The South Korean parliament has reversed President Yoon Suk Yeol sudden declaration of martial law on Tuesday in a vote that came hours after the leader, in a late-night television broadcast, claimed he would eradicate “shameless pro-North Korean anti-state forces” in the country.
National Assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik declared that lawmakers “will protect democracy with the people” after Yoon issued the order. South Korea’s constitution requires its president to lift martial law at parliament’s request by a majority vote.
Critics say Yoon’s imposition of martial law is really about his concerns about his domestic political opponents, rather than any specific threat from South Korean’s nuclear-armed enemy to the north.
In his address Tuesday, he claimed he had to resort to the drastic measure to protect constitutional order, accusing his opposing political parties of taking the parliamentary process hostage to launch South Korea into crisis.
While Seoul has been democratic for four decades, there had been a series of authoritarian leaders in its history who had used martial law. It was last declared in 1980 to clamp down on pro-democracy protests in the nation.
Parliament’s vote to lift martial law was unanimous, and soldiers who had been stationed at parliament left the site after the vote.