Yoon accepts defense minister’s resignation amid martial law chaos

SEOUL, Dec. 5 (Yonhap) — President Yoon Suk Yeol has accepted the resignation of Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, the presidential office said Thursday, amid growing controversy surrounding his role in Yoon’s aborted martial law declaration.

Kim, who proposed the martial law declaration to Yoon, offered to step down Wednesday, after Yoon abruptly declared martial law Tuesday night and lifted the decree hours later following the National Assembly’s passage of a resolution to overturn it.

Yoon has nominated Choi Byung-huk, a retired four-star general currently serving as South Korea’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, to succeed Kim, Chung Jin-suk, Yoon’s chief of staff, said in a press briefing.