Martial Law lifted in South Korean, People relieved from Military rule

South Koreans woke up with a bit of relief this morning, at the news Yoon had accepted that his bid for military rule had been overturned.

Yoon announced he would lift the martial law order after lawmakers unanimously rejected his decree, just hours after his surprising late night address on Tuesday.

For many here in South Korea, the declaration of martial law brings back memories of 1980, a time of military rule.

One person on social media posted "I just woke up and heard the news, and I was panicked".

"I didn't expect to see martial law in real life," another said.The lifting of martial law gives a reprieve for now - but many are still pondering the question: what will happen next?

Leadership of the People Power Party, Yoon's political party, is having an emergency meeting this morning to discuss their next moves following last night's chaos, according to South Korean media.

The closed-door meeting, assembled at 7am local time (10pm GMT), is chaired by the party's leader Han Dong-hoon. According to major broadcaster MBC, the majority of the party's supreme council members have agreed to demand that Yoon leave the party "in order to protect the spirit of the Constitution"

The meeting also agreed to demand the resignations of all State Council members who failed to prevent the martial law, as well as the dismissal of Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun, who reportedly proposed the idea.

South Korean protesters hold a banner that read "we condemn Yoon Suk Yeol's illegal martial law" during a rally

Even after President Yoon Suk-yeol lifted the declaration of martial law, protests continued outside the National Assembly in Seoul's Yeongdeungpo District.

Angry citizens filled the streets, chanting, "Arrest Yoon Suk Yeol".

But despite the previous night's headline-making events, there was also surprising normalcy in South Korea this morning.

Schools across the country opened as usual, with the Ministry of Education announcing late last night that all classes and activities would proceed as usual.

Government services, including at courts and district offices, are also operating without disruption, and banks remain open.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States had "watched closely" developments in South Korea over the past 24 hours, urging calm as pressure on Yoon continues to build.

"We continue to expect political disagreements to be resolved peacefully and in accordance with the rule of law," Blinken said in a statement.

Washington appears to have been blindsided by President Yoon's declaration of martial law, with the White House earlier saying it was "relieved" at its reversal

President Yoon Suk Yeol's staff have offered to resign en masse following his short-lived decision to declare a state of martial law on Tuesday, according to Yonhap News.

President Yoon himself is yet to make a public appearance.

South Korea's Kospi index is down more than 1% in morning trading after the country's finance ministry said it stood ready to support financial markets.

The won has been recovering after overnight losses of more than 1% against the US dollar.

"All financial, FX markets as well as stock markets will operate normally," a goverment statement said.

"We will inject unlimited liquidity into stocks, bonds, short-term money market as well as forex market for the time being until they are fully normalised."

That announcement came after President Yoon Suk Yeol's move to lift a martial law declaration he imposed overnight.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Korea is also reportedly holding an unplanned meeting which was abruptly scheduled for this morning.

Elsewhere in the region markets were mixed. Japan’s Nikkei 225, external was trading 0.3% higher and Australia's ASX 200 was down 0.4%.

The entrance to South Korea’s National Assembly remains heavily guarded by police, and journalists must present identification to gain access.

The atmosphere is much calmer compared to the previous night’s chaos, though a small group of protesters continues to chant, “President Yoon should step down.”

Earlier, two elderly men attempted to force their way into the assembly, questioning why they were being denied entry, but they were immediately stopped by the police.

Inside the main building, lawmakers are condemning President Yoon to the journalists who have gathered here to keep an eye on today's events

Protests are starting in South Korea as the country wakes up hours after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol lifted the martial law order.

They're demanding Yoon resigns for making the decision to briefly declare martial law.

Protesters are gathering in Seoul holding signs in near-freezing temperatures that are hovering around -1 degree Celsius.

President Yoon Suk Yeol's morning schedule for Wednesday has been cancelled, according to an official from his office.

Yoon had previously been due to preside over a meeting at 10:00 local time, but has now withdrawn from the event.

He is yet to make a public appearance since declaring martial law on Tuesday, and opposition lawmakers have signalled their intention to put forward a bill to potentially impeach him in the coming hours if he doesn't resign.

Cho Kuk, the leader of the Rebuilding Korea Party, stands in front of the National Assembly to address citizens about the emergency martial law incident that takes place there today. Leader Jo explains that by the morning of December 4, 2024, in Seoul, South Korea, he will submit an impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk-yeol.

Cho Kuk, the leader of the Rebuilding Korea Party, stands in front of the National Assembly to address citizens .South Korea's main opposition party has called on President Yoon Suk Yeol to resign or face impeachment, following his decision to briefly declare martial law in the democratic nation.

"It was clearly revealed to the entire nation that President Yoon could no longer run the country normally. He should step down," Park Chan-dae, a senior member of the Democratic Party, said in a statement, according to Reuters.

As we reported earlier, a group of approximately 40 South Korean lawmakers could put forward a bill to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol as soon as Wednesday, according to the Yonhap news agency.

One of South Korea's largest labour unions - the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) - has called on its members to strike until President Yoon Suk Yeol resigns.

In a post on Facebook, the KCTU described Yoon's short-lived declaration of martial law as a "crime of insurrection", while calling on its more than 1 million members to gather in Seoul and other regional locations on Wednesday morning, to oppose the move.

"Yoon Suk-yeol has chosen the irrational and anti-democratic method of martial law to extend his political life as he has been driven to the edge," the group said in an earlier statement.

"The people will not forgive this. They remember the fate of regimes that declared martial law," it added.

Daniel Russel, an American diplomat, has told the BBC that North Korea is likely to take advantage of the political instability caused by President Yoon Suk Yeol's shock announcement of martial law.

Yoon had initially said the move was necessary to protect the country from North Korea's communist forces and to eliminate "anti-state elements".

Russel, the former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said this claim had been "pretty far-fetched".

"But you can be awfully certain that now North Korea is in fact licking its chops that it’s going to take advantage of any and all political instability and turmoil in the south," he said.

He added that "political turbulence and more demonstrations" were to be expected in the country, as it "wrestles with either an impeachment or conceivably President Yoon stepping down".

President Yoon's declaration of martial law was a "legal overreach and a political miscalculation", according to Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.

Easley went on to say: "For South Korea’s domestic politics and international reputation, this may be more damaging than January 6th" - referencing when rioters smashed through barricades and ransacked the US Capitol in 2021 with the goal of stopping the certification of Joe Biden's presidential election.

"With extremely low public support and without strong backing within his own party and administration, the president should have known how difficult it would be to implement his late-night decree," Easley said of Yoon.

"He sounded like a politician under siege, making a desperate move against mounting scandals, institutional obstruction, and calls for impeachment, all of which are now likely to intensify.

"North Korea will probably take a wait-and-see approach toward these events, but it cannot be ruled out that Pyongyang will attempt to exploit divisions in Seoul."

The protesters are still here, they've been here all night.

Within the last few hours, President Yoon has accepted that his bid for military rule has been overturned. That news was greeted with cheers from protesters here.

They say that they will remain for now and we’ve heard that more gatherings could be planned across Seoul.

The next thing that we’ve heard is that there may be proceedings underway to try to impeach President Yoon if he doesn’t stand down.

This is a South Korean leader whose career is now on the brink. It’s difficult to see how he survives this and the other big question that many people are asking is why did he do this?

This is already a deeply unpopular president, this is somebody who couldn’t get anything through parliament. So you can see the frustration, but this was a very drastic move that was never likely to work.

As we've seen, it was democratically overthrown. He didn't have the votes in parliament. So when it comes to this kind of a drastic move it's difficult to see the logic behind it.

The next key question is: what happens next - will he stand down or will he be impeached?

South Korean lawmakers are reportedly moving to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol for last night's events.

It wouldn't be the first time that a South Korean president is impeached, and comes less than 10 years after then-President Park Geun-hye was impeached after being accused of helping a friend commit extortion in 2016.

The country's impeachment process is relatively straightforward.

To do so, more than two-thirds of South Korea's 300-member National Assembly must vote to impeach - at least 201 votes.

Once the impeachment is approved, a trial is held before the Constitutional Court - a nine-member council that oversees South Korea's branches of government.

If six of the court's members vote to sustain the impeachment, the President is removed from office.In 2016, the impeachment was successful, with 234 MPs voting to oust President Park.

In 2004, another South Korean president, Roh Moo-hyun, was impeached and suspended for two months. The Constitutional Court later restored him to office.

The ruling People's Power Party has finished its hours-long general meeting - which took much longer than that of the opposition.

The leader of the party, Han Dong-hoon, said three issues were discussed: the full resignation of the cabinet, the dismissal of the defence minister, and requests that the President break away from the party.

The party members largely agreed on the first and second agenda items, but the third remains disputed. The party is closely monitoring the opposition party's insistence on the impeachment of the president, and the People's Power Party will hold another meeting this afternoon to discuss this and other issues.

The secretary general of South Korea's National Assembly has vowed to hold members of the military "legally responsible" for any "physical damage and illegal acts" which were carried out during President Yoon's short-lived declaration of martial law.

"Starting today, the Ministry of National Defense, police, etc. are completely prohibited from entering the National Assembly," Kim Min-ki said in a speech on Wednesday, according to the South Korean broadcaster MBC.

Min-ki said he would soon "disclose all CCTV footage" which captured any "illegal acts by martial law troops" who had entered the National Assembly following President Yoon's order.

He added that approximately 230 armed troops had entered the National Assembly grounds at least 24 times via helicopters in the short period before lawmakers voted to lift martial law.

Rarely do you get to speak to a member of parliament at 02:00 in the morning, and even more rarely do you get to speak to them when they’ve just – in effect – broken in to grounds of parliament.But that is what happened earlier on the BBC World Service's Newshour programme.

Hong Keewon is a national assembly member for the main opposition Democratic Party.

He told the BBC’s Tim Franks he had been asleep when the president made his late-night declaration of martial law. Hong’s wife woke him up to break the news.

Hong said he could not believe it at first. Then, he raced to the parliament.

When he got there, police were blocking the entrance. So he told protestors who he was, and they gave him a leg up to climb over the wall.

Inside the chamber of parliament, he said everyone was united. Even members of the president’s own party can’t believe what’s going on, he said.

“Democracy is strong here,” Hong insisted, adding:The military needs to listen to us, to the constitution, and not to the president."

Analysts are watching closely for signs of how the political uncertainty will affect Asia's fourth largest economy.

"We see the uncertainty surrounding the economy and politics remaining high and likely to dampen sentiment if the situation persists," said a note by Min Joo Kang, a senior economist with banking giant ING.

"We are concerned that these events could impact South Korea’s sovereign credit rating, although this is uncertain at this stage."Ratings affect how much it costs governments to borrow money in the international financial markets.

However, analysts also noted that the steps taken so far by the South Korean authorities could help soften the economic blow.

"The negative impact to the economy and financial market could be short-lived as uncertainties on political and economic environment could be quickly mitigated on the back of proactive policy response," said Jin-Wook Kim, chief Korea economist at investment bank Citigroup.

South Korea has grown considerably in recent decades to become one of Asia's most advanced economies. The International Monetary Fund expects it to grow 2.5% this year

South Korea has woken up to the aftermath of a turbulent night in politics - and we're still expecting a lot to happen today as the country figures out what will happen next.

Let's take a look at where things stand:

In a late-night TV address, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law in the democratic nation, arguing that the move was needed to protect the country from North Korean elements and "anti-state forces"

Less than two hours later, with 190 of its 300 members present, South Korea's parliament voted down the measure and ruled the martial law order invalid

Soon after, President Yoon reversed course and the martial law was lifted

Large demonstrations took place overnight outside the parliament, with many South Koreans expressing relief that the martial law announcement was taken back

Earlier this morning, Yoon's staff offered to resign en masse - although the president himself is yet to make a public appearance

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States, a key strategic and defence partner for South Korea, continues to expect "political disagreements to be resolved peacefully and in accordance with the rule of law"

The Chairman of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) has called on the country's military to focus on its duty to protect the public in the hours following President Yoon's short-lived decision to invoke martial law.

Kim, who is the nation's top general, made the remarks on Wednesday in an emergency meeting of key commanders, according to Yonhap News.

Kim also called on troops to maintain a "firm readiness posture" against North Korean threats amid the ongoing domestic crisis, Yonhap reported.