[News Today] “72% VIEW ‘MARTIAL LAW GRAVE CRIME’”

[LEAD]
With the new year, KBS explored public views on pressing issues. Over 70% surveyed view the martial law declaration as a constitutional violation, categorizing it as a grave crime. Also, it was found that nearly 70% support the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol by the Constitutional Court.

[REPORT]
A survey was conducted to gauge what Koreans thought of the president's emergency declaration of martial law.

72 percent of the respondents saw it as a grave crime in violation of the Constitution. 24 percent answered that it was within the constitutional right of the president.

If you break it down by age groups, many of the surveyed in their 60s viewed the martial law decree as a serious crime. But among those older than 70, the results were within the margin of error.

Meanwhile, 52 percent of conservatives responded that the decree was president's authority to exercise.

Among supporters of the Democratic Party, 98 percent saw it as a grave crime. 78 percent of People Power Party supporters viewed it as an action within presidential authority.

73 percent of survey respondents supported the National Assembly's approval of the impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk Yeol, calling it a right decision while 25 percent answered that it was a wrong decision.

Among DP supporters, 98 percent backed the parliamentary decision while 78 percent of PPP supporters saw it as a wrong decision.

Regarding the question of how the Constitutional Court should rule on the presidential impeachment, 69 percent said that the motion should be upheld and 26 percent answered that it should be dismissed.

A majority of liberal and moderate respondents endorsed the presidential impeachment. But in the conservative group, more people called for its dismissal.

96 percent of DP supporters answered that the Constitutional Court should uphold the presidential impeachment. 84 percent of PPP supporters said that it should be dismissed.

42 percent of respondents supported the liberal main opposition DP, while 24 percent were supporters of the conservative ruling PPP. 21 percent answered that they supported no specific party.

Compared to a similar survey conducted shortly before the April general elections, the DP and PPP saw their approval rating change by seven percentage points and 12 percentage points, respectively. The number of non-partisan respondents changed nine percentage points.

At the request of KBS, the nationwide phone survey of 1,000 people aged 18 or older was conducted by Hankook Research for three days from December 29, 2024.
It has a 95-percent confidence level with a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points.