South Korea president’s aides offer to resign en masse – as it happened | South Korea

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Here is a quick summary of recent developments:

• President Yoon is facing mounting calls to step down after he declared martial law in a surprise, late-night address on Tuesday, a severe measure he said was necessary to safeguard the country’s liberal democracy from “anti-state forces” and “threats posed by North Korea”. Within hours Yoon had backtracked, saying that troops would return to their barracks and the order would be lifted after a cabinet meeting.

• The main opposition Democratic party has said it will attempt to impeach Yoon if he refuses to tender his resignation immediately. Even Yoon’s own aides have offered to resign “en masse”.

• Yoon’s martial law order included a six-point decree that banned political activities and parties, “false propaganda”, strikes and “gatherings that incite social unrest”. The order also brought all media outlets under the authority of martial law and directed all medical staff, including striking doctors, to return to work within 48 hours.

• The move was met with vociferous condemnation and widely defied. Despite the deployment of troops and helicopters on the roof of the parliament building, 190 lawmakers managed to enter the building and proceeded to unanimously vote to reject Yoon’s declaration and call for martial law to be lifted. On the streets, hundreds protested, and chanted for the president to be arrested.

• To successfully impeach Yoon, a two-thirds majority is required in the legislature.

• Opposition parties together control 192 of the 300 seats in the national assembly, so would need lawmakers from Yoon’s own party to join them.

• This the first time that martial law has been declared in South Korea in more than four decades, alarming allies. The United States, which stations nearly 30,000 troops in South Korea to protect it from the nuclear-armed North, initially voiced deep concern at the declaration, then relief that martial law was over. The UK Foreign Office’s minister for the Indo-Pacific, Catherine West, issued a statement, calling for “a peaceful resolution to the situation, in accordance with the law and the constitution of the Republic of Korea”.

• To many watching from outside, the sudden political chaos appears to have come out of nowhere. But inside South Korea, Democratic party lawmaker Kim Min-seok had warned in recent months that Yoon was gearing up to declare martial law. Korea analysts say concerns had grown after several key military positions, related to defence, counterintelligence, and information on North Korea had been filled by individuals who graduated from the same school as the president. Opposition figures such as Kim suggested these figures could play a critical role in enforcing martial law in a contingency.

The leader of South Korea’s ruling People Power Party Han Dong-hoon called on Wednesday for Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun to be fired and the entire cabinet to resign, after President Yoon Suk-Yeol declared martial law only to reverse the move hours later, according to Reuters.

Han told reporters he also suggested Yoon be kicked out of the party, but ruling party lawmakers had various views.

Arresting images of the short-lived martial law declaration show how the turmoil unfolded outside of parliament and in the streets of Seoul last night.

The Guardian’s reporter in Seoul, Raphael Rashid, here with the latest wrap up of events.

To many outside of South Korea, the sudden, and short-lived declaration of martial law by President Yoon last night came out of nowhere.

But inside South Korea, politicians such as Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Min-seok recently warned of this very event:

This August Kim reportedly told a Supreme Council meeting: “I have well-founded reasons to believe that the conservative Yoon administration is drawing up a contingency plan to declare martial law.”

Concerns had grown after several key military positions, related to defence, counterintelligence, and information on North Korea had been filled by individuals who graduated from the same school as the president.

Opposition figures such as Kim suggested these figures could play a critical role in enforcing martial law in a contingency.

In September Kim held a press conference reiterating his fears.

Jamie Doucette, a lecturer from Manchester University, who focuses on developments in South Korea told the Guardian that many dismissed the claims at the time.

“Kim warned that Yoon might create a situation in which he could easily declare martial law, using the pretext of a public security situation created by ‘pro–North Korean forces,’” he said.

“I think it was easy for many to ignore Kim’s warning. For Yoon frequently uses this type of red-baiting language,” he added.

Yoon’s August 2023 Liberation Day speech, for example, declared that the ‘the forces of communist totalitarianism have always disguised themselves as democracy activists, human rights advocates, or progressive activists while engaging in despicable and unethical tactics and false propaganda”.

On Wednesday morning though, it was clear Kim’s warnings were prescient.

Even Korea’s deeply conservative Choson Ilbo newspaper declared that “Kim Min-seok was right”.

For the last month, students and professors at universities across the country had also been issuing statements condemning Yoon and calling for his impeachment, noted Doucette.

“So, there was a sense that something was up,” said Doucette, “But perhaps the episode raises the question of why more people didn’t see it coming or weren’t effectively listened to.”

Senior aides working for South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol offered to resign en masse on Wednesday, the Yonhap news agency reported, after Yoon declared and then revoked martial law overnight.

“Yoon’s senior aides offer to resign en masse over martial law declaration,” Yonhap said, without giving further details.

The president’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP about the report.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday welcomed South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s decision to lift martial law just hours after he imposed it, as reported by AFP.

“We welcome President Yoon’s statement that he would rescind the order declaring emergency martial law in accordance with the ROK Constitution, after the National Assembly’s unanimous vote to reject the declaration,” Blinken said, using the acronym for South Korea’s formal name.

“We continue to expect political disagreements to be resolved peacefully and in accordance with the rule of law.”

President Yoon Suk Yeol, a member of the conservative People Power party, is two years into his single five-year term as president, meaning he can not run again.

But his term could end much earlier.

The main opposition Democratic party has said it will attempt to impeach Yoon if he refuses to step down.

Opposition parties together control 192 seats, so would need lawmakers from Yoon’s own party to join them to attain the required two-thirds majority in the legislature.

“We will not sit idly by and watch President Yoon’s crime of destroying the constitution and trampling on democracy,” the Democratic party said. “President Yoon should immediately resign voluntarily.”

If the national assembly votes to impeach Yoon, the decision must then be upheld by at least six out of nine judges on the country’s constitutional court.

If he is removed from office, Yoon would become only the second South Korean president since the country became a democracy to have met that fate. The other was Park Geun-hye, who was removed in 2017. Ironically, Yoon, the then prosecutor general, led the corruption case that precipitated Park’s downfall.

On the streets of Seoul of Wednesday morning, South Koreans have begun to gather to demand President Yoon Suk Yeol step aside after his sudden, and short-lived declaration of martial law.

Calls are also reportedly mounting from the country’s main opposition Democratic Party, the largest party in the 300-seat national assembly, which has said it will impeach Yoon if he refuses to resign.

Hello,

It’s almost 9am in Seoul and if you are just catching up on South Korea being plunged into political turmoil, this explainer about what has unfolded over the past few hours will help you quickly get up to speed.

Hours after the shock declaration in South Korea, newspapers across the political spectrum published scathing editorials about the martial law manoeuvres, says Raphael Rashid, the Guardian’s reporter in Seoul.

The conservative and influential Chosun Ilbo published a searing editorial this morning, which said Yoon’s martial law declaration “severely crossed the line” of acceptable political bounds, and demanded accountability. The editorial said legal requirements weren’t met and called it a “national embarrassment” for a top 10 democracy.

Meanwhile, the left-leaning Hankyoreh’s editorial framed Yoon’s martial law declaration as a “betrayal of the people”, expressing disbelief that “21st century Korea” could see an elected president use the same justification (“anti-state forces plotting insurrection”) as the military junta did 45 years ago. It said that Yoon had “lost the minimum judgment and rationality required of a head of state”.

South Korea’s largest umbrella labour union on Wednesday called an “indefinite general strike” until President Yoon Suk Yeol resigned, after he abandoned a short-lived attempt at martial law.

The 1.2 million-member Korean Confederation of Trade Unions accused Yoon of an “irrational and anti-democratic measure”, saying he had “declared the end of (his) own power”.

The leader of South Korea’s ruling party has described President Yoon Seok Yeol’s attempt to impose martial law as “tragic”, and called for those involved to be held accountable.

“The president must directly and thoroughly explain this tragic situation,” People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon told reporters in a televised broadcast on Wednesday, adding that “all those responsible must be held strictly accountable”.

South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol was elected in 2022 as a conservative political novice promising a tougher line on North Korea.

He has not had an easy ride, taking office with some of the lowest approval ratings of any democratically elected South Korean president.

Those ratings dropped even further to 19% in the latest Gallup poll last week, with many expressing dissatisfaction over his handling of the economy and controversies involving his wife, Kim Keon Hee.

In declaring martial law the South Korean leader accused the opposition of being “anti-state forces” and said he was acting to protect the country from “threats” posed by the North.

Born in Seoul in 1960, Yoon studied law and went on to become a star public prosecutor and anti-corruption crusader, playing an instrumental role in former president Park Geun-hye being convicted of abuse of power.

As the country’s top prosecutor in 2019, he also indicted a top aide of outgoing president Moon Jae-in in a fraud and bribery case that tarnished that administration’s image.

The conservative People Power Party (PPP), in opposition at the time, liked what they saw and convinced Yoon to become their presidential candidate.

He duly won in March 2022, beating Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party, but by the narrowest margin in South Korean history.

Yoon was never much loved, and a series of scandals – including his administration’s handling of a deadly Halloween crush of 2022 – have further eroded his popularity.

Critics have blamed Yoon’s administration for food inflation, a lagging economy, and increasing constraints on freedom of speech.

Yoon was earlier this year the subject of a petition calling for his impeachment, which proved so popular the parliamentary website hosting it experienced delays and crashes.

Raphael Rashid

Raphael Rashid, our reporter in Seoul, writes that this morning the feeling in South Korea is one of bafflement and sadness.

For the older generation who fought the streets against military dictatorships, martial law equals dictatorships, not 21st century Korea. The younger generation is embarrassed that he’s ruined their country’s reputation. People are baffled. Also everyone is wondering what his end goal was. Expedited impeachment is the word on people’s lips.