Summary
Thanks for following along with our live coverage of the extraordinary events in South Korea. It is 6pm in Seoul on Wednesday. Here is a recap of the past two tumultuous days in South Korean politics:
Seoul’s stock exchange closes down more than one percent after short-lived declaration of martial law. The Kospi composite index tumbled 1.44 percent while shares in the country’s biggest company Samsung Electronics finished down 0.93 percent.
Nato is monitoring the current situation in South Korea with secretary general Mark Rutte declaring the relationship with the East Asian country as ironclad.
Opposition parties have submitted a motion to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his short-lived declaration of martial law.
Yoon is facing mounting calls to step down after he declared martial law in a surprise, late-night address on Tuesday, a severe measure he said was necessary to safeguard the country’s liberal democracy from “anti-state forces” and “threats posed by North Korea”. Within hours Yoon had backtracked, saying that troops would return to their barracks and the order would be lifted after a cabinet meeting. Even Yoon’s own aides have offered to resign “en masse”.
Yoon’s martial law order included a six-point decree that banned political activities and parties, “false propaganda”, strikes and “gatherings that incite social unrest”. The order also brought all media outlets under the authority of martial law and directed all medical staff, including striking doctors, to return to work within 48 hours.
The move was met with vociferous condemnation and widely defied. Despite the deployment of helicopters on the roof of the parliament building, 190 lawmakers managed to enter the building and proceeded to unanimously vote to reject Yoon’s declaration and call for martial law to be lifted. On the streets, hundreds protested, and chanted for the president to be arrested.
To successfully impeach Yoon, a two-thirds majority is required in the legislature. Opposition parties together control 192 of the 300 seats in the national assembly, so would need lawmakers from Yoon’s own party to join them.
This the first time that martial law has been declared in South Korea in more than four decades, alarming allies. The United States, which stations nearly 30,000 troops in South Korea to protect it from the nuclear-armed North, initially voiced deep concern at the declaration, then relief that martial law was over. The UK Foreign Office’s minister for the Indo-Pacific, Catherine West, issued a statement, calling for “a peaceful resolution to the situation, in accordance with the law and the constitution of the Republic of Korea”.
To many watching from outside, the sudden political chaos appears to have come out of nowhere. But inside South Korea, Democratic party lawmaker Kim Min-seok had warned in recent months that Yoon was gearing up to declare martial law. Korea analysts say concerns had grown after several key military positions, related to defence, counterintelligence, and information on North Korea had been filled by individuals who graduated from the same school as the president. Opposition figures such as Kim suggested these figures could play a critical role in enforcing martial law in a contingency.
For more on this topic you can read our full report, explainer and a history of martial law in South Korea.
Updated
South Koreans went to offices, businesses and schools as usual on Wednesday with scarcely any visible signs in the capital Seoul that six hours of surprise martial law and high political drama overnight had spilled into everyday life.
The city of 9million started the day normally with the usual morning rush hour in trains and on the streets after President Yoon Suk Yeol lifted his abortive attempt at banning political activities and censoring news media just before dawn.
But many were in shock at such a sudden turn of events, which pushed stocks down and South Korea’s currency to multi-year lows during a time of already faltering economic growth.
There have been more than a dozen instances of martial law being declared in South Korea since it became a republic in 1948, but the last time was more than four decades ago when general Chun Doo-hwan staged a coup and ruled from 1980 to 1988.
Seoul resident Gang He-Soo, 50, said she woke from sleep by chance and saw the news.
“At first, I was scared and very confused. I kept thinking, ‘What is going on? Is this something that could actually happen in this era?’ I couldn’t sleep until the martial law was lifted because I was so frightened,” Gang said, walking in Seoul’s main commercial and tourist district Gwanghwamun.
Yoon declared martial law in a live TV address at around 10.30pm on Tuesday, only to reverse course after parliament defied police and special forces cordons around the National Assembly to vote, forcing him to lift the declaration.
The president’s office said the declaration of martial law was done at night to “minimise damage to the national economy and people’s lives”.
South Korean soldiers, equipped with rifles, body armour and night-vision equipment, were seen entering the parliament building in Seoul through smashed windows, with helicopters hovered in the night sky above the building.
“It was an experience that I’ve only seen in movies, and I realised how much more serious it is than I had imagined,” said 39-year-old Seoul resident Kim Byeong-In, who said he was concerned about the impact on the economy.
“I’m deeply disturbed by this kind of situation, and I’m very concerned about the future of the country,” Kim said.
Many people said they stayed up late following the news, which stations continued to report despite Yoon declaring that media subject to martial law.
