Within six hours of declaring martial law in the country, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said he would lift it.
In a special address to the nation at 4:30 am (local time), President Yoon said, “Not long ago, the National Assembly demanded the lifting of the state of emergency, and we withdrew the deployed troops. Have taken martial law into operation. We will accept the request of the National Assembly and remove martial law through the Cabinet meeting.”
South Korean lawmakers voted unanimously against imposing martial law in a midnight session of the National Assembly to condemn the president’s decision.
After this the President and the Army Chief also agreed to respect the vote. Shortly after the President withdrew the order and addressed the nation, the South Korean Cabinet convened at 5 a.m. (local time) to approve a proposal to officially lift one of the shortest periods of martial law in history. .
As developments unfolded in Korea on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday, President Yoon’s decision to declare national emergency and martial law was strongly opposed by lawmakers, who rejected the decision to ban political activity and censor the media.
Explaining his step, President Yoon had said that this decision has been taken to crush ‘anti-state forces’. It was the first time in nearly five decades that South Korea had imposed martial law – the last being in 1980.
Politicians and protesters gathered outside the National Assembly (Parliament) chanting slogans in defiance of the martial law in force at the time. To disperse the crowd, security forces had to fire tear gas shells. The country’s currency also went downwards. However, the situation improved after President Yoon agreed to a vote in parliament and said he would announce the withdrawal shortly.
South Korea is one of the leading economies of Asia and a major ally of the United States. It has also been a democracy for more than four decades. Therefore the move to impose martial law had created concern internationally.
Although South Korea faces a continuing threat from its northern nuclear-armed neighbor North Korea, President Yoon did not suggest any specific threat from Kim Jong-un might have led to the sudden decision.
President Yoon is under pressure in domestic politics after his party – the People’s Power Party – suffered a massive defeat in the general election in April this year. The result gave the opposition more than a two-thirds majority in Parliament. President Yoon has also been deeply unpopular in recent days, with his national rating falling to around 20 percent.