South Korea President Yoon declares martial law

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday, Dec. 3 declared martial law, vowing to eradicate "shameless pro-North Korean anti-state forces" and restore order.

The martial law command issued a six-point proclamation that bans all political activities, assembly, and rallies and requires all news media and publishing to be under the control of the command. The command has also ordered all trainee doctors who have resigned in protest at a government healthcare reform plan to report back to work.

The parliament, surrounded by protesters and police, voted to lift the decree just hours later.

Martial law

South Korea's Constitution says the president can declare martial law when it is considered necessary to cope with a military threat or to maintain public safety and order by mobilizing military forces.

The president's martial law declaration must be reviewed by the cabinet.

When martial law is declared by the president, they must notify the National Assembly of the decision. The president must comply when the National Assembly requests the lifting of martial law by a majority vote of members.

The martial law commander, appointed by the president on the recommendation of the defence minister among active-duty generals, has the power to take actions related to arrests of persons, search and seizure, speech and the press, and assembly.

The commander has authority over all administrative and judicial matters. 

History

There have been more than a dozen instances of martial law declaration since South Korea was established as a republic in 1948. Many of the cases were triggered by democratic uprisings and when Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan, both military officers, staged military coups in 1961 and in 1980.

The last time, in 1980, a group of military officers led by Chun Doo-hwan forced then-president Choi Kyu-hah to proclaim martial law to crush calls by the opposition, labour and students for the restoration of democratic government. 

Yoon

Yoon, a career prosecutor who was elected in May 2022 by a margin of less than 1%, has been unpopular, with his support ratings hovering at around 20% for months.

His People Power Party (PPP) suffered a landslide defeat at a parliamentary election in April this year, ceding control of the unicameral assembly to opposition parties that captured nearly two-thirds of the seats.

Yoon has been under pressure as the Democratic Party repeatedly passed bills to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate alleged wrongdoings by his wife, including allegations of stock price manipulation before Yoon's election.

Yoon has repeatedly vetoed the bills.

Last week, the Democratic Party pushed its revision of the government budget proposal through a committee slashing more than 4 trillion won from the government request, readying it for a vote by the full house.

The move angered the presidential office, whose spokeswoman called it a "parliamentary tyranny." (Reporting by Jack Kim, Reuters)