South Korea declares martial law, cites threats from North Korea and domestic opposition

In a dramatic turn of events, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared emergency martial law on Tuesday, citing severe threats from North Korea's communist forces and internal anti-state elements. This unprecedented move was announced during a live televised address.

"To safeguard a liberal South Korea from the threats posed by North Korea's communist forces and to eliminate anti-state elements plundering people's freedom and happiness, I hereby declare emergency martial law," President Yoon stated emphatically.

The declaration comes amid escalating tensions in the South Korean parliament, where the opposition has been accused of paralyzing governance. "The opposition party has paralysed governance solely for the sake of impeachments, special investigations, and shielding their leader from justice," Yoon added.

Yoon's People Power Party has been embroiled in a bitter dispute with the opposition Democratic Party over the budget for the coming year. The opposition recently passed a drastically reduced budget, cutting approximately 4.1 trillion won ($2.8 billion) from Yoon's proposed 677 trillion won budget. The cuts target crucial areas, including the government’s reserve fund and budgets for Yoon’s office, the prosecution, police, and the state audit agency.

"Our National Assembly has become a haven for criminals, a den of legislative dictatorship that seeks to paralyze the judicial and administrative systems and overturn our liberal democratic order," Yoon charged.

In response to the opposition's actions, Yoon, a former prosecutor, accused them of undermining national security by cutting essential budgets for combatting drug crimes and maintaining public security, effectively "turning the country into a drug haven and a state of public safety chaos."

The imposition of martial law includes orders for all military units in the South to strengthen their emergency alert and readiness postures. The entrance to the National Assembly has been sealed, and MPs have been barred from entering the building, according to Yonhap news agency.

Yoon justified the martial law as "inevitable to guarantee the continuity of a liberal South Korea," assuring that it would not impact the country's foreign policy. "I will restore the country to normalcy by getting rid of anti-state forces as soon as possible," he declared, although he did not provide specific details on the measures to be taken.

This move comes as Yoon's approval rating plummeted to 19 percent in the latest Gallup poll, with widespread dissatisfaction over his handling of the economy and controversies involving his wife, Kim Keon Hee.

The imposition of martial law marks a critical juncture in South Korea’s political landscape, heightening uncertainty and raising concerns about the future of its democratic institutions.