South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Wednesday he would move to lift a martial law declaration he had imposed just hours before, backing down in a standoff with parliament, which rejected his attempt to ban political activity and censor the media.
Yoon declared martial law on Tuesday night to thwart “anti-state forces” among his opponents. But outraged lawmakers rejected the decree, in South Korea’s biggest political crisis in decades. Yoon said a Cabinet meeting would be held as soon as possible.
Protesters outside parliament shouted and clapped after Yoon backed down. “We won!” they chanted. One demonstrator banged on a drum.
Yoon’s surprise declaration of martial law, which he cast as aimed at his political foes, was unanimously voted down by 190 lawmakers in the parliament. Under South Korean law, the president must immediately lift martial law if parliament demands it by a majority vote. His own party urged him to lift the decree.
South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol is seen speaking on a television in a train station in Seoul late Tuesday evening. During the broadcast, he declared emergency martial law, saying the step was necessary to protect the country from “communist forces” amid parliamentary wrangling over a budget bill.
| AFP-JIJI
Earlier, live television footage showed troops apparently tasked with imposing martial law attempting to enter the assembly building, and parliamentary aides were seen trying to push the soldiers back by spraying fire extinguishers.
The crisis in a country that has been a democracy since the 1980s, and is a U.S. ally and major Asian economy, caused international alarm. Earlier, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said the United States was watching events in South Korea with “grave concern” and hoped that any political disputes would be resolved peacefully and in accordance with the rule of law.
Some 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea to guard against the North.
After Yoon’s announcement of martial law in a late-night television address, the military said activities by parliament and political parties would be banned, and that media and publishers would be under the control of the martial law command.
Yoon did not cite any specific threat from the nuclear-armed North, instead focusing on his domestic political opponents. It is the first time since 1980 that martial law has been declared in South Korea.
Police in front the National Assembly in Seoul on Tuesday evening
| AFP-JIJI
The iShares MSCI South Korea ETF initially sank 5.1% in U.S. trading, its worst intraday drop since Aug. 5. The won fell to its weakest level against the U.S. dollar in more than two years before also recovering some ground. The London-listed shares of Samsung Electronics lost 5% on the news.
Shortly after Yoon announced martial law, people began gathering outside the parliament building, some of them shouting: “Withdraw emergency martial law!”
Yoon’s predecessor, Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party, said in a post on X that the country’s democracy was in crisis. “I hope that the National Assembly will act quickly to protect our democracy from crumbling,” he wrote.
“I ask the people to join forces to protect and save democracy and to help the National Assembly function normally.”
Information from Bloomberg added.
Soldiers advance early Wednesday morning to the main building of the National Assembly in Seoul.
| YONHAP VIA REUTERS