At 4:30 a.m. KST on December 4, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol lifted martial law about three hours after the National Assembly blocked his declaration. 190 out of 300 lawmakers attended the middle-of-the-night plenary session held by the speaker and unanimously passed the resolution.
Yoondeclared martial law in a televised announcement around 10:25 p.m. KST on December 3. Even after lawmakers successfully nullified Yoon’s declaration of martial law, they could not leave the plenary chamber in case Yoon did not honor it. The National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik waited for another hour to confirm whether Yoon had actually lifted martial law and the plenary session was adjourned around 5:54 a.m. KST on Wednesday.
In a televised announcement, Yoon brought up anti-state forces and pro-North Korean elements as the main reason for his decision to declare martial law, but he offered no clear evidence for why he took such a drastic step. Rather, he mainly blamed the main opposition party and even accused it of toppling the government by using its power in the National Assembly. The requirements for declaring martial law were clearly not met, as there was no emergency concerned with a military attack or a threat to public safety. As a result, Yoon is on the brink of the end of his career as president.
Only minutes after Yoon’s declaration of martial law, armed troopsarrived at the National Assembly and attempted to enter the building. Once they were inside, the staff members of lawmakers confronted the soldiers, including byspraying fire extinguishers, to block them from entering the plenary chamber and make time for the lawmakers to pass a resolution to nullify the martial law declaration.
The police stood in front of the entrance of the National Assembly andblocked some lawmakers who tried to enter the building to attend the plenary session. Citizens who showed up to express their anger over Yoon’s declaration of martial law were also blocked from entering the premises of the National Assembly.
Before Woo, the speaker of the National Assembly, was ready to hold a plenary session, the Martial Law Command swiftly released its first edict, which prohibited political activities (including National Assembly sessions) and media reporting. The edict also banned people from marching and ordered medical personnel to return to their workplaces within 48 hours. Under martial law, anyone could be arrested without a warrant for violating the edict. Woo urged every lawmaker to gather at the plenary chamber as quickly as possible.
Before the National Assembly voted to nullify martial law, armored cars and helicopters werewitnessed around the legislative building, recalling a not-too-distant era when the military ruled the country with force and suppression.
No deaths have been reported, but the martial law troops broke windows and other facilities to enter the National Assembly, according to Kim Min-ki, the secretary-general of the National Assembly. Hesaid around 280 troops mobilized in the National Assembly. Kim vowed to hold them responsible for the damage to the National Assembly and injuries to some staff members.
According to Park Seon-won, a Democratic Party lawmaker, the martial law troops wereinformed that there was something serious happening related to North Korea, meaning they did not know the National Assembly was the destination they were being sent to. Some videosposted online show troops hugging a citizen to make him calm and a solider making polite apologies to citizens who gathered at the National Assembly.
“Although they were armed, they did not try to arrest anybody and tried not to hurt us in my point of view,” Kim Hyung-seung, a company worker in Seoul, told The Diplomat. Kim said he was having dinner with his co-workers near the National Assembly and decided to head to the legislature right after he watched Yoon’s televised announcement.
“I thought if the National Assembly fails to vote [to nullify martial law], we would see a new version of dictatorship we already experienced 30 years ago,” Kim said. “I am grateful that the martial law army troops did not use force against citizens.”
Yoon’s attempts to put the nation under martial law failed. But his shocking move implies that democracy remains fragile in South Korea, where people overthrew a dictatorship through an uprising in the 1980s. Those hard-won gains can be put at risk by a leader who wants to change the political environment or tip the balance in their own interest.
Given the information and reports provided by lawmakers and media outlets, Kim Yong-hyun, the defense minister, is the one who proposed that Yoon declare martial law. He is a retired army general who was a chief of the presidential security service before taking this post. Months ago, when asked by a DP lawmaker whether or not the government was preparing to declare martial law, Kim vehemently denied the accusation and said it is impossible to declare martial law.
According to media reports, Kimoffered to tender his resignation to Yoon and apologized for what happened.
In the wake oflandslide victory of the main opposition Democratic Party in the general elections in April, 192 of 300 lawmakers are members of opposition parties. Yoon vowed to work more closely with the National Assembly after the election defeat but has not kept his words for the past seven months since the opening of the 22nd National Assembly. He also did not attend the opening ceremony of the National Assembly, making him the first president to skip the event since 1987.
With the declaration of martial law, Yoon crossed a red line and the opposition’s next steps are easily predicted.
What’s Next?
To express his stance on Yoon’s declaration of martial law, Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party,implied his party will work with other opposition parties to impeach Yoon if he does not step down. He also warned that Yoon could declare martial law again and start a local war with North Korea. (As of writing, North Korean state media have not published any statements or reports regarding Yoon’s declaration of martial law.)
Lee pointed out that none of the requirements for declaring martial law were met and called it an attempted insurgency. Pointing to Yoon’s illegal acts, including his skipping of a Cabinet meeting before declaring martial law, Lee vowed to restore the nation’s democratic system.
The opposition parties proposed an impeachment bill to the National Assembly hours after Yoon lifted martial law. The vote will take place by Saturday. Until then, Yoon could declare martial law again in order to prevent the National Assembly from voting to proceed with the impeachment process.
Han Dong-hoon, the leader of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), admitted that there is no way forward but to ask Yoon to leave the party and ask for a reshuffling of the Cabinet. However, he has not directly answered questions on whether he would work with the DP to vote for the impeachment process.
On the evening of December 4, local media outlets reported that the prime minister, the PPP leader, and the floor leader of the PPP had headed to the Presidential Office to meet Yoon to discuss how to manage the backlash. The meeting went on for about an hour but thus far there have been no detailed briefings over the outcomes.
Two-thirds of South Korea’s 300 lawmakers need to vote for impeachment, so the opposition parties only need eight votes from the ruling PPP to suspend Yoon’s presidential powers and duties.
After an impeachment vote is passed, the Constitutional Court makes a decision on whether or not to uphold the impeachment. More than six out of the nine judges must agree for the impeachment to stand. However, there are only six judges in the Constitutional Court at present, so the DP recommended two additional judges to court on December 4. Legal experts said that six judges could undertake an impeachment hearing, but there could be an issue related to the procedural justification of the impeachment process.
In the case of Park Geun-hye, the only South Korean president to have been impeached thus far, eight judges unanimously upheld her impeachment by the legislature.
There is no set timeframe for the Constitutional Court’s impeachment hearing. However, the Constitutional Court upheld the impeachment of Park Geun-hye in March 2017, only three months after the National Assembly voted to impeach her.
Under the constitution, if the president resigns or is impeached, a special presidential election should be held within 60 days. Until then, the acting president would be the prime minister of South Korea, currently Han Duck-soo.
According to the local media reports, every Cabinet member has expressed their intention to resign. Yoon has not made further statements regarding his next steps after he lifted martial law. According to some early reports, he told PPP leaders that he had declared martial law to bring home to the public the severity of the DP’s actions. If confirmed, that would seem to bolster the opposition’s case that the declaration was unconstitutional.
If Yoon steps down from the presidency, the country will swiftly move onto an election cycle. If not, the DP and other opposition parties will table the bill to vote for the impeachment of Yoon until it is passed.
