2 months ago
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President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea declared emergency martial law on Tuesday, accusing the opposition of plotting “insurgency” and “trying to overthrow the free democracy.”
It was the first time a South Korean president had declared martial law since the military dictatorship ended in the country in the late 1980s. Mr. Yoon, who was elected president in 2022, has been in a near-constant political standoff with the opposition, which controls Parliament.
In a nationally televised speech on Tuesday night, Mr. Yoon denounced the opposition for repeatedly using its majority in the National Assembly to impeach members of his cabinet and block the passage of his government’s budget plans.
This has “paralyzed the administration,” Mr. Yoon said. “The National Assembly, which should have been the foundation of free democracy, has become a monster that destroys it.”
This is a developing story.
In a livestream on Tuesday night, Lee Jae-myung, the South Korean opposition leader, asked citizens to congregate at the National Assembly while on his way there himself. “There is no reason to declare martial law. We cannot let the military rule this country,” he said. “President Yoon Seok Yeol has betrayed the people. President Yoon’s illegal declaration of emergency martial law is null and void. From this moment on, Mr. Yoon is no longer the president of South Korea.”
President Yoon, during an unannounced address to the nation, claimed that the situation of his country was made so precarious by what he called “pro-North Korean and anti-state forces” that “it was like a candle before a storm.”
“I am declaring martial law to protect a free South Korea from the North Korean communist forces, eliminate shameless pro-North Korean and anti-state forces that prey upon the freedom and happiness of our people, and protect the free constitutional order,” he said. “I will rebuild and protect South Korea from ruin and despair through martial law.”
