Complete chaos broke out in South Korea on Tuesday after President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law in the country to eliminate "anti-state" forces, accusing the opposition-controlled Parliament of sympathising with North Korea. Soon after the announcement, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-sik announced the martial law 'invalid' and lawmakers voted to reject it.
In the meantime, several people took to the streets, trying to enter the country's Parliament to oppose the imposition of martial law. Violent clashes broke out between security forces and protesters outside the National Assembly in Seoul.
Check top 10 developments of the fresh crisis in Seoul
- A fleet of tanks, armoured vehicles and South Korea's martial command forces were seen making a short-lived attempt to enter the Parliament after protests broke out in Seoul.
- Visuals on social media showed police officers guarding the entrance of the National Assembly and helmeted soldiers carrying rifles in front of the National Assembly's main building.
- As per the news agency Associated Press, at least three helicopters, likely from the military, landed inside the assembly grounds, while two or three helicopters circled above the site.
- Earlier in the evening, South Korean declared an "emergency martial law" with President Yoon Suk Yeol, accusing the opposition of plotting an "insurgency" and "trying to overthrow the free democracy" in the country, as reported by the New York Times.
- In a nationally televised speech, President Yoon denounced the opposition for using its majority in the National Assembly to impeach members of his cabinet and block the passage of his government's budget plans, New York Times reported.
- Yoon further said, "The National Assembly, which should have been the foundation of free democracy, has become a monster that destroys it," the New York Times reported.
- According Al Jazeera, President Yoon Suk Yeol said that he will rebuild a free and democratic country through the martial law. "To safeguard a liberal South Korea from the threats posed by North Korea's communist forces and to eliminate anti-state elements... I hereby declare emergency martial law," Yoon said, as reported by Al Jazeera.
- In response, the liberal opposition Democratic Party has called for an emergency meeting, Al Jazeera reported.
- Notably, this is the first time a South Korean president has declared martial law since the end of the military dictatorship in the late 1980s.
- President Yoon, who was elected in 2022, has been in a near-constant political standoff with the Democratic Party over the budget bill for next year, as reported by Al Jazeera.
