"Emergency martial law in the middle of the night" was lifted in 6 hours...The aftermath is inevitable.

■ Host: Anchor Park Seok-won and Anchor Lee Se-na
■ Starring: Choi Jin, Director of the Presidential Leadership Research Institute

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN News Special] when quoting.

[Anchor]
We will continue to talk with Choi Jin, president of the Presidential Leadership Institute. Director, I've heard a lot of foreign reports through reporters. How did you see foreign reports and reactions?

[Choi Jin]
Foreign media in all countries are not concerned about political survival, whether it is the president of another country or not. Then, if Yoon Suk Yeol holds a summit abroad, will he be able to do it properly? How would the leaders of other countries feel when foreign presidents such as the U.S., the U.K., and France meet their Korean presidents? And I'm very worried about whether various international negotiations will be carried out properly afterwards.

The United Nations also issued a statement worrying about our country. And in the case of Kyodo News, there was even a report like this that President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law with the aim of overcoming his poor approval rating. Various reports from foreign media, which are very embarrassing to hear and embarrassing to hear from the Korean people, continue to pour out. I'm very worried.

[Anchor]
The speed has come in now, so I'll tell you the breaking news once again. This is what Cho Seung-rae, a senior spokesman, said. Now, the Democratic Party of Korea is preparing to impeach President Yoon and plans to propose it within today, and such news has been reported in breaking news.

[Anchor]
The plenary session's report is expected to be tomorrow. It has been reported that the Democratic Party of Korea has just announced its position that preparations for the impeachment of President Yoon have been completed and that it will be proposed today. And there's another breaking news. It was reported that U.S. National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-sik spoke with U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Philip Goldberg for about eight minutes this morning.

[Anchor]
Chairman Woo Won-sik called for unwavering trust in the democratic capacity of the Republic of Korea. Ambassador Philip also explained the background of the call between the two, saying that he contacted them to emphasize his strong support for Korea.

[Anchor]
I'll continue to talk to the director. Just now, the Democratic Party said that the impeachment bill is ready and that it will be proposed today. What kind of process will it go through in the future?

[Choi Jin]
I don't want to think about this, but I feel a lot like a déjà vu in the impeachment of former President Park Geun Hye. At that time, the impeachment was able to be passed because a large part of the ruling party's leadership joined. If you look at it now, it goes without saying that the Democratic Party of Korea will gain considerable momentum because its close friends, led by Representative Han Dong-hoon, the People's Power, joined the impeachment bill. And not only impeachment, but also immediate resignation, immediate resignation, and resignation continue to be used by the Democratic Party from yesterday to today.

Since the expression "immediately" is used in the front of the investigation, I think all those strategic means and methods of shortening the term early in various directions, not only impeachment, will be mobilized. The problem is that the power of the people is joining and there are no organizations or people who can defend and protect the president's position. Does the President have a close aide, a pro-Yoon-gye, who is willing to declare martial law at the risk of many difficulties and agree and explain about it? Rep. Kwon Sung-dong, Rep. Choo Kyung-ho, and Rep. Yoon Han-hong. You don't have a pro-Yoon-gye, do you?

And there are no conservative media, conservative groups, nothing. So President Yoon Suk Yeol should deal with the situation after this. Who to do it with and which group to do it with. And at the very least, who and where the supporting group is. I wonder if it's not a single blood cell. Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun, who is said to have discussed the most deeply, will not be able to work as an accomplice of martial law in a way. If that happens, I'm very worried about how the president will get through this situation.

[Anchor]
The impeachment bill should be reported to the plenary session tomorrow, and according to the National Assembly Act, a resolution should be made within 72 hours from 24 hours after the plenary session's report. And since the Democratic Party has a majority of seats, some analysts say that it will pass only when at least eight members of the People's Power agree. What do you expect?

[Choi Jin]
If you look at it now, it's very likely to be impeached. I think it's more than 80%. I don't know how Yoon Suk Yeol's president will seek cooperation and communicate in terms of content in one day, but as things stand now, more than 80% and 90% are likely to pass. Even if it doesn't pass, the situation is already at its worst, so how the president will handle it and if it passes, it's simply out of control. In particular, including Kim Gun-hee's special prosecution law a week later, it is a beleaguered situation.

[Anchor]
We are also closely monitoring the situation in our financial market. The Deputy Governor of the Bank of Korea is briefing right now. I'll try to connect to the site.

[Interview]
Volatility in the foreign exchange market has stabilized somewhat since the measure was lifted.

In this regard, the Monetary Policy Committee has decided to implement aggressive market stabilization measures, leaving all possibilities open until the market stabilizes, as there are potential factors of instability in the financial and foreign exchange markets for the time being.

Speaking on the details of the market stabilization measures, the Bank of Korea, as announced with the government, decided to provide sufficient liquidity for a limited time until the financial and foreign exchange markets stabilize.

First of all, we will expand our short-term liquidity supply by starting the irregular RP purchase from today.

In this regard, the Monetary Policy Committee decided to expand the number of securities and institutions subject to RP trading to facilitate the supply of won liquidity.

Please refer to the attached data for more information. At the same time, we are thinking of purchasing RP in full supply if necessary, and simply purchasing treasury bonds and repurchasing currency securities on a sufficient scale in relation to the bond market.

In addition, if a loan is required pursuant to Articles 64 and 80 of the Bank of Korea Act, we plan to prepare thoroughly to respond quickly through the resolution of the Monetary Policy Committee.

Regarding the foreign exchange market, we will supply foreign currency liquidity through foreign currency RP and actively implement various stabilization measures in the event of sudden fluctuations in exchange rates.

In addition, we will expand the net transfer limit of financial institutions for payment in won and take measures to quickly set up collateral.

In the future, we expect market sentiment to gradually stabilize due to the good fundamentals of our economy and robust external soundness.

However, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of Korea will keep a close eye on changes in the financial and foreign exchange markets and take additional measures if necessary.

This is the end of the explanation.

[Anchor]
Earlier, I heard from Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok.Ma is seeing the financial sector moving very urgently for stability. How will it affect our financial markets? Of course, you are not an economist, but looking at the various reactions, I think there will be quite a few aftermaths now.

[Choi Jin]
Aren't the exchange rates already soaring and stock prices and futures plunging? I think there is a high possibility that these parts will be affected quickly. In fact, from the people's point of view, the economy is much more important than politics. It's a fact that we already know that the economy is bad. They believe that the financial market itself will fluctuate. In addition, if the KCTU goes on an indefinite general strike, wouldn't it make a hole in the company, the workers of the company, and the workers? Then, I think the economy of the common people and the economy of the people's livelihood are inevitably shaken to the root. So, it is very questionable whether the financial market will be able to regain stability to the extent that the deputy governor came out and explained. Ministers from related ministries came out to talk earlier, but I think we need to take follow-up measures quickly and strongly afterwards.

[Anchor]
What the Democratic Party is talking about is that they will vote on the impeachment today and put it on the agenda tomorrow.Ma is saying that the possibility of being declared once again cannot be ruled out in the background. How do you judge something like
?

[Choi Jin]
You're talking about martial law, right? I told you a little while ago. Rep. Kim Min-seok also predicted so. The possibility of a re-declaration cannot happen in common sense, but it is possible again because the impossible thing has been repeated many times. And what we're always cautious about is that if North Korea does something quite provocative other than garbage balloons, it can give an excuse for declaring martial law again. Don't you think so?

Isn't it rather unsettling that North Korea is unexpectedly quiet now? So if there is another unexpected variable, there is certainly a possibility that martial law will be declared as a second or third martial law.

[Anchor]
The possibility of another declaration of emergency martial law cannot be ruled out. Last night, December 3rd became, in a way, a historic day when the emergency decree was declared. A lot of people were surprised. And there were a lot of people around me who searched because no one thought that emergency martial law would be imposed in 2024. Emergency martial law, when is it usually issued?

[Choi Jin]
How many times has our country been established? 5. How much has been done since 16? So, a total of 17 times were held in Korea. How about the Yeosun Incident in 1948? That was the first time martial law was declared. And then the longest was the 500th day of May 16th, which I mentioned earlier. And it happened once on October 26th. Since it's never been done since then.

[Anchor]
I heard this is the first time in 44 years.

[Choi Jin]
It's been 45 years since 49. It was the first martial law in 45 years, and martial law in the United States, Europe, and advanced countries was at the worst of politics, economy, culture, and society. It is to inform the domestic people that they are in the worst state that they can no longer do in a dead end and declare it globally. Therefore, no matter how hard and worst the president is, it is the current trend not to declare martial law, but it suddenly came out.

[Anchor]
But aren't you saying that President Yoon's official schedule and public schedule have been postponed? But even the staff is expressing their intention to resign, so how can we communicate with the president's office now?

[Choi Jin]
That's why I'm worried. All of the secretaries resigned a little while ago, but then we have to keep in close contact with the senior secretary for economic affairs, senior secretary for policy, senior secretary for civil affairs, and related ministries. I think that's going to be temporarily suspended. And the question is, shouldn't we choose a successor? Usually, when you express your resignation, you leave your job. I've been to Cheong Wa Dae, too. And rather, working itself can be someone to the president or his successor. The transition team will prepare it. Then we have to select the successors right away, but given the current situation, it is very questionable whether the chief of staff, the senior secretary for political affairs, and the senior secretary for economic affairs can be appointed right away. That's why the presidential office, which is a control tower for state affairs, is considered to be in fact a hiatus. Naturally, it is highly likely that most of the ministries involved will be left untouched. So, as I said earlier, it's politically chaotic, complicated, and difficult, but what's more worrisome for us is that the invisible economy, the negative impact on the common people, is enormous. So, if the president thinks he made a wrong decision, declaring martial law is... Then we have to do something very quickly to deal with this. Isn't there a cabinet reshuffle at the end of the year? Didn't you say you were going to change the prime minister and ministers? Wouldn't that change the whole system of Jungkook? The cabinet will be completely changed from the prime minister, the minister, the cabinet, and the Blue House chief. But it's not changing now, but there's a situation where you have to change it right away.

[Anchor]
Is there a possibility that President Yoon will make a statement?

[Choi Jin]
There is definitely one.We need to change Ma quickly. It's frustrating because no position has been made yet, and the situation is likely to deteriorate very quickly. So I think no matter what the president thought afterwards, the impeachment bill has become stranded in a way, and that's why we should make it clear to the people that we're going to do what we're going to do in the future. As time goes by, the confusion is bound to continue to worsen.

[Anchor]
Isn't it that a chaotic situation continued within the ruling party last night? Since the announcement was not made properly, some went to the National Assembly and some went to the headquarters, and there were some parts that were divided. There are also speculations that some close lawmakers might have intended to block the vote. How did you see these situations?

[Choi Jin]
It seems to be a confusing situation, but when I looked into it, coincidentally, the pro-Yoon-gye was at the headquarters and the pro-Yoon-gye was all in the plenary session of the National Assembly. In addition, he directly voted on lifting martial law, so he openly opposed Yoon Suk Yeol. And President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law right away, and very quickly, the representative of the ruling party, Han Dong-hoon, strongly opposed to it, saying that he would stop it with the people because it was illegal. I think this is an unprecedented situation. That's why it's going far beyond conflict or disagreement and going head-to-head and head-to-head conflict, and it's already progressed.

[Anchor]
Some experts said that President Yoon committed political self-harm. They say this, too. They also analyzed that President Yoon made this decision because he was driven to the edge of the cliff. What do you think?

[Choi Jin]
But so far, the most important thing is who and how you discussed it. It will be quite controversial in this area. The process is a matter of whether it is unconstitutional or not, but how did you discuss it with the person you just mentioned, and I think this method will become more and more clear over time. If these parts are revealed that they discussed this system, which is not a normal state administration system, but a secret line-like system, the ripples are really out of control.

[Anchor]
Wasn't the impeachment of the auditor and the prosecutor originally scheduled today? The Democratic Party expressed its position to reserve this part for now. On the 10th, there will be a re-decision on the Special Prosecutor's Office Act for First Lady Kim Gun-hee, so how do you think these parliamentary situations will work?

[Choi Jin]
From the Democratic Party's point of view, it is necessary to put that part back and leave it as a kind of save. You don't have to take it out now. Because of the martial law controversy, which is 10 times and 20 times more destructive than the three just mentioned, all focus and attack focus is on whether martial law is unconstitutional, and then whether the procedure is unconstitutional. Because before that, there was a lot of room for political debates on various issues such as the Kim Gun-hee scandal, DiorMac issue, and Deutsche Motors.Ma is very embarrassed for the president because these parts are specifically directly related to unconstitutionality and violation of the law. For the opposition, for the Democratic Party, it's a clear boon and a chance to attack.

[Anchor]
Especially for CEO Lee Jae-myung, wouldn't it be a big opportunity?

[Choi Jin]
That's right. From Lee Jae-myung's point of view, didn't he go to heaven and hell in various ways before that? As his brother goes back and forth between guilt and innocence. But it's no exaggeration to say that you've completely shaken off your judicial risks now. In addition, the ruling and opposition parties have not been able to cooperate, hasn't it? However, the cooperation between the close circle and the Democratic Party of Korea over the martial law situation is going very well. That's why I think the situation is very dark in the future because almost all forces, conservatives, and progressives, are surrounding the president and Yongsan.

[Anchor]
I see. Let's stop here. So far, I've been with Choi Jin, president of the Presidential Leadership Institute.