UPDATE: President Yoon has lifted martial law and his cabinet approved the action. Protests are still continuing and it seems the army and police have pulled back. Meanwhile the head of Yoon’s party says that Yoon made his decision on the advice of the minister of defense and he is calling for the minister’s resignation.
“As the ruling party, we feel deeply sorry to the public,” People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon said in a statement to reporters early on Wednesday morning local time.
“The president must directly and thoroughly explain this tragic situation,” he added. “The minister of defense, who recommended this martial law, should be immediately dismissed, and all those responsible must be held strictly accountable.”
This is not the end of the crisis.
A martial law decree by Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was rescinded by the Korean National Assembly, whose members voted despite the incursion of combat troops trying to break into meeting rooms in the parliament’s building.
After lawmakers unanimously voted to block the president’s martial law decree, dozens of troops that had entered the main parliamentary building began to withdraw, according to Korean news media. The South Korean military announced the troops’ withdrawal and reported that there were no unusual North Korean movements. Yoon himself announced that the troops had withdrawn and said there would be a cabinet meeting soon.
The original decision of the South Korean president to declare martiawas a disaster for Korea and also for the United States. Yoon’s reckless declaration has imperiled the country and severely risked the alliance with the United States.
The United States keeps a large military force in Korea based on a mutual defense treaty.
The US has 28,500 US troops in Korea, predominantly Army, the majority of them at Camp Humphreys, the largest US overseas base in the world. In addition there are US Army Garrison Daegu and Camp Casey, near the Korean Demilitarized Zone.
The US Air Force operates at Kunsan Air Base and Osan Air Base. Kunsan Air Base is the home of the 8th Fighter Wing, “The Wolf Pack,” assigned to the Pacific Air Forces’ Seventh Air Force and the 38th Fighter Group of the Republic of Korea Air Force.
Osan Air Base, 48 miles south of the DMZ, is home to the “Mustangs” 51st Fighter Wing and 24 tenant units, including Seventh Air Force. As the most forward deployed permanently-based wing in the Air Force, the 51st Fighter Wing is charged with providing mission-ready Airmen to carry out combat operations and receive follow-on forces.
Since 2016 the US has deployed a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea as part of the US ballistic missile defense system.
The Biden administration, at least so far, has said very little, probably trying to work in the background in the early stages of the Korean President’s announcement. But Washington cannot sit idly by and hope for the best.
If the Korean army obeys the parliamentary decree, as they appear to have done by retreating from the parliament building, that’s a hopeful sign. But the army and police also must not suppress protests using violence as a political tool, as they have been doing.
Should the Korean army continue in this mode it will lose its credibility at home. Could it force the US into a divorce it does not want? The internal political situation in South Korea is now almost beyond salvation. It remains to be seen if common sense will replace recklessness.
Stephen Bryen is an Asia Times correspondent and served as staff director of the Near East Subcommittee of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee and as a deputy undersecretary of defense for policy. This article was first published on his Substack newsletter Weapons and Strategy and is republished with permission.
