South Korean prez announces martial law, lifts after six hours
04-Dec-2024 07:53 AM 4783
Seoul, Dec 4 (Reporter) About six hours after clamping an emergency martial law, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol announced lifting of the stringent provision early on Wednesday, abiding by a unanimous parliamentary resolution calling for its end. Yoon’s cabinet, which had late Tuesday night approved his decision to impose martial law, okayed a motion to end its enforcement Wednesday at 4-30 a.m. South Korean time. Yoon had made the surprise emergency declaration through a television address around 11 p.m. on Tuesday, plunging the East Asian country into turmoil. The decision came after the opposition Democratic Party railroaded a downsized budget bill in the parliamentary budget committee, and submitted impeachment motions against a state auditor and the chief prosecutor, Yonhap News Agency (YNA). However, both the ruling People Power Party and the opposition confronted the president on his announcement. While People Power Party chief Han Dong-hoon called the President's declaration of martial law as "wrong", the opposition Democratic Party dubbed the announement as "unconstitutional, anti-public." Some hours after Yoon's announcement, lawmakers voted to block the president's move, after both the ruling party and opposition vowed to obstruct the declaration, despite the troops moving into the parliament building while some military vehicles were parked outside, BBC reported. Of the 300 members of parliament, 190 were present and all 190 voted in favour of the motion demanding the lifting of martial law. With the motion's passage, the martial law declaration was void, as under the Constitution, martial law must be lifted when a parliamentary majority demands it. Yoon, in his television address, had accused the nation's opposition of "paralysing" the government with "anti-state" activities cy. However, as he withdrew martial law, Yoon said he had enforced it “with my resolute intent to save the nation in the face of anti-state forces that attempt to paralyze the nation's essential function”. "But there was a demand from the National Assembly for the lifting of martial law, (I) have withdrawn troops mobilized to execute martial law affairs," he said, according to YNA. Yoon reiterated his calls for the National Assembly to stop "outrageous" activities that he said paralyse national functions, including impeachment attempts against government officials...////...
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