South Korea martial law: What happenes next?

South Korea’s leader shocked the nation on Tuesday night when, for the first time in almost 50 years, he unexpectedly declared martial law in the Eastern politics.

Yoon Suk Yeol’s major decision- announced in a late-night TV transmit- mentioned “anti-state forces” and the risk from North Korea.

But it quickly became clear that it had been spurred on by his own eager social problems rather than by external threats.

Despite this, thousands of people gathered at parliament to rally, while opposition lawmakers hurriedly moved to pass an emergency resolution to reduce the measure.

Defeated, Yoon emerged a few hours afterwards to take the legislature’s vote and pull the martial law order.

He now faces the possibility of being removed from his own group and possibly impeached.

According to observers, Yoon has behaved like a leader under assault.

Before declaring martial law to” love anti-state forces that have been wreaking havoc,” he recounted the political opponent’s attempts to undermine his government in his solve on Tuesday night.

His order placed a temporary order on the defense, with police and armoured soldiers stationed inside the parliament building where helicopters were seen ejecting from.

Local media even captured images of concealed, gun-toting soldiers entering the building as security personnel attempted to stop them with fire extinguisher.

The military issued a decree a day before midnight on Tuesday ( 14:00 GMT ), putting the media under the control of the military and putting the protests and political groups under siege.

But North Korean officials immediately called Yoon’s charter illegal and unconstitutional. The head of his own party, the traditional Women’s Power Party, also called Yoon’s action” the wrong move”.

Meanwhile, the leader of the country’s largest opposition party, Lee Jae-myung of the liberal Democratic Party, called on his MPs to converge on parliament to vote down the declaration.

He also demanded that regular South Koreans rally their presence at legislature.

” Vehicles, armoured personnel ships and men with guns and swords will rule the country… My fellow citizens, please come to the National Assembly”.

Hundreds heeded the telephone, rushing to obtain outside the then strongly guarded parliament. Demonstrators chanted:” No military law”! and” reach down dictatorship”.

Some tussles between protesters and officers at the doors were reported by the site’s local media outlet. But despite the military appearance, conflicts did not rise into crime.

And lawmakers were also able to make their way around the barricades – even climbing fences to make it to the voting chamber.

Soon after 01: 00 on Wednesday, South Korea’s legislature, with 190 of its 300 people there, voted down the estimate. President Yoon’s declaration of martial law was ruled illegitimate.

When legal specialists are deemed unable to work, martial law is temporary law by military forces in an evacuation.

The next day it was declared in South Korea was in 1979, when Park Chung-hee, the country’s then-long-term military dictator, was killed in a revolution.

Since the country’s transition to political democracy in 1987, it has never been invoked.

But on Tuesday, Yoon pulled that set, saying in a nationwide address he was trying to keep South Korea from “anti-state troops”.

Yoon, who has a considerably more skeptical attitude toward North Korea than his forebears, described the democratic opposition as sympathisers- without providing any proof.

Under martial law, extra powers are given to the military and there is often a suspension of civil rights for citizens and rule of law standards and protections.

Activists and lawmakers defied the military’s announcing restrictions on social activity and the media, despite those restrictions. And there was no indication of the authorities seizing control of complimentary media- Geographical, the national broadcaster, and various outlets kept reporting as standard.

Yoon was elected president in May 2022 as a conservative liberal, but he has been a pathetic bird since April when the opposition won a resounding majority in the region’s general election.

His government since then has not been able to pass the bills they wanted and have been reduced instead to vetoing bills passed by the liberal opposition.

He has also seen a fall in approval ratings – hovering around lows of 17% – as he has been mired in several corruption scandals this year, including one involving the First Lady accepting a Dior bag, and another around alleged stock manipulation.

Just last month he was forced to issue an apology on national TV, saying he was setting up an office overseeing the First Lady’s duties. But he rejected a wider investigation, which opposition parties had been calling for.

The opposition therefore suggested cutting a significant federal funds act, which cannot be vetoed, this year.

The opposition even moved to remove cabinet users and several major prosecutors, including the mind of the president’s inspection company, because they failed to properly evaluate the First Lady.

Yoon’s declaration caught many off guard and for a period of six hours South Koreans were in a state of confusion as to what the martial law order meant.

However, the opposition immediately gathered in parliament and had the figures to reject the declaration along with some Yoon’s Women’s Power party members.

And despite the heavy existence of police and soldiers in the capital, a military invasion did not occur.

The government may revoke martial law in South Korea if a majority in parliament votes in favor of it.

Additionally, it is against the law to arrest politicians under martial law.

What will happen now and what may happen to Yoon as a result?

According to reports, politicians are considering appointing him as leader.

This may involve more than two-thirds of the 300-member National Assembly to cast at least 201 votes in order for the impeachment to be a fairly simple process.

When the prosecution is approved, a test is held before the Constitutional Court- a nine-member committee that oversees South Korea’s branches of government.

If six of the prosecutor’s members vote to preserve the senate, the leader is removed from office.

If this happens, it wouldn’t be the earliest moment that a South Korean president has been impeached. In 2016, then-President Park Geun-hye was impeached after being accused of helping a friend committed blackmail.

In 2004 another leader, Roh Moo-hyun, was impeached and suspended for two decades. Eventually, he was reinstated by the Constitutional Court.

Yoon’s rash action has stunned the country – which views itself as a thriving, modern democracy that has come far since its dictatorship days.

That political world is facing the biggest challenge in years due to this, according to some.

According to experts, it may be worse than the US protests from January 6th, which would have hurt South Korea’s standing as a republic.

” Yoon’s declaration of martial law appeared to be both legal intrusion and a political misunderstanding, unnecessarily risking South Korea’s market and surveillance”, one professional, Leif-Eric Easley at Ewha University in Seoul said.

” He sounded like a lawmaker under siege, making a determined move against mounting crises, administrative barrier and calls for impeachment, all of which are then likely to deepen”.