South Korea’s president has said he will lift the emergency martial law order he had declared just hours earlier.
Yoon Suk Yeol’s decision comes after parliament voted to block the order, with the speaker of the National Assembly, Woo Won Shik, declaring it “invalid” and saying politicians would “protect democracy with the people”.
The president, who appears likely to be impeached over his actions, had said in a TV address on Tuesday night he was putting the military in temporary charge to defend the constitutional order and “eradicate the despicable pro-North Korean anti-state forces”.
But in a U-turn, Mr Yoon said martial law command forces have withdrawn and a cabinet meeting will be held as soon as possible.
In the end martial was in effect for about six hours.
After his earlier shock announcement, troops had entered the National Assembly building as police and protesters clashed outside and helicopters, likely to be from the military, flew overhead.
Staff barricaded the doors of the building, in the capital Seoul, to try to stop the soldiers entering.
Inside however, politicians were able to hold a vote and unanimously decided by 190-0 to block the president’s declaration.
According to the law, martial law must be lifted if the assembly votes against it – and police and soldiers were later seen leaving parliament.
Image: Soldiers at the National Assembly compound in Seoul. Pic: Newsis/AP
Image: Police officers clashed with protesters. Pic: AP
Lee Jae-myung, who heads the opposition liberal Democratic Party, which holds the majority in the 300-seat parliament, said anyone acting under the orders of Mr Yoon or the martial law edict was now “breaking the law”.
Despite the vote, the defence ministry told reporters it would uphold the order “until the president lifts [it]”.
Image: Staff in parliament barricaded doors to stop soldiers entering. Pic: Reuters
Image: Pic: Reuters
The president had said in his earlier TV address that martial law was necessary to protect “from the threat of North Korean communist forces, to eradicate the despicable pro-North Korean anti-state forces that are plundering the freedom and happiness of our people, and to protect the free constitutional order”.
The declaration was the first since the country’s democratisation in 1987.
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1:06
Moment emergency martial law announced
UK ‘deeply concerned’
Following the announcement, the military said parliament and other political gatherings were suspended and the media was under its control, reported Yonhap news agency.
US deputy secretary of state Kurt Campbell said the White House was watching with “grave concern” while Britain’s minister for the Indo-Pacific, Catherine West, said the UK was “deeply concerned”.
She advised Britons to monitor and follow Foreign Office advice and said its Seoul embassy was “in touch with the Korean authorities”.
“We call for a peaceful resolution to the situation, in accordance with the law and the constitution of the Republic of Korea,” said Ms West.
South Korea’s democracy was tested – and its people rose to the occasion
People power appears to have prevailed in South Korea, defanging a last ditch attempt by a beleaguered lame duck president to declare martial law.
President Yoon’s gambit has backfired spectacularly.
His bombshell announcement late at night led not to a swift imposition of military rule, but instead galvanised popular opposition.
Protesters raced to the country’s parliament allowing MPs inside to vote to overturn the rogue president’s martial law plan.
There was a tense standoff between protesters and police but no violence.
The swift response seized the initiative from the president who was left with little option but to backdown. He now faces investigation by his political opponents along with his minister for national defence who they say was also complicit.
President Yoon may be familiar to some from a viral video showing him crooning American Pie in a soft soothing baritone in an impromptu performance in the White House.
He was not a conventional political performer and has been embroiled in deepening political difficulty since his party lost its parliamentary majority in this year’s elections.
He is now in a world of political pain as he prepares to pay the price for his extraordinarily rash move.
South Korea itself emerges from the episode with less to worry about.
It may have been unnerving, but the constitution, the parliament and the people appear to have weathered the storm and risen to the moment.
South Korea’s democracy has been tested and proven resilient in an unprecedentedly challenging few hours.
Scandals and a government in crisis
Since taking office in 2022, President Yoon has struggled to push his agenda against an opposition-controlled parliament.
His conservative People Power Party has been in a deadlock with the liberal Democratic Party over next year’s budget.
Ministers protested the move on Monday by the Democratic Party to slash more than four trillion won (approximately £2.1bn) from the government’s proposal.
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Crowds gather outside South Korean parliament
Image: Pic: AP
Mr Yoon said that action undermines the essential functioning of government administration.
The president has also dismissed calls for independent investigations into scandals involving his wife and top officials, which has drawn criticism from his political rivals.
Security and defence analyst Professor Michael Clarke told Sky News the government in South Korea has been in “crisis” for a couple of years.
Image: The president made the martial law announcement on Tuesday night. Pic: AP
“Yoon has been leading a minority government for some time, against him the Democratic Party have just frustrated whatever he has tried to do,” Clarke said.
“He has decided to get ahead of his opposition by creating this move.
“The last thing that liberal democracy needs at the moment is one of the democracies of Asia turning into a short-term dictatorship, so I think this is only a short-term parliamentary manoeuvre, but it may turn out to be more.”
Martial law is typically temporary, but can continue indefinitely. It is most often declared in times of war and/or emergencies such as civil unrest and natural disasters.
South Korea’s previous period of martial law was in October 1979.
Worldwide stock markets have plummeted for the second day running as the fallout from Donald Trump’s global tariffs continues.
While European and Asian markets suffered notable falls, American indexes were the worst hit, with Wall Street closing to a sea of red on Friday following Thursday’s rout – the worst day in US markets since the COVID-19 pandemic.
All three of the US’s major indexes were down by more than 5% at market close; The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 5.5%, the S&P 500 was 5.97% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 5.82%.
The Nasdaq was also 22% below its record-high set in December, which indicates a bear market.
Ever since the US president announced the tariffs on Wednesday evening, analysts estimate that around $4.9trn (£3.8trn) has been wiped off the value of the global stock market.
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Mr Trump has remained unapologetic as the markets struggle, posting in all-caps on Truth Social before the markets closed that “only the weak will fail”.
The UK’s leading stock market, the FTSE 100, also suffered its worst daily drop in more than five years, closing 4.95% down, a level not seen since March 2020.
And the Japanese exchange Nikkei 225 dropped by 2.75% at end of trading, down 20% from its recent peak in July last year.
Image: US indexes had the worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. Pic: Reuters
Trump holds trade deal talks – reports
It comes as a source told CNN that Mr Trump has been in discussions with Vietnamese, Indianand Israelirepresentatives to negotiate bespoke trade deals that could alleviate proposed tariffs on those countries before a deadline next week.
The source told the US broadcaster the talks were being held in advance of the reciprocal levies going into effect next week.
Vietnam faced one of the highest reciprocal tariffs announced by the US president this week, with 46% rates on imports. Israeli imports face a 17% rate, and Indian goods will be subject to 26% tariffs.
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China – hit with 34% tariffs on imported goods – has also announced it will issue its own levy of the same rate on US imports.
Mr Trump said China “played it wrong” and “panicked – the one thing they cannot afford to do” in another all-caps Truth Social post earlier on Friday.
Later, on Air Force One, the US president told reporters that “the beauty” of the tariffs is that they allow for negotiations, referencing talks with Chinese company ByteDance on the sale of social media app TikTok.
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Tariffs: Xi hits back at Trump
He said: “We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say, ‘We’ll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariffs?’
“The tariffs give us great power to negotiate. They always have.”
Global financial markets gave a clear vote of no-confidence in President Trump’s economic policy.
The damage it will do is obvious: costs for companies will rise, hitting their earnings.
The consequences will ripple throughout the global economy, with economists now raising their expectations for a recession, not only in the US, but across the world.
The court ruled to uphold the impeachment saying the conservative leader “violated his duty as commander-in-chief by mobilising troops” when he declared martial law.
The president was also said to have taken actions “beyond the powers provided in the constitution”.
Image: Demonstrators stayed overnight near the constitutional court. Pic: AP
Supporters and opponents of the president gathered in their thousands in central Seoul as they awaited the ruling.
The 64-year-old shocked MPs, the public and international allies in early December when he declared martial law, meaning all existing laws regarding civilians were suspended in place of military law.
Image: The court was under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement. Pic: AP
After suddenly declaring martial law, Mr Yoon sent hundreds of soldiers and police officers to the National Assembly.
He has argued that he sought to maintain order, but some senior military and police officers sent there have told hearings and investigators that Mr Yoon ordered them to drag out politicians to prevent an assembly vote on his decree.
His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December, accusing him of rebellion.
The unanimous verdict to uphold parliament’s impeachment and remove Mr Yoon from office required the support of at least six of the court’s eight justices.
South Korea must hold a national election within two months to find a new leader.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, is the early favourite to become the country’s next president, according to surveys.