S Korean martial law lifted after parliament barricades troops out and votes it illegal

President Yoon Suk Yeol could be impeached by opposition majority in National Assembly

South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol has ended martial law in the country only hours after imposing it. after South Korea’s National Assembly, its parliament, voted it illegal.

I will accept National Assembly’s request and lift it.

Yoon Suk Yeol

Under South Korea’s constitution, a state of martial law must be lifted if a majority in parliament vote against it – but the path to the vote was not easy. Lawmakers had to get past a police barricade to get into the Assembly building and then parliamentary staff had to build barricades at doors to stop soldiers entering the building and preventing representatives from holding a vote. Staff even used fire extinguishers to drive back troops:

Meanwhile, a demonstration gathered outside the Assembly to protest against the martial law move in support of parliamentarians:

On Tuesday, Yoon had said he was taking control to ‘eliminate anti-state elements’ he considered too favourable toward North Korea. While Yoon narrowly won the 2022 presidential election, the liberal opposition won a landslide in April’s general election. .Yoon has struggled to implement his conservative agenda and has been trying both to brush aside calls for an independent investigation into a scandal involving his wife and to head off the majority opposition’s plans to impeach South Korea’s top prosecutors. Even the leadership of Yoon’s own People’s Power Party immediately condemned his declaration, which imposed martial law in South Korea for the first time in forty-five years.

Whether Yoon can cling to his position or will be forced to call a new presidential election or face impeachment is now the question. The most recent presidential impeachment, of Park Geun-Hye, took place only eight years ago.

Update: Korean MPs have now submitted a motion to impeach Yoon.

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