South Korean President Yun Seok-yul declared martial law in the country on December 3rd in order to "root out pro-North Korean forces and protect the free constitutional order." He explained his decision by domestic political problems: the opposition's intentions to create chaos in the country. During an emergency meeting with the government held earlier, the president announced attempts to conduct impeachment proceedings against him.
"I am declaring martial law to protect the free Republic of Korea from the threat of North Korean communist forces and to immediately eradicate unprincipled pro-North Korean anti-state forces that are encroaching on the freedom and happiness of our people and the constitutional order," Yun Seok-yul said in a televised address to citizens.
Following the president's address, the country's Defense Ministry held a meeting of commanders of all branches of the Armed Forces and ordered increased combat readiness. The Defense Ministry explained that the activities of political parties are suspended and the activities of the media will be monitored.
Parliament has spoken out against martial law
The military, in pursuance of the president's decision, surrounded the parliament with armored vehicles and landed troops from helicopters, attempting to enter the building, Vedomosti writes . At the time of going to press, despite the military's attempts to block the parliament, the deputies who had made it into the meeting hall formed a quorum and, according to Speaker U Won-sik, voted to lift martial law.
According to Article 77 of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea, the president must notify the parliament of the imposition of martial law, but the parliament can meet and lift it.
After martial law was declared, the leader of the center-right People's Power Party (108 seats out of 300), which nominated Yoon Seok-yeol for the 2022 elections, Han Dong-hoon, called the president's decree wrong and added that "he, together with the people," would try to cancel this decision. And the leaders of the largest opposition Democratic Party in parliament (170 seats) called the head of state's decree unconstitutional and called on their supporters to gather outside the parliament building. The leader of the opposition Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung, said that Yoon Seok-yeol is no longer the country's president.
"BBC. Russian Service" writes that the military has returned to its units, and the presidential administration has resigned in full. President Yoon Seok-yul himself has not yet made any statements. The president's opponents from the Democratic Party, which has a majority in parliament, have stated that if he does not resign, they will initiate impeachment proceedings.
What else is known
Yun Seok-yeol became president of South Korea in May 2022.
In the parliamentary elections held in April 2024, the opposition won, retaining control of the legislature.
Over the summer, there were calls in parliament to remove the president, who is accused of corruption and fomenting the threat of war with North Korea. Shortly before the president declared martial law, the Democratic Party pushed through a bill in the parliamentary budget committee to cut the budget by a record 4.1 trillion won (about three billion dollars) and filed impeachment motions against the state auditor and the prosecutor general of South Korea.
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Cover: photo from abcnewsfe