South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in an unannounced address broadcast live late at night Tuesday, on YTN, said he had no choice but to take drastic measures to protect South Korean freedoms and the constitutional order. He asserted opposition parties have taken the parliamentary process hostage and thrown the country into crisis.
"I declare martial law to protect the free Republic of Korea from the threat of North Korean communist forces, to eradicate the despicable pro-North Korean anti-state forces that are plundering the freedom and happiness of our people, and to protect the free constitutional order," Yoon said.
Hours later, the South Korean parliament voted 190-0 to lift the declaration. National Assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik said that lawmakers "will protect democracy and the people" and called for police and military personnel to withdraw from the Assembly's grounds.
Tuesday's declaration is the first time martial law has been invoked in South Korea since 1980.
In his address, Yoon cited actions by the Democratic Party as justification for martial law, including an effort this week to impeach some of the country's top prosecutors and the national assembly's rejection of Yoon's proposed budget.
The liberal Democratic Party has controlled South Korea's single-chamber National Assembly since Yoon, a former top prosecutor, took office in 2022. Those in the opposition have repeatedly thwarted Yoon's agenda and the president has had low approval ratings.
Democratic lawmakers had moved to slash more than 4 trillion won from the Yoon administration's budget proposal. Yoon said the budget cuts would undermine the essential functioning of government administration.
"Our parliament has become a den for criminals. It has paralyzed the administrative and legal systems by ramming through (opposition-driven) legislations and is attempting to overthrow our democratic system," Yoon said in his address.
Yoon's predecessor, Jae-in of the Democratic Party, posted on X that the country's democracy is in crisis. "I hope that the National Assembly will act quickly to protect our democracy from crumbling," he wrote. "I ask the people to join forces to protect and save democracy and to help the National Assembly function normally."
The South Korean president has reportedly been beset by scandal involving his wife, first lady Kim Keon Hee. She was allegedly involved in a stock price manipulation scheme and the release of spy camera footage showed her accepting a luxury bag from a Korean American pastor.
South Korean opposition parties rallied Saturday and called for Yoon to accept a special prosecutor to investigate the allegations of fraud made against his wife.
In October, propaganda leaflets produced by North Korea that attacked Yoon and his wife were found scattered on the streets of Seoul, apparently carried across the border via balloon.
Yoon was handed a blistering political defeat earlier this year when South Korean voters expanded the Democratic Party's majority in the assembly. This rendered Yoon a lame duck, president with even control over his own party at risk.
