South Korea’s President Yoon declares emergency martial law
Al Jazeera
Parliament voted later in the evening requiring President Yoon to lift the martial law he declared earlier.
South Korea’s president has declared emergency martial law, accusing the opposition of antistate activities.
Entrance to the National Assembly was sealed on Tuesday and parliamentarians were barred from entering the building, according to local news outlet Yonhap.
While making the announcement in a late-night televised address, President Yoon Suk-yeol said he will rebuild a free and democratic country through martial law.
“To safeguard a liberal South Korea from the threats posed by North Korea’s communist forces and to eliminate antistate elements … I hereby declare emergency martial law,” Yoon said in a live televised address.
“This is an unavoidable measure to ensure the freedom and safety of the people and guarantee the sustainability of the nation against the unrest stirred by these subversive, antistate elements.