South Korea president to lift martial law order after parliament voted to block it
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But in a U-turn, Mr Yoon said martial law command forces have withdrawn and a cabinet meeting will be held as soon as possible.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.
South Korea martial law: Follow latest updates
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.
Soldiers at the National Assembly compound in Seoul. Pic: Newsis/AP
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]”.
Staff in parliament barricaded doors to stop soldiers entering. Pic: Reuters
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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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
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.
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.
World
‘Widespread sexual violence’ took place during Hamas’s 7 October attacks, report by Israeli experts says
A newly released report led by Israeli legal and gender experts presents detailed evidence alleging “widespread and systematic” sexual violence during the Hamas-led terror attack on 7 October.
Warning: This story contains descriptions of rape and sexual violence
The findings, published by the Dinah Project, argue that these acts amount to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), and assert that “Hamas used sexual violence as a tactical weapon of war”.
The report draws on 18 months of investigation and is based on survivor testimonies, eyewitness accounts, and interviews with first responders, morgue personnel and healthcare professionals.
According to the Dinah Project, the documented patterns – such as forced nudity, gang rapes, genital mutilation, and threats of forced marriage – indicate a deliberate and coordinated use of sexual violence by Hamas operatives during the attack.
Reported incidents span at least six locations, including the Nova music festival, and several kibbutzim in southern Israel.
A destroyed car near the police station in Sderot, following the 7 October attacks by Hamas. Pic: AP
One section of the report describes victims “found fully or partially naked from the waist down, with their hands tied behind their backs and/or to structures such as trees and poles, and shot”.
At the Nova music festival and surrounding areas, the investigators found “reasonable grounds to believe” that multiple women were raped or gang-raped before being killed.
The report’s findings are consistent with earlier investigations by the United Nations and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Read more:
What is the possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal?
Israeli soldier describes arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza
The UN’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict previously concluded that there were “reasonable grounds to believe” CRSV took place during the attack.
Destroyed vehicles near the grounds of the Supernova electronic music festival. Pic: AP
Significantly, the Dinah Project urges the international community to officially recognise the use of sexual violence by Hamas as a deliberate strategy of war and calls on the United Nations to add Hamas to its list of parties responsible for conflict-related sexual violence.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
The nature and scale of sexual violence on 7 October have been a subject of intense controversy, with some accusing parties of weaponising the narrative for political ends.
This report seeks to confront what its authors call “denial, misinformation, and global silence,” and to provide justice for the victims.
Hamas has denied that its fighters have used sexual violence and mistreated female hostages.
World
Israeli soldiers ‘psychologically broken’ after ‘confronting the reality’ in Gaza, UN expert says
A UN expert has said some young soldiers in the Israeli Defence Forces are being left “psychologically broken” after “confront[ing] the reality among the rubble” when serving in Gaza.
Francesca Albanese, the UN Human Rights Council’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, was responding to a Sky News interview with an Israeli solider who described arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza.
She told The World with Yalda Hakim that “many” of the young people fighting in Gaza are “haunted by what they have seen, what they have done”.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Ms Albanese said. “This is not a war, this is an assault against civilians and this is producing a fracture in many of them.
“As that soldier’s testimony reveals, especially the youngest among the soldiers have been convinced this is a form of patriotism, of defending Israel and Israeli society against this opaque but very hard felt enemy, which is Hamas.
“But the thing is that they’ve come to confront the reality among the rubble of Gaza.”
An Israeli soldier directs a tank near the border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel. Pic: AP
Being in Gaza is “probably this is the first time the Israeli soldiers are awakening to this,” she added. “And they don’t make sense of this because their attachment to being part of the IDF, which is embedded in their national ideology, is too strong.
“This is why they are psychologically broken.”
Jonathan Conricus, a former IDF spokesman who is now a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, said he believes the Sky News interview with the former IDF solider “reflects one part of how ugly, difficult and horrible fighting in a densely populated, urban terrain is”.
“I think [the ex-soldier] is reflecting on how difficult it is to fight in such an area and what the challenges are on the battlefield,” he said.
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Ex-IDF spokesperson: ‘No distinction between military and civilians’
‘An economy of genocide’
Ms Albanese, one of dozens of independent UN-mandated experts, also said her most recent report for the human rights council has identified “an economy of genocide” in Israel.
The system, she told Hakim, is made up of more than 60 private sector companies “that have become enmeshed in the economy of occupation […] that have Israel displace the Palestinians and replace them with settlers, settlements and infrastructure Israel runs.”
Israel has rejected allegations of genocide in Gaza, citing its right to defend itself after Hamas’s attack on 7 October 2023.
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‘Israel has shifted towards economy of genocide’
The companies named in Ms Albanese’s report are in, but not limited to, the financial sector, big tech and the military industry.
“These companies can be held responsible for being directed linked to, or contributing, or causing human rights impacts,” she said. “We’re not talking of human rights violations, we are talking of crimes.”
“Some of the companies have engaged in good faith, others have not,” Ms Albanese said.
Read more:
Israeli soldier describes arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza
British surgeons on life in Gaza
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
The companies she has named include American technology giant Palantir, which has issued a statement to Sky News.
It said it is “not true” that Palantir “is the (or a) developer of the ‘Gospel’ – the AI-assisted targeting software allegedly used by the IDF in Gaza, and that we are involved with the ‘Lavender’ database used by the IDF for targeting cross-referencing”.
“Both capabilities are independent of and pre-ate Palantir’s announced partnership with the Israeli Defence Ministry,” the statement added.
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