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It was a wild day in Seoul, South Korea, as President Yoon Suk Yeol addressed the nation after midnight and declared that a state of martial law would be imposed immediately. That didn’t sit well with the South Korean National Assembly, which the Democratic Party, the liberal opposition, controls.

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 Despite the assembly chamber being closed and guarded by the military, 195 assembly members met outside the building and voted unanimously to rescind the decree. Only 150 of the 300-member assembly would have been necessary to repeal the president’s edict.

National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-Shik declared that lawmakers “will protect democracy with the people.” He asked the police and soldiers to leave the National Assembly grounds, which they did.

The military leadership is on Yoon’s side. A spokesman for the military echoed Yoon’s charge that parliament could cause “social confusion” and would be suspended.

The South Korean Democratic Party has gone beyond opposition and become fully obstructionist. Yoon’s agenda is stalled, with no prospect it will be revived anytime soon. Yoon accused the Democrats of turning the nation into a “drug haven” and creating disorder. “The National Assembly has become a monster undermining liberal democracy, and the nation is in a precarious state, teetering on the edge of collapse,” Yoon said in his TV address.

“We will eliminate the anti-state forces and restore the country to normalcy as quickly as possible,” Yoon assured the public.

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Even members of his own party opposed martial law.

Associated Press:

The leader of Yoon’s conservative People Power Party, Han Dong-hoon, called the decision to impose martial law “wrong” and vowed to “stop it with the people.” Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, who narrowly lost to Yoon in the 2022 presidential election, called Yoon’s announcement “illegal and unconstitutional.”

Yoon said during a televised speech that martial law would help “rebuild and protect” the country from “falling into the depths of national ruin.” He said he would “eradicate pro-North Korean forces and protect the constitutional democratic order.”

“I will eliminate anti-state forces as quickly as possible and normalize the country,” he said, while asking the people to believe in him and tolerate “some inconveniences.”

The martial law order prohibits “denying free democracy or attempting a subversion” and makes “fake news” illegal as well as “manipulating public opinion.” The decree also ordered the nation’s doctors back to work. They had been on strike for months, protesting the admission of more students to medical schools. “Strikes, work stoppages and rallies that incite social chaos” are also prohibited. 

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People are already pouring into the streets.

With the military split and people in the streets protesting the first imposition of martial law in 40 years, what might be Yoon’s fate be?

The Democrats in the assembly have gotten impeachment-happy, having axed three prosecutors and several ministers. The president himself is under investigation for corruption, and this martial law decree only provides a source for the goose. 

He is almost certain to be impeached.