SOUTH KOREA’S right-wing President Yoon Suk Yeol today defended his martial law decree as an act of governance and denied the charges of rebellion levelled against him.

Mr Yoon vowed to fight attempts to impeach him “to the end.” 

The main opposition Democratic Party quickly slammed Mr Yoon’s speech as “an expression of extreme delusion and false propaganda.” 

Later on Thursday, they and other opposition parties submitted a new impeachment motion against Mr Yoon for a vote this weekend.

The opposition-controlled parliament also passed motions on Thursday to impeach and suspend the country’s police chief and justice minister.

The short-lived December 3 martial law declaration saw hundreds of armed troops attempt to encircle parliament and raid the election commission. 

Martial law lasted only six hours as Mr Yoon was forced to lift it after the National Assembly unanimously voted it down.

In a televised speech on Thursday, Mr Yoon said he enacted martial law as a warning to the liberal Democratic Party.

He accused the opposition party of being “a monster” and an “anti-state force” that tried to use its legislative muscle to impeach top officials, undermined the government's budget bill for next year and sympathised with North Korea.

“I will fight to the end to prevent the forces and criminal groups that have been responsible for paralysing the country's government and disrupting the nation’s constitutional order from threatening the future of the Republic of Korea,” he said. 

“The opposition is now doing a sword dance of chaos, claiming that the declaration of martial law constitutes an act of rebellion. But was it really?”

Kim Min Seok, head of a Democratic Party task force, dismissed Mr Yoon’s statement as “an expression of extreme delusion and a declaration of war against the people.”

Mr Kim accused the president of attempting to incite pro-Yoon riots by far-right forces. 

He said the Democratic Party will focus on getting the motion impeaching Mr Yoon passed on Saturday.