South Korea President Reverses Decision on Martial Law Within 6 Hours: Important Details to Note

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol issued a surprising edict late on Dec. 3 invoking martial law to quell what he said were anti-state forces in the opposition party, sparking a quick assembly of lawmakers in the nation’s Parliament to revoke the declaration in an early-morning session amid attempts by military personnel to halt their vote.

In approximately six hours, with 190 Parliament members voting to lift the order, the incident concluded.

Yoon announced on Dec. 4 local time that he would reverse his declaration.

“I have accepted the decision made by the National Assembly to dissolve and lift the martial law,” Yoon stated during a televised address from the presidential office in Yongsan.

“The troops deployed for martial law affairs have been withdrawn.”

Yoon made this announcement after South Korean lawmakers criticized the order, with some labeling it a “coup d’état,” and after clashes between protesters and troops outside the Parliament building in what analysts referred to as one of the country’s most significant political crises in decades.

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The incident also caused alarm worldwide, especially in the United States, which has considered South Korea an ally since the nation established a democratic government following the last military coup in the 1980s.

The Biden administration is closely monitoring the unfolding events in South Korea with “grave concern,” U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell told reporters before Yoon lifted the declaration on Dec. 4.

Here’s what we currently know about Yoon’s martial law declaration.

When the South Korean president declared martial law, he accused leaders in the opposing liberal Democratic Party of sympathizing with communist North Korea and engaging in “anti-state activities plotting rebellion.”

The president did not elaborate on the allegation and provided no specific evidence.

Yoon won the 2022 election by a narrow margin of less than 1% against Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party leader.

This year, Lee’s party regained majority control of South Korea’s Parliament and expressed disagreements over next year’s budget bill.

Democratic lawmakers also sought to impeach three top prosecutors, including those investigating Lee, who was accused and recently acquitted of allegedly instructing a witness to give false testimony in a 2019 trial related to an election law violation.

“Why are you provoking China?” Lee said at the time. “What does the Taiwan issue have to do with South Korea?”

Han Dong-hoon, the leader of Yoon’s conservative People Power Party (PPP), called the order “wrong” and promised to “stop it with the people.”

Kim Dong Yeon, the opposition Democratic Party governor of the Gyeonggi province, which surrounds Seoul, called the order an “atrocity” that has taken his country “back 45 years.”

“The people will block the president’s anti-constitutional step. The military must be on the side of the public in any case. Let’s resolutely oppose it,” Kim wrote in a post on X.

Hours later, after Parliament officially voted to lift the order, Kim said Yoon was no longer a “target of impeachment,” but a “target of arrest.”

“President Yoon Suk Yeol’s ‘2-hour coup’ has pushed the country to the edge of a cliff,” Kim said in a follow-up post on X. “In just a few hours, our economy has fluctuated greatly. An economy in ruins. A society in chaos.”

Yoon’s Political Struggles

After narrowly defeating Lee in the 2022 presidential election, Yoon has faced criticism domestically, with an approval rating hovering around 20 percent for months.

Yoon has had to deal with a Parliament controlled by the opposition party since he assumed office. His own PPP suffered a landslide loss in this year’s election, losing seats in the unicameral assembly.

Conservatives from the PPP alleged that members of the opposing Democratic Party were working against them in Parliament as political revenge for investigating Lee, who may run for president again in 2027.

Yoon and First Lady Kim Keon Hee were also accused of improperly influencing the PPP to select a specific candidate to run for a 2022 parliamentary by-election at the request of election broker Myung Tae-kyun.

Yoon recently denied wrongdoing in response to the accusations, which affected his approval ratings.

South Korea’s History of Martial Law

South Korea’s democratic history only dates back to the late 1980s, and martial law has remained a sensitive subject as past dictatorships repeatedly invoked it to quell opposition.

Several dictatorships emerged after South Korea rebuilt itself following the 1950–53 Korean War, with some leaders invoking martial law to position soldiers, armored vehicles, and tanks in public places and streets to quash political demonstrations.

In 1961, dictator Park Chung-hee led several thousand troops into Seoul during the early morning hours in the nation’s first successful coup d’état.

Park would rule South Korea for 20 years before his spy chief assassinated him in 1979. The dictator occasionally declared martial law to end protests and imprison his critics.

Less than two months after Park’s death, Maj. Gen. Chun Doo-hwan pushed a procession of troops and tanks into the nation’s capital in December 1979, instigating South Korea’s second successful coup.

After a pro-democracy movement arose in the southern city of Gwangju a year later, Chun directed his military to massacre at least 200 people.

Massive protests in the summer of 1987 forced Chun’s government to allow direct presidential elections, marking the start of South Korea’s democracy.

Resign or Face Impeachment

The opposition Democratic Party is calling on Yoon to resign or face impeachment.

“His martial law declaration was originally invalid and a grave violation of the constitution. It was a grave act of rebellion and provides perfect grounds for his impeachment.”

In South Korea, impeaching the president would require a two-thirds majority of the Parliament or 200 of its 300 members. The Democratic Party and other small opposition parties together have 192 seats.

Eighteen PPP lawmakers joined 172 lawmakers in a vote to overturn Yoon’s martial law declaration.

The Associated Press, Reuters, Andrew Thornebrooke, Eva Fu, and Frank



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