South Korean lawmakers call to impeach President Yun after martial law failure

• Yun retreats in a showdown with the lawmakers.
• The US expresses serious concern about martial law.
• Protesters celebrate at the parliament building.
  

South Korean lawmakers called for the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol after he declared martial law only to reverse the move hours later, sparking the biggest political crisis in decades in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.

The surprise announcement late on Tuesday sparked a standoff with parliament which rejected his bid to ban political activity and censor the media as armed soldiers stormed the National Assembly building in Seoul.

A coalition of lawmakers from opposition parties said they plan to propose a bill to impeach Yun on Wednesday, which would have to be voted on within 72 hours.

“Parliament should focus on suspending the president immediately to pass an impeachment bill as soon as possible,” Hwang Un-ha, one of the coalition lawmakers, told reporters.

Yun’s chief of staff and senior secretaries have offered to resign en masse, a presidential official said.

Yun told the nation in a televised address that martial law was needed to defend the country from nuclear-armed North Korea and pro-Northern anti-state forces and protect its free constitutional order, though he did not name specific threats.

Chaotic scenes ensued as helmeted soldiers climbed into the parliament building through broken windows and military helicopters hovered overhead. Parliamentary aides sprayed fire extinguishers to push back the soldiers and protesters clashed with police outside.

The military said the activities of parliament and political parties would be banned, and that the media and publishers would be under the control of the martial law administration.

But within hours of the declaration, South Korea’s parliament, with 190 of its 300 members present, unanimously approved a motion calling for the lifting of martial law, including all 18 members of Yun’s party. The president then retracted the statement.

Protesters outside the National Assembly shouted and clapped. “We won!” they shouted and a protester beat a drum.

More protests are expected on Wednesday with South Korea’s largest union coalition, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, planning to hold a rally in Seoul and vowing to strike until Yoon resigns.

The United States embassy urged US citizens in South Korea to avoid areas where protests were taking place, while some major employers advised employees to work from home.

Financial markets were volatile with South Korean stocks down about 2% early Wednesday, while the Korean won (KRW) traded steady around 1,418 per dollar, having sunk to a two-year low.

Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok and Bank of Korea Governor Rhee Chang-yong held emergency meetings overnight, and the finance ministry pledged to support markets if needed.

“We will introduce unlimited liquidity in stocks, bonds, short-term money market as well as the foreign exchange market for the time being until they are fully normalized,” the government said in a statement.

South Korean foreign exchange authorities were suspected of selling U.S. dollars into the onshore market early Wednesday to limit the won’s fall, two agents said.

He dodged a bullet

The main opposition Democratic Party has called on Yun, who is in power since 2022, to step down or face resignation due to the declaration of martial law, South Korea’s first since 1980.

“Even if martial law is lifted, he cannot avoid accusations of treason. It was clearly revealed to the entire nation that President Yun could no longer run the country normally. He should resign,” Park Chan-dae, a DP member of parliament, said in a statement.

The National Assembly can impeach the president if more than two-thirds of the deputies vote for it. A trial is then held by the constitutional court, which can confirm it by a vote of six of the nine judges.

Yun’s party controls 108 seats in the 300-member legislature.

If Yoon resigns or is removed from office, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo would take over as leader until new elections are held.

“South Korea as a nation dodged a bullet, but President Yun may have shot himself in the foot,” said Danny Russell, vice president of the Asia Policy Institute in the US.

The crisis in a country that has been democratic since the 1980s and is a US ally and a major Asian economy has sparked international alarm.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he welcomed Yoon’s decision to rescind the martial law declaration.

“We continue to expect that political disputes will be resolved peacefully and in accordance with the rule of law,” Blinken said in a statement.

South Korea hosts about 28,500 US troops as a legacy of the 1950-1953 Korean War.

Planned defense talks and joint military exercises between South Korea and the US have been postponed Yonhap the news agency reported.

Sweden’s prime minister also postponed a visit to South Korea, a spokesman said.

Yoon, a career prosecutor, swept to victory in the tightest presidential election in South Korean history in 2022, riding a wave of discontent over economic policy, scandals and gender wars.

But he was unpopular, with his approval ratings hovering around 20% for months.

The People Power Party suffered a landslide defeat in parliamentary elections in April this year, handing control of the unicameral assembly to opposition parties that took nearly two-thirds of the seats.

More than a dozen instances of martial law have been declared since South Korea was founded as a republic in 1948.

In 1980, a group of military officers led by Chun Doo-hwan forced then-President Choi Kyu-hah to declare martial law to crush calls by the opposition, workers and students for the restoration of democratic government.