Photo credit: The Times of Israel
The South Korean government on Wednesday lifted a martial law order imposed by President Yoon Suk Yeol just hours earlier. Parliament had voted to reject it, and protesters and lawmakers had called for the president’s impeachment.
Global News reports that the tense hours of martial law overnight plunged the country into its biggest democratic crisis in decades, harkening back to its authoritarian past and setting the stage for further political upheaval ahead, with Yoon’s future an open question.
Police and military personnel who had briefly taken over the grounds of the National Assembly were seen leaving following the bipartisan vote. The declaration was formally lifted around 4:30 a.m. during a cabinet meeting—about six hours after it began.
Yoon declared martial law in a televised address Tuesday night to thwart what he called “anti-state forces” among the opposition party that controls the country’s parliament, who he accused of sympathizing with communist North Korea.
However, outraged lawmakers quickly passed a motion to reject the decree three hours later as hundreds of protesters gathered outside the National Assembly. The motion passed unanimously, with 190 members of the 300-seat legislature voting.
Under the country’s law, martial law can be lifted with a majority vote in the parliament. After the order was lifted, protesters cheered and chanted, “we won,” but continued to call for Yoon’s arrest and removal from office.
Yoon’s order was swiftly condemned by his conservative People Power Party and the majority liberal Democratic Party, isolating a president already embattled by scandal and legislative roadblocks to his agenda.
After lifting the declaration, Yoon reiterated his demand that the opposition stop using its majority to “paralyze” parliament but did not address growing calls for his removal.
A senior Democratic Party lawmaker, Park Chan-dee, said, “Even if martial law is lifted, he cannot avoid treason charges. It was clearly revealed to the entire nation that President Yoon could no longer run the country normally. He should step down.”
