Pressmediaofindia
Related Articles
04-12-2024
SEOUL: South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol says he will lift the martial law order that he had announced in a surprise move.
Less than two hours after his martial law declaration, MPs had defied the president, gathering at the National Assembly and voting to block his move.
Some broke through barricades or climbed fences to get inside the building; there were scuffles between police and protesters outside.
Demonstrators who had gathered outside parliament to protest the sudden introduction of military rule are now celebrating its equally sudden reversal.
Yoon is mired in controversy and has been a lame duck president since the last general election, writes Jake Kwon in Seoul.
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.
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 government 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 normalized.”
That announcement came after President Yoon Suk Yeol’s move to lift a martial law declaration he imposed overnight. (Int’l News Desk)
