15 hours ago
South Korea’s Assembly has passed a resolution demanding that the president, Yoon Suk Yeol, revokes his sudden declaration of martial law, leaving the future of his emergency measure unclear as protestors and armed forces gathered in Seoul.
There was jubilation outside the Assembly building late on Tuesday night where hundreds of people had gathered to witness armed forces enter the building as lawmakers sat in the legislature to hold an emergency session to block Yoon’s sudden declaration.
Yoon had declared martial law in an unannounced late-night televised address, claiming he would eradicate “shameless pro-North Korean anti-state forces”.
The move sent shockwaves through the country, which had a series of authoritarian leaders early in its history but has been considered democratic since the 1980s. The Korean won was down sharply against the US dollar. A central bank official said it was preparing measures to stabilise the market if needed.
It was the first time since 1980 that martial law had been declared in South Korea.
South Korean law states that the president must comply with parliament’s vote to block martial law, but it doesn’t specify a time frame.
The Ministry of Defence said it would continue to maintain martial law until the president instructed otherwise, according to Korean media.
The proclamation of martial law bans political activity, “fake news” and states that all media should be controlled by the martial law authorities. It also allows for arrest without warrant.
Local media outlets continued to report on the developments into the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Yoon did not cite any specific threat from the nuclear-armed North, instead focusing on his domestic political opponents. On Tuesday, he denounced the opposition for using it majority in the Assembly to impeach members of his cabinet and block his minority government’s budget plans.
There have been several protests against Yoon in recent weeks, with some calling for his impeachment. His approval rating recently fell to a record low of 19%.
Kurt Campbell, the US deputy secretary of state, said that the US had “grave concern” about the events in South Korea. He added that the US’s alliance with the Asian country was “ironclad”. About 28,500 US troops are stationed in South Korea across several military bases to guard against the North. A spokesperson for the US military command did not answer repeated phone calls.
Sources in the South Korean and US government said they were shocked by the development.
The move drew immediate opposition from politicians, including the leader of Yoon’s own conservative People Power party, Han Dong-hoon, who called it “wrong” and vowed to “stop it with the people”.
Yoon is known for labelling his political opponents “anti-state forces” and “fake news”. His administration, which took over in May 2022, has massively stepped up the use of defamation lawsuits against the press.
In his announcement, Yoon said he had no choice but to resort to such a measure to safeguard free and constitutional order, claiming opposition parties had taken hostage of the parliamentary process to throw the country into a crisis.
“I declare martial law to protect the free Republic of Korea from the threat of North Korean communist forces, to eradicate the despicable pro-North Korean anti-state forces that are plundering the freedom and happiness of our people, and to protect the free constitutional order,” Yoon said.
He did not say in the address what specific measures would be taken.
South Korea’s constitution states that the president, who is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces, may declare martial law “in time of war, armed conflict or similar national emergency”.
Moon Jae-in, the former president, said on Tuesday that the country was “in a critical state”. He called on the Assembly to “quickly step in and protect the democracy that is collapsing”.
Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the opposition Democratic party, which has a majority in parliament, said in a livestream online: “Tanks, armoured personnel carriers and soldiers with guns and knives will rule the country. The economy of the Republic of Korea will collapse irretrievably. My fellow citizens, please come to the Assembly.”
A taxi driver in Seoul who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal said: “They’re using exactly the same methods they used in the Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan eras … Whenever their regime is in crisis, they use war-mongering and martial law to cover it up.”
Park and Chun were military dictators in South Korea between 1961 and 1988. “I never imagined this would happen again,” the taxi driver said.
The Centre for Military Human Rights, an NGO, said that the declaration of martial law was illegal and called the move “a declaration of war against the people of the Republic of Korea.”
The group accused Yoon of staging a coup, and called on the military to refrain from using force against citizens.
Yoon cited a motion by the Democratic party this week to impeach some of the country’s top prosecutors and its rejection of a government budget proposal.
On Monday South Korea’s ministers criticised a Democratic party move last week to cut more than 4tn won (£2.2bn) from the government’s budget proposal. Yoon said that action undermined the essential functioning of government administration.
