In a shocking development, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on late Tuesday night declared martial law across the country, stating that the move was necessary to eradicate “shameless pro-North Korean anti-state forces.”
In an unannounced late night national address broadcast live on YTN television, Yoon announced the decision to a stunned citizenry. It is the first time since 1980 that martial law has been declared in South Korea.
Under martial law, all political activities by parliament and political parties is now banned, and the media and publishers are now under the control of the martial law command.
Yoon did not cite any specific threat from the nuclear-armed North, instead focusing on his domestic political opponents.
The surprise move sent shockwaves through the country, which had a series of authoritarian leaders early in its history but has been considered democratic since the 1980s.
The economic impact of the decision is already visible with the Korean won falling sharply against the U.S. dollar. A central bank official has stated that the bank was preparing measures to stabilise the market if needed.
Justifying the decision, Yoon said he had no choice but to resort to such a measure in order to safeguard free and constitutional order, saying opposition parties have taken hostage of the parliamentary process to throw the country into a crisis.
“I declare martial law to protect the free Republic of Korea from the threat of North Korean communist forces, to eradicate the despicable pro-North Korean anti-state forces that are plundering the freedom and happiness of our people, and to protect the free constitutional order,” Yoon said.
Yoon did not immediately specify who constituted the pro-North Korean anti-state forces. But he has cited such forces in the past as hindering his agenda and undermining the country.
“Tanks, armored personnel carriers, and soldiers with guns and knives will rule the country,” Lee Jae-myung, leader of the opposition Democratic Party which has the majority in parliament, said in a livestream online. “The economy of the Republic of Korea will collapse irretrievably. My fellow citizens, please come to the National Assembly.”
Yoon cited a motion by the country’s opposition Democratic Party, which has a majority in parliament, this week to impeach some of the country’s top prosecutors and its rejection of a government budget proposal.
South Korea’s ministers on Monday protested the move by the opposition DP last week to slash more than 4 trillion won from the government’s budget proposal. Yoon said that action undermines the essential functioning of government administration.
(with Agency inputs)
