South Korean president to lift martial law

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South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said troops have been withdrawn, hours after he declared an "emergency martial law."

Yoon had declared martial law in a televised speech on Tuesday, the Yonhap news agency reported. The president said the measure was necessary due to the actions of the country's liberal opposition, which he accused of controlling parliament, sympathizing with North Korea and paralyzing the government.

"I declare martial law in order to eradicate the shameless pro-North Korea anti-state forces that are plundering the freedom and happiness of our people and to protect the free constitutional order," Yoon said, as quoted by ABC News editorial partner KBS.

Hours after the declaration, the National Assembly voted early Wednesday morning local time demanding that the president lift the martial law order. A majority of parliament -- all 190 members who were present, out of the 300-person body -- voted to lift it. Under the South Korean constitution, the martial law must now be lifted.

"The troops deployed for martial law have been withdrawn," Yoon said early Wednesday following the vote.

To officially lift the martial law, Yoon needs to convene a State Council meeting. Martial law will officially be lifted when the quorum for resolution is met.

Explaining his decision to declare martial law on Tuesday, Yoon accused the opposition-dominated parliament of "paralyzing" judicial affairs and the administration via 22 proposed cases of impeachment issued since the body convened in June.

Yoon's conservative People Power Party has been locked in a fierce budget dispute with the liberal opposition Democratic Party.

The Democratic Party responded by calling on its lawmakers to assemble at the National Assembly building in Seoul, Yonhap reported. Party leader Lee Jae-myung said Yoon's martial law declaration was an "unconstitutional" measure that "goes against the people."

"President Yoon declared emergency martial law for no reason," Lee said, as quoted by Yonhap. "Tanks, armored vehicles and soldiers with guns and swords will soon control the country."

Police and soldiers gathered around the National Assembly on Tuesday night after Yoon spoke. Footage from the scene also showed crowds descending on the building, some people making their way inside. Yonhap reported clashes between security personnel and National Assembly staffers as the former tried to enter the building.

President Joe Biden's administration was not alerted of the declaration beforehand, according to a White House National Security Council spokesperson.

"We are seriously concerned by the developments we are seeing on the ground in the ROK," the spokesperson told ABC News.

Biden told reporters he was "just getting briefed" on the martial law declaration, following a speech in Angola on Tuesday evening local time.

His administration is in contact with the South Korean government, a White House National Security Council spokesperson said.

Philip Goldberg, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea, said the U.S. Embassy and Department of State are "closely tracking" the "fluid" situation, while urging people to monitor local news sources for updates.

ABC News
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said troops have been withdrawn, hours after he declared an "emergency martial law."

Lawmakers in South Korea are set to vote Saturday on whether to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol after he plunged the country into chaos by declaring emergency martial law only to lift the order hours later under intense pressure from lawmakers and the public.

The vote is scheduled to take place around 5 p.m. local time (3 a.m. ET) after six opposition parties began impeachment proceedings against Yoon this week. The opposition bloc holds 192 of the unicameral legislature’s 300 seats, just under the two-thirds majority needed for the motion to pass.

But the likelihood that the motion will succeed increased Friday after the leader of Yoon’s governing People Power Party (PPP), Han Dong-hoon, said the president’s powers should be suspended, adding that Yoon might continue to “put South Korea and its people in great danger.”

It was a surprise shift from the conservative party, which had earlier said it would oppose the impeachment motion. While it freed up PPP lawmakers to vote for the bill without breaking with their party, they remained divided, with some lawmakers still expressing support for Yoon.

Opposition lawmakers, by contrast, are adamant that Yoon be removed from office, as is much of the public. Police in Seoul, the capital, said tens of thousands of people were expected at a mass rally around 1 p.m. on Saturday.

All that surprised me today. We do not get enough news about foreign countries, other than Russia.

I have no idea why Yoon declared martial law. I think he made a boo-boo.

Luckily, I just renewed my subscription to the WSJ. Maybe I will keep up with what is going on in the world now.

I had been slumming with reddit the past few weeks since my WSJ subscription expired. I think I lost 10 I.Q. points. Reddit makes me stupider every time I browse it. I also have no idea what is going on in the world except, "White People BAD!! !"

Police faced off with security officials as they sought to raid South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office Wednesday and one of his top lieutenants attempted suicide after being arrested, in a dramatic escalation of the crisis engulfing the key U.S. ally after the failed attempt to impose martial law.

Investigators said they had been unable to enter Yoon’s office because of the standoff. Raids were also being conducted at the offices of the National Police Agency, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and the National Assembly Police Guards.

The raids came as opposition lawmakers were set to resubmit a motion to impeach Yoon over his short-lived martial law declaration, which plunged the East Asian democracy into chaos last week.

On Wednesday, former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun became the first person to be formally arrested in connection with the martial law declaration. Kim, whose resignation Yoon accepted last week, is accused of playing a key role in the episode. Kim was in stable condition after attempting suicide at a Seoul detention center on Tuesday night, Shin Yong Hae, commissioner general of the Korea Correctional Service, told lawmakers.

Yoon’s party says he has been effectively suspended from duty and that it will “restore order” by ensuring his early departure from office. In the meantime, the party says it is working closely with Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to manage state affairs.

That has fueled the uncertainty about who is in charge of South Korea, the world’s 10th-largest economy.

Asked earlier this week who was running the country of 50 million people, the presidential office declined to comment.

There isn’t a lot of precedent for this situation, and the relevant organs have not been transparent about this,” Rob York, director for regional affairs at Pacific Forum, a foreign policy research institute in Honolulu, said in an interview Wednesday.Yoon’s conservative People Power Party (PPP) says that once he resigns, a presidential by-election could be held by the spring. But the liberal opposition Democratic Party and much of the public are demanding that Yoon resign now or be impeached.

The next vote is set to be held Saturday around 5 p.m. local time (3 a.m. ET), a week after an earlier impeachment motion failed when PPP lawmakers boycotted the vote. Though the opposition controls parliament, it is eight seats short of the 200 it needs for the bill to pass.

“There are some people in the conservative party who are starting to come around, but whether or not they can get to 200 is very much an open question,” York said.

Ordered to ‘drag out’
Details are still emerging about the events of Dec. 3-4, including the deployment of troops to the National Assembly in the South Korean capital, after Yoon declared martial law in a surprise late-night address.

Yoon’s special forces commander, Kwak Jong-geun told lawmakers Tuesday that Yoon had called him directly and told him to forcibly enter the National Assembly and “drag out” lawmakers who had fought their way in before they could vote to nullify his martial law declaration.

Kwak, who has since been suspended from duty, said he wasn’t sure how to carry out the order and ultimately decided not to.

“I judged that it wouldn’t be right because the operational troops could later face legal repercussions, and too many people could get injured if we forcibly broke in,” he told a televised hearing.

On Monday, Col. Kim Hyun-tae, who led the special forces at the National Assembly, said he took full responsibility for ordering their deployment.

Kim, commander of the 707th Special Mission Group, said the members of his unit were “deeply troubled and in pain” and that they were victims of the situation.

“The unit members bear no fault,” Kim said at a news conference outside the War Memorial of Korea in Seoul. “If there is any guilt, it lies only in following the orders of an inept commander.”

Lawmakers voted 210-63 Tuesday to appoint a special counsel to investigate the martial law declaration.

It is up to Yoon to confirm and appoint the special counsel and it was not immediately clear whether he would do that. If he does, the probe would supersede several others that have already begun.

The State Department said Monday that South Korean democracy had demonstrated resilience during the past few days of turmoil.

South Korean authorities successfully detained President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday over his botched declaration of martial law, weeks after a first attempt ended in a dramatic standoff at the residence where he had been holed up since he was impeached.

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO), which is leading a joint investigation, said the arrest warrant had been executed at 10:33 a.m. (8:33 p.m. Tuesday ET), hours after hundreds of police officers arrived at Yoon’s presidential compound in central Seoul.

Yoon, who was impeached last month after his short-lived martial law order plunged the key U.S. ally into political chaos, is South Korea’s first president to be arrested in office.

“Unlike the first execution attempt, this time there were no individuals or security staff actively obstructing the execution, and there were no significant physical clashes,” the CIO said in a briefing.

In an address to the nation, Yoon said the warrant was illegal but that he decided to comply “to prevent an unfortunate and bloody confrontation.”

“Unfortunately, the rule of law in this country has completely collapsed,” he said, according to his office.

The main opposition Democratic Party hailed Yoon’s arrest as “the first step towards restoring constitutional order.”

“Although delayed, it is a relief to confirm that public authority and justice are still alive in South Korea,” floor leader Park Chan-dae said in a text briefing.

Investigators who arrived before dawn at Yoon’s presidential residence were met by members of his security service, who blocked them from detaining Yoon during their first attempt on Jan. 3.

Lawyers for Yoon and lawmakers from his People Power Party were also on the access road leading to the residence, arguing that the warrant was illegal and blocking the police from progressing toward the residence’s entrance.

Nearby, thousands of Yoon’s supporters and critics held dueling protests in below-freezing temperatures. Many of Yoon’s conservative supporters carried American flags and placards with slogans inspired by President-elect Donald Trump, such as “Stop the Steal” — a reference to Yoon’s unsubstantiated claims of election fraud which he cited among his reasons for declaring martial law.

Police officers could later be seen making progress toward the hillside villa after they pushed through multiple blockades made up of vehicles and barbed wire.

Yoon’s legal team said Wednesday that he was willing to appear for questioning voluntarily rather than being taken into custody. But a convoy of black SUVs was later seen leaving the presidential compound with a police escort, and Yoon arrived at the CIO office shortly after.

Yoon can be held for up to 48 hours, after which investigators would need to apply for another warrant to formally indict and continue to hold him. He faces possible charges of insurrection, one of the few crimes for which South Korean presidents do not have immunity.

Yoon, 64, also faces trial in South Korea’s Constitutional Court to determine whether to uphold his Dec. 14 impeachment by lawmakers, which suspended him from presidential duties.

He did not attend the first day of proceedings on Tuesday, citing security concerns. The hearing ended after about four minutes. A second hearing is set for Thursday.

The warrant was executed far more smoothly on Wednesday than during the first attempt, when Yoon’s presidential bodyguards faced off with law enforcement for almost six hours, saying they were required by law to protect the president.

Investigators withdrew but said they would take all necessary measures on their next attempt, and the warrant was re-issued last week after having expired.