Anchor: President Yoon Suk Yeol has made it clear that he will not step down amid growing calls to remove him. In an address to the nation Thursday morning he defended his martial law decree, saying it was a last resort to save the nation from a crisis for which he holds the opposition responsible. 
Kim Bum-soo has more.   

Report: 

[Sound bite: President Yoon Suk Yeol]
"Whether I am impeached or investigated, I will confront it."

President Yoon Suk Yeol says he will fight to the end as the opposition pushes to oust him. 

In a nationally televised prerecorded public address released on Thursday, Yoon defended his decision to impose martial law last week as a highly calibrated political judgment.

[Sound bite: President Yoon Suk Yeol (Korean-English)]
“The opposition party is in a frenzied sword dance, claiming that my declaration of martial law constitutes treason. Is that true? Who are the forces currently paralyzing state affairs and undermining the Constitution in the country? Over the past two-and-a-half years, the opposition party has not ceased its efforts to oust and impeach me, without recognizing me as the president elected by the people. They didn’t accept the results of the presidential election.”

The president argued that he declared martial law to warn the South Korean people of the current political emergency, which he said the opposition has created by impeaching many ranking government officials and cutting his administration’s budget. 

He then stressed that the executive right to declare martial law is not subject to judicial review, just like the exclusive presidential power over diplomacy and authority to grant pardons.

[Sound bite: President Yoon Suk Yeol(Korean-English)]
“South Korea’s state affairs have been paralyzed due to the massive opposition party’s parliamentary dictatorship and its abuses, which confused the nation’s social order and made it impossible to carry out administrative and judicial processes normally. Dear citizens, you know much about this already. However, for me to reach a decision to declare martial law, there were many serious incidents that I haven’t been able to disclose to the public yet.”
    
Yoon then mentioned the National Election Commission, to which he sent martial law troops that night, suggesting that the election watchdog might be vulnerable to ballot-rigging.  

While denouncing the opposition for seeking to frame his martial law declaration as treason, the president asked the public to join what he called his fight to safeguard the nation’s liberal democracy. 

[Sound bite: President Yoon Suk Yeol(Korean-English)]
“I desperately plead with you to be united in safeguarding our liberal democracy. I will fight to the end along with the people. Although it was brief, I would like to apologize again to those who were alarmed and concerned due to martial law. Please trust in my passionate loyalty to the Korean people.” 

The address, which lasted for nearly half an hour, came ahead of an opposition-led vote on his impeachment slated for later this week, and as law enforcement authorities are scrutinizing the December 3 martial law incident.

Yoon rescinded his martial law decree six hours after imposing it, in accordance with a parliamentary resolution to end it. 
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.