Key Points
- South Korea’s president has declared martial law as he accuses the opposition of being “anti-state forces”.
- MPs have unanimously opposed the move.
- The military is backing the president, setting up a stand-off in parliament.
South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol has declared martial law, accusing the opposition of being “anti-state forces” and saying he was acting to protect the country from “threats” posed by the North.
South Korea’s parliament, with 190 of its 300 members present, voted unanimously in the early hours of Wednesday to pass a motion blocking the declaration and calling for martial law to be lifted.
Under the constitution, martial law must be lifted when a majority in parliament demands it.
After the parliament’ss vote to lift the declaration, the National Assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik declared that MPs “will protect democracy with the people”.
Woo called for police and military personnel to withdraw from the Assembly’s grounds.
The imposition of emergency martial law came after Yoon’s approval rating dropped to 19 per cent in a poll last week. Credit: Chung Sung-Jun / Getty Images
Yoon’s move was vocally opposed even by the leader of his own People Power Party, Han Dong-hoon, who was present for the vote in parliament and who has clashed with Yoon over the president’s handling of recent scandals.
Despite the vote against the shock declaration, the military has backed Yoon, setting up a stand-off with no clear way forward.
The National Assembly was sealed late on Tuesday night, and helicopters were seen landing on the roof.
Troops entered the building for a short time, while hundreds of protesters gathered outside parliament chanting “arrest Yoon Suk Yeol” and faced off with security forces guarding parliament.
What has South Korea’s president said?
Yoon gave a range of reasons to justify his announcement — South Korea’s first declaration of martial law in more than 40 years.
“To safeguard a liberal South Korea from the threats posed by North Korea’s communist forces and to eliminate anti-state elements plundering people’s freedom and happiness, I hereby declare emergency martial law,” Yoon said during his live televised address to the nation.
Yoon did not give details of the North’s threats, but the South remains technically at war with nuclear-armed Pyongyang.
“Our National Assembly has become a haven for criminals, a den of legislative dictatorship that seeks to paralyse the judicial and administrative systems and overturn our liberal democratic order,” Yoon said.
The president labelled the opposition, which holds a majority in the 300-member parliament, as “anti-state forces intent on overthrowing the regime”.
Yoon described the imposition of martial law as “inevitable to guarantee the continuity of a liberal South Korea”, adding that it would not impact the country’s foreign policy.
“I will restore the country to normalcy by getting rid of anti-state forces as soon as possible,” he said, without elaborating further.
He described the current situation as South Korea “on the verge of collapse, with the National Assembly acting as a monster intent on bringing down liberal democracy”.
What does the declaration mean?
With martial law imposed, all military units in the South have been ordered to strengthen their emergency alert and readiness postures, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.
Army chief General Park An-su took charge as martial law commander and immediately issued a decree banning “all political activities”.
The decree also targeted the media and publishers, banning “actions that deny or seek to overthrow the liberal democratic system, including the spread of fake news, public opinion manipulation, and false propaganda”.
South Korea is a major ally for the United States in Asia, and the US State Department said it had “grave concern” about the situation.
China, a key ally of North Korea, urged its nationals in the South to stay calm and exercise caution, while Britain said it was “closely monitoring developments”.
South Korean Police stand guard at the National Assembly as hundreds of protesters gather outside. Credit: Chung Sung-Jun / Getty Images
Yoon’s People Power Party and the main opposition Democratic Party are bitterly at odds over next year’s budget.
Opposition MPs approved a significantly downsized budget plan through a parliamentary committee last week.
The opposition has slashed approximately 4.1 trillion won ($4.45 billion) from Yoon’s proposed 677 trillion won budget plan, cutting the government’s reserve fund and activity budgets for Yoon’s office, the prosecution, police and the state audit agency.
In his address, Yoon also 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.
