South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has lifted a short-lived martial law order that he enacted late Tuesday night after accusing his opposition of “anti-state” activities and of being infiltrated by North Korea.
“The martial law is aimed at eradicating pro-North Korean forces and to protect the constitutional order of freedom,” Yoon said in an address on Tuesday night around 11 pm South Korea time.
By 4:30 am on Wednesday, martial law was lifted after the country’s 300-seat parliament, the National Assembly, convened and voted 190-0 for it to end.
The opposition Democratic Party holds a majority of the seats in the National Assembly (175 out of 300), and Yoon’s move was seen as a response to the opposition working to impeach government officials, blocking a government spending proposal, and making it difficult for Yoon to carry out his agenda in general.
“At 11 pm last night, I declared emergency martial law with my resolute intent to save the nation in the face of anti-state forces that attempt to paralyze the nation’s essential function and the constitutional order of free democracy,” Yoon said in a morning address announcing he was lifting martial law.
“But there was a demand from the National Assembly for the lifting of martial law, (I) have withdrawn troops mobilized to execute martial law affairs,” Yoon added.
The martial law declaration was condemned by both the opposition and the leader of Yoon’s People Power Party, Han Dong-hoon, who denounced the move as “wrong” and said he would work to overturn the decision. Opposition politicians are now expected to try to impeach Yoon.
Yoon’s popularity has significantly declined since he came into office in 2022, with his latest approval rating around 25%. His approval rating was at its highest in June 2022, shortly after his inauguration, at 53%.
The US, which has 27,000 troops in South Korea, responded to the political turmoil by voicing “grave concern” and saying that any disputes should be settled peacefully. President Biden has been a strong backer of Yoon and helped advance his agenda of taking a harder line toward North Korea, which has significantly raised tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Together, Biden and Yoon have restarted major war games on the Korean Peninsula, and the US has deployed significant firepower to South Korea, locking into a cycle of tit-for-tat escalations with North Korea.
Last year, in a major provocation, Biden sent a US nuclear-armed submarine to dock in South Korea for the first time since 1981. A few months before the deployment, Biden hosted Yoon at the White House, and the two leaders announced steps to increase nuclear cooperation meant to give Seoul a role in coordinating the use of US nuclear weapons in the event of a conflict with Pyongyang.
The US also sees South Korea as an ally against China and has been working to repair relations between Seoul and Tokyo as part of Washington’s efforts at alliance building in the region, which is key to the overall US strategy against China in the Asia Pacific.
