SEOUL — South Korean opposition lawmakers said on Thursday they would vote this weekend to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over a botched attempt to impose martial law, while the defense minister blamed for advising the move resigned.

Mr. Yoon’s declaration of martial law late on Tuesday attempted to ban political activity and censor the media in Asia’s fourth-largest economy and a key US ally. It sparked outrage in the streets and concern among its international allies.

Lawmakers from the opposition Democratic Party planned to put up a vote in parliament to impeach Mr. Yoon at around 7 p.m. (1000 GMT) on Saturday, a party spokesperson told reporters.

“The Yoon Suk Yeol regime’s declaration of emergency martial law caused great confusion and fear among our people,” Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Seung-won told the National Assembly in an early morning session.

Mr. Yoon’s ruling People Power Party is divided over the crisis but said it would oppose impeachment with two years left in Yoon’s five-year term.

The Democratic Party needs at least eight of the 108 ruling-party lawmakers to back the bill for it to pass with a two-thirds majority of the 300-seat parliament.

Fighting for his political future, Mr. Yoon accepted the resignation of Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun on Thursday and nominated his ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Choi Byung-hyuk, as a replacement, Mr. Yoon’s office said.

Mr. Kim had recommended Yoon declare martial law on Tuesday, according to the interior minister, a senior military official and the filing to impeach Yoon by opposition members.

Kim also ordered the deployment of troops to the parliament, Vice-Defense Minister Kim Seon-ho said, adding he was unaware of the martial law order until Mr. Yoon declared it.

“I have fundamentally opposed the mobilization of military forces under martial law and have expressed negative opinions about it,” he told a parliament hearing on Thursday, apologizing and taking responsibility for failing to prevent it.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Japan’s “security situation may be fundamentally changed” in light of the instability in Seoul and North Korea’s rising military assertiveness.

“What will happen to South Korea? There appears to be a great deal of domestic criticism and opposition,” he told parliament on Thursday, adding that Yoon’s efforts to improve relations with Tokyo “must never be undermined”.

There has been no reaction yet from North Korea to the drama in the South.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Reuters on Wednesday the United States had not been made aware in advance of Mr. Yoon’s declaration, while his deputy, Kurt Campbell, said Mr. Yoon had badly misjudged it.

The US has 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea as a legacy of the 1950-1953 Korean War.

The commander of US Forces-Korea, General Paul LaCamera, warned American troops to exercise vigilance, avoid areas with protests, and to communicate travel plans to their supervisors in case “something unexpected” occurs.

Yoon had been embraced by leaders in the West as a partner in the US-led effort to unify democracies against growing authoritarianism in China, Russia and elsewhere.

But he caused unease among South Koreans by branding his critics as “communist totalitarian and anti-state forces.” In November, he denied wrongdoing in response to influence-peddling allegations against him and his wife and he has taken a hard line against labor unions.

NIGHT OF CHAOS
The impeachment follows a night of chaos after Mr. Yoon declared martial law and armed troops attempted to force their way into the National Assembly building in Seoul, only to stand back when parliamentary aides sprayed them with fire extinguishers.

The commander of the martial law troops said he had no intention of wielding firearms against the public, and Mr. Kim, the vice defense minister, said no live ammunition had been provided to those troops.

“The people and the aides who protected parliament protected us with their bodies. The people won, and it’s now time for us to protect the people,” the Democratic Party’s Mr. Kim said.

“We need to immediately suspend the authority of President Yoon. He has committed an indelible, historic crime against the people, whose anxiety needs to be soothed so that they can return to their daily lives.”

The martial law crisis rattled global financial markets and South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI index. Currency dealers reported suspected state intervention on Wednesday to keep the won stable.

Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok sent an emergency note to global financial chiefs and credit rating agencies late on Wednesday to say the ministry was working to alleviate any adverse impact from political turmoil.

If the impeachment bill passes, South Korea’s Constitutional Court will then decide whether to uphold the motion — a process that could take up to 180 days.

If Yoon were to be suspended from exercising power, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo would fill in as leader.

If the embattled president resigned or was removed from office, a new election would be held within 60 days.

Mr. Yoon, a career prosecutor, squeezed out a victory in the tightest presidential election in South Korean history in 2022, riding a wave of discontent over economic policy, scandals and gender wars.

But his support ratings have been at around 20% for months and the opposition captured nearly two-thirds of seats in parliament in an April election. — Reuters

DOHA/BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON — Donald J. Trump’s Middle East envoy has traveled to Qatar and Israel to kickstart the US president-elect’s diplomatic push to help reach a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal before he takes office on Jan. 20, a source briefed on the talks told Reuters.

Steve Witkoff, who will officially take up the position under Trump’s administration, met separately in late November with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the source said.

Mr. Witkoff’s conversations appear aimed at building on nearly 14 months of unsuccessful diplomacy by the Biden administration, Qatar and Egypt aimed at a lasting ceasefire between Israel and militant group Hamas in Gaza and the release of dozens of Israeli hostages held in the enclave.

The meetings also signal that the Gulf state of Qatar has resumed as a key mediator after suspending its role last month, the source said.

The source added that Hamas negotiators would likely return to the Qatari capital Doha for more talks soon.

BIDEN’S EFFORTS
US President Joseph R. Biden’s aides have been aware of Mr. Witkoff’s contacts with Israeli, Qatari and other Middle East officials and understand that Mr. Trump’s envoy supports a Gaza deal along the lines the administration has been pursuing, a US official said.

The Biden administration, rather than Mr. Witkoff, retains the US lead in efforts to revive negotiations towards a ceasefire in Gaza. Hamas leaders held talks with Egyptian security officials in Cairo on Sunday.

Mr. Biden’s team has kept the Trump camp updated, but the two sides have not worked together directly, the US official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Biden administration does not see a need to coordinate with Mr. Witkoff because it regards his discussions with regional players as largely an effort to learn the issues rather than negotiations, the official said.

Mr. Trump’s transition team and representatives for Mr. Witkoff did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the meetings.

Mr. Trump warned on Monday there would be “hell to pay” in the Middle East if hostages held in the Gaza Strip were not released prior to his Jan. 20 inauguration.

WITKOFF’S REGIONAL TALKS
Mr. Witkoff is a real estate investor and Trump campaign donor with business ties to Qatar and other Gulf states, but he has no prior diplomatic experience.

He met Sheikh Mohammed, who also serves as foreign minister, in Doha on Nov 22.

“Both agreed a Gaza ceasefire is needed before Trump’s inauguration so that once the Trump administration takes office it can move onto other issues, like stabilizing Gaza and the region,” said the source, who was briefed on Mr. Witkoff’s meetings and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Mr. Witkoff met Netanyahu in Israel on Nov 23.

Qatar’s foreign ministry and the Israeli prime minister’s office did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

Mr. Witkoff also met families of Israeli hostages, an Israeli official told Reuters.

He “spoke with them about Team Trump’s efforts to try and broker the deal before inauguration,” the official said.

Sheikh Mohammed traveled to Vienna on Nov. 24 to meet the director of Israel’s Mossad spy agency David Barnea, who has led Israel’s talks with Qatar over the last 14 months.

“There are plans for a subsequent round of indirect talks between Israel and Hamas to take place potentially in Doha soon, but no specific date has been set,” the source said.

Hamas’ negotiating team left Doha in recent weeks, Qatari officials said, after Washington objected to their presence. That followed Hamas’ rejection of a short-term ceasefire proposal after talks in mid-October.

The source said the Hamas’ negotiators were likely to return to Doha for new talks.

TRUMP’S WARNING
Speaking about Trump’s warning on Monday there would be “hell to pay” if hostages in Gaza were not released by his inauguration, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Reuters on Wednesday his comment was a “powerful reflection” of the urgency for a ceasefire and hostage deal among both Mr. Trump’s Republicans and Mr. Biden’s Democrats.

“We’re going to pursue every avenue we can in the time that we have left to try to get the hostages back and to get a ceasefire. And I think the president-elect’s statement reinforces that,” Mr. Blinken said. — Reuters

THE HAGUE — Amnesty International accused the state of Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza war in a report published on Thursday, an allegation Israeli leaders have repeatedly denied.

The London-based human rights group said it reached the conclusion after months of analyzing incidents and statements of Israeli officials. Amnesty said the legal threshold for the crime had been met, in its first such determination during an active armed conflict.

The 1948 Genocide Convention, enacted in the wake of the mass murder of Jews in the Nazi Holocaust, defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”

Israel has consistently rejected any accusation of genocide, saying it has respected international law and has a right to defend itself after the cross-border Hamas attack from Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023 that precipitated the war.

Israeli officials could not immediately be reached for comment on Amnesty’s report.

Israel launched its air and ground war in Gaza after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israeli communities across the border 14 months ago, killing 1,200 people and taking over 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says that Israel’s military campaign since then has killed more than 44,400 Palestinians and injured many others.

Palestinian and United Nations (UN) officials say there are no safe areas left in Gaza, a tiny, densely populated and heavily built-up coastal territory. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been internally displaced, some as many as 10 times.

At hearings earlier this year before the UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, where Israel faces accusations of genocide brought by South Africa, lawyers for the country denied the charge. They argued that there was no genocidal intent and no genocide in Israel’s conduct of the war, whose stated objective is the eradication of Hamas.

Presenting the report to journalists in The Hague, Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard said the conclusion had not been taken “lightly, politically, or preferentially.”

She told journalists after the presentation: “There is a genocide being committed. There is no doubt, not one doubt in our mind after six months of in-depth, focused research.”

Amnesty said it concluded that Israel and the Israeli military committed at least three of the five acts banned by the 1948 Genocide Convention, namely killings, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about a protected group’s physical destruction.

These acts were done with the intent required by the convention, according to Amnesty, which said it reviewed over 100 statements from Israeli officials.

Israel’s military accuses Hamas of planting militants within populated neighborhoods for operational cover, which Hamas denies, while accusing Israel of indiscriminate strikes.

Ms. Callamard said Amnesty had not set out to prove genocide but after reviewing the evidence and statements collectively, she said the only conclusion was that “Israel is intending and has intended to commit genocide.”

She added: “The assertion that Israel’s war in Gaza aims solely to dismantle Hamas and not to physically destroy Palestinians as a national and ethnic group, that assertion simply does not stand up to scrutiny.”

Amnesty urged the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, which has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ex-defense minister for war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians in Gaza — charges they deny, to investigate alleged genocide.

The office of the prosecutor said in a statement that it is continuing investigations into alleged crimes committed in the Palestinian territories and is unable to provide further comment. — Reuters