South Korea's opposition parties have submitted a new motion to Parliament seeking the impeachment of President Yoon Suk-yeol, with a vote expected as early as Saturday.

The move comes after Yoon addressed the nation in a televised speech on Thursday morning.

In the roughly 30-minute speech, Yoon accused the opposition parties of paralyzing national politics.

The president defended his martial law decree as an act of governance not subject to legal judgement. He said that he would confront any impeachment or investigation head-on.

Following the speech, the leader of the ruling People Power Party, Han Dong-hoon, noted that his party must support impeachment as its official stance.

However, another senior PPP official told reporters that the party's current stance is to reject the impeachment motion, and that changing this position requires the agreement of at least two-thirds of PPP lawmakers. The politician indicated that the party should hold a plenary meeting of its lawmakers to discuss the matter.

The largest opposition Democratic Party and five other opposition parties submitted a new motion to impeach Yoon on Thursday evening. The motion will be presented at the plenary session of Parliament on Friday.

The opposition bloc is aiming for a vote on Saturday. Support from at least eight ruling party lawmakers is needed for the motion to pass.