Yoon lifts martial law order after backlash

Dec 04, 2024, 09:03 am

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A screen shows President Yoon Suk-yeol announcing the lifting of the declaration of martial law at the presidential office in Seoul on Dec. 4, 2024./

AsiaToday reporter Hong Sun-mi

President Yoon Suk-yeol early Wednesday lifted the martial law he imposed hours earlier.

Yoon lifted the martial law about six hours after he declared it, responding to the National Assembly’s resolution to revoke the law.

“Last night at 11 p.m., I declared emergency martial law with a resolute determination to save the nation in response to anti-state forces seeking to paralyze the essential functions of the state and undermine the constitutional order of liberal democracy. However, following the National Assembly’s demand for lifting martial law, I have withdrawn military forces deployed for martial law operations,” Yoon said in the address. He announced the decision at approximately 4:20 a.m.

“We will immediately accept the demand of the National Assembly through a Cabinet meeting and lift martial law,” he said.

“However, we immediately convened a cabinet meeting, but since it is dawn, the quorum of the decision has not been met yet, so we will lift martial law as soon as they come,” he said.

Yet, the president urged the Assembly “to immediately stop reckless acts such as repeated impeachments, legislative manipulations and budgetary disruptions that are paralyzing the functions of the state.”

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