South Korea: President Yoon lifts martial law

SEOUL: President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea said on Wednesday he would move to lift a martial law declaration he had imposed just hours before, honouring a parliamentary vote against the measure.

President Yoon declared martial law on Tuesday to thwart “anti-state forces” among his opponents.

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But outraged lawmakers rejected the decree, as protesters gathered outside parliament in the country’s biggest political crisis in decades.

Yoon’s surprise declaration, which he cast as aimed at his political foes, was unanimously voted down by 190 lawmakers in the parliament.

Under South Korean law, the president must immediately lift martial law if parliament demands it by a majority vote. His own party urged him to lift the decree.

Read more: South Korea parliament rejects martial law; ruling party urges to lift it

The crisis in a country that has been a democracy since the 1980s, and is a US ally and major Asian economy, caused international alarm