "only exacerbates the sense of betrayal and anger among the citizens", Lee said, adding the only solution was "the immediate resignation of the president or an early departure through impeachment".

An opinion poll released Friday put backing for the 63-year-old president at a record low of 13 percent.

"The public will not forgive him," 63-year-old retiree Lee Wan-pyo told AFP at Seoul's main train station, where he was watching the president's speech live on television.

"I just want him to step down," said Han Jeong-hwa, a 70-year-old housewife, who was also watching at the Seoul station.

Detain the politicians?

In his address declaring martial law late Tuesday, Yoon claimed it would "eliminate anti-state elements plundering people's freedom and happiness".

Security forces sealed the National Assembly, helicopters landed on the roof, and almost 300 soldiers tried to lock down the building.

But as parliamentary staffers blocked the soldiers with sofas and fire extinguishers, enough MPs got inside -- many climbed walls to enter -- and voted down Yoon's move.

Soldiers had been ordered to detain key politicians, lawmakers from both parties have said, with the special forces chief later describing being given orders to "drag out" MPs from parliament.

Experts and lawmakers have speculated that the elite special forces soldiers may have slow-walked following orders, after discovering themselves to be involved in a political rather than national security incident.

The episode brought back painful memories of South Korea's autocratic past and blindsided its allies, with the US administration only finding out via television.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his Korean counterpart Cho Tae-yul on Friday that he "expects the... democratic process to prevail".