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| ▲ In this file photo, Ihn Yohan, then a lawmaker of the main opposition People Power Party, holds a news conference at the National Assembly in Seoul on Dec. 10, 2025, to express his intent to resign. (Yonhap) |
ex-lawmaker-martial law
Ex-PPP lawmaker Ihn Yohan calls martial law bid by ex-President Yoon 'humiliating'
SEOUL, Jan. 12 (Yonhap) -- A former lawmaker of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), Ihn Yohan, criticized former President Yook Suk Yeol's martial law declaration Monday, saying he thought Yoon had a compelling reason to impose it.
Ihn expressed "deep" disappointment over the crisis in a video posted on his YouTube channel to congratulate Rep. Lee So-hee, who succeeded him as a proportional representative after his resignation last month.
"When martial law was declared a year ago, I thought there was a national crisis that the president could not fully disclose to the people," he said. "I thought there must there have been a compelling and urgent reason for the commander-in-chief to declare it."
"But that was not the case," he added.
Ihn said he knew how "horrific" a wrongful declaration of martial law can be as he recalled being labeled as an instigator after interpreting for foreign correspondents during the 1980 pro-democracy uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju.
"What has been revealed over the past year since the martial law is deeply disappointing and humiliating," he said.
He also expressed hope that Lee would become a successful lawmaker, describing himself as a "failed" one.
Ihn, who had been closely aligned with Yoon and won a proportional seat in the April 10 general elections last year, resigned in mid-December, saying South Korea overcame the "unfortunate events" that have unfolded since Yoon's failed martial law bid.
A great-grandson of American missionary Eugene Bell, Ihn was born in 1959 in Suncheon, 290 kilometers south of Seoul, in South Jeolla Province, and worked as a medical doctor before becoming a lawmaker.
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