By Jacob Burg
Contributing Writer
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said he will lift a martial law decree instituted about six hours earlier in a late-night announcement. The country’s parliament had voted to lift the declaration hours after the declaration.
South Korea’s Constitution allows for the invocation of martial law when considered necessary to respond to a military threat or to maintain public safety.
In announcing the order, Yoon promised to eliminate “anti-state” forces and accused the opposing liberal Democratic Party of sympathizing with communist North Korea.
South Korean law allows a martial law order to be lifted by a majority vote in the parliament.
South Korea’s Democratic Party has majority control of the parliament, and all 190 parliament members who participated in the vote supported lifting the martial law order.
Military personnel were initially stationed in the parliament building to attempt to prevent lawmakers from entering and voting to overturn Yoon’s declaration.
After the vote, the military said the order will remain in effect until Yoon lifts it, before eventually leaving the building.
Protesters assembled outside during the vote and clashed with military personnel after they exited.
Han Dong-hoon, the leader of Yoon’s conservative People Power Party, called the martial law order “wrong” and promised to “stop it with the people.”
Martial law has been declared in South Korea more than a dozen times since the country’s establishment as a republic in 1948.
Two instances occurred in 1961 and 1980 when military officers Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan, respectively, staged military coups.
Yoon won the 2022 election by less than 1% of the vote, and his approval ratings have stagnated at around 20% for months.
Yoon’s PPP lost control of parliament in a landslide election earlier this year.
Yoon and his party have been locked in disagreements with their liberal opposition over the nation’s 2025 budget bill, and the same opposition has tried to pass motions to impeach three top prosecutors, including those who were investigating Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party.
Lee lost to Yoon in 2022 and is a top contender for the next presidential election, according to opinion polls.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
