South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol said Wednesday martial law would be lifted and troops withdrawn, hours after he made the shock declaration.
"Just a moment ago, there was a demand from the National Assembly to lift the state of emergency, and we have withdrawn the military that was deployed for martial law operations. We will accept the National Assembly's request and lift the martial law through the Cabinet meeting," Yoon said in a televised address.
South Korea's cabinet approved a motion to lift martial law, Yonhap news agency reported. The report came minutes after President Yoon Suk Yeol announced that he had withdrawn his bid to impose martial law, and that cabinet was required to lift it.
All political activities were to be banned in South Korea following this decision and all media will be subject to government monitoring, martial law commander Park An-su said in a statement.
"All political activities, including those of the National Assembly, local councils, political parties, and political associations, as well as assemblies and demonstrations, are strictly prohibited," he said, adding: "All media and publications shall be subject to the control of the Martial Law Command."
South Korea's National Assembly was briefly sealed according to the country's Yonhap news agency reported. Helicopters were seen landing on the roof of the building in Seoul, in live television footage aired by broadcasters.
South Korea's opposition leader Lee Jae-myung denounced the martial law decision as "illegal" and had called on the public to gather at the parliament in protest.
"President Yoon Suk Yeol's illegal imposition of martial law is invalid," said Lee, who narrowly lost to Yoon in the 2022 election, during a live stream. "Please come to the National Assembly now. I am heading there as well," he added, urging citizens to join him in opposing the martial law.
The White House said it was "closely" monitoring the situation in US ally South Korea, "the Administration is in contact with the ROK government and is monitoring the situation closely," a spokesman for the National Security Council said, using the official acronym for the Republic of Korea, where thousands of US troops are based.
The surprise move comes as Yoon's People Power Party and the main opposition Democratic Party continue to bicker over next year's budget bill. Opposition MPs last week approved a significantly downsized budget plan through a parliamentary committee.
"Our National Assembly has become a haven for criminals, a den of legislative dictatorship that seeks to paralyze the judicial and administrative systems and overturn our liberal democratic order," Yoon said.
He accused opposition lawmakers of cutting "all key budgets essential to the nation's core functions, such as combatting drug crimes and maintaining public security... turning the country into a drug haven and a state of public safety chaos."
Yoon went on to label the opposition, which holds a majority in the 300-member parliament, as "anti-state forces intent on overthrowing the regime" and called his decision "inevitable".
"I will restore the country to normalcy by getting rid of anti-state forces as soon as possible."
With AFP
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