AS IT HAPPENED: Korean lawmakers declare introduction of martial law 'null and void'

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AS IT HAPPENED: Korean lawmakers declare introduction of martial law 'null and void'

Published: 04 Dec. 2024, 00:57 Updated: 04 Dec. 2024, 14:25

JIM BULLEY
[email protected]

KIM JEE-HEE
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Refresh page to see updates.

Soldiers withdraw from Korea's National Assembly in the early hours of Wednesday morning after lawmakers vote to overturn President Yoon Suk Yeol's introduction of martial law in Yeouido, western Seoul. [YONHAP]

Dec. 3, 10: 30 p.m. - President Yoon Suk Yeol calls an emergency press briefing and declares emergency martial law from 11 p.m.

10:49 p.m. - People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon, the leader of Yoon's own party, condemns the decision to declare martial law in a statement.

10:56 p.m. - Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung says martial law is unlawful and asks lawmakers to gather at the National Assembly.

11:47 p.m. - Five military helicopters are visible circling the sky around the National Assembly.

11:50 p.m. - Police block the entrance to the National Assembly building as lawmakers and reporters try to get in. Shortly after, armed soldiers enter the National Assembly building.

Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks in an unannounced press conference at the Yongsan presidential office in central Seoul Tuesday night. [YONHAP]

Dec. 4, 0:00 a.m. - More soldiers arrive in Yeouido by helicopter and attempt to enter the National Assembly building.

0:45 a.m. - About 100 members of the public have started protesting in front of the National Assembly, calling for martial law to be lifted and the end of dictatorship.

0:47 a.m. - Lawmakers of the liberal Democratic Party (DP) convene at the National Assembly and table a motion to lift the martial law. At the same time soldiers crash through the windows of the National Assembly's main building and attempt to enter the chamber where the session is taking place.

Military forces mobilized under the Martial Law are spotted breaking windows of the National Assembly to get inside the chamber on Wednesday in a footage aired by local broadcaster MBC. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

0:57 a.m. - Lawmakers are seated in the National Assembly chamber where the session will take place.

0:58 a.m. - DP leader Lee Jae-myung arrives in the National Assembly chamber.

1:00 a.m. - The vote starts on a motion to overturn martial law. A majority is needed.

1:01 a.m. - Korea's national assembly vote to end martial law. All 190 lawmakers in attendance vote to end martial law.

A screen in the National Assembly shows the 190 lawmakers in attendance voted unanimously to overturn President Yoon Suk Yeol's introduction of martial law in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Wednesday. [NEWS1]

1:02 a.m. - National Assembly Speaker's Office: "Declaration of martial law is null and void."

1:06 a.m. - Speaker of the National Assembly Woo Won-shik announced that the assembly will protect democracy and asks soldiers and police inside the building to leave.

Democratic Party aides barricade the doors to the National Assembly chamber to prevent soldiers from entering in Yeouido, western Seoul in the early hours of Wednesday morning. [YONHAP]

1:06 a.m. - Military helicopters begin to depart from the National Assembly.

1:07 a.m. - National Assembly aides continue to barricade the entrance to the National Assembly chamber.

1:14 a.m. - The Presidential Office is yet to respond to the National Assembly vote. Legally, if the National Assembly requests the lifting of martial law with the consent of a majority of its members — a minimum of 151 lawmakers — the president must lift martial law.

190 members of Korea's National Assembly vote to overturn President Yoon Suk Yeol's introduction of martial law in the early hours of Wednesday morning at the National Assembly building in Yeouido, western Seoul. [NEWS1]

1:17 a.m. - Lawmaker Cho Kuk, a former senior secretary to the president for civil affairs and briefly justice minister, says, "If the President does not abide by the results of the motion passed at the National Assembly it is clear treason and an illegal act."

1:18 a.m. - Cho added that, "declaring martial law itself is illegal and is grounds for impeachment. This is not over yet."

1:20 a.m. - Cho says it is a "national crisis" and asks the prosecution to immediately arrest President Yoon Suk Yeol and Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun

1:21 a.m. - Ruling People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon, the leader of Yoon's own party, says "martial law, declared illegally, has lost effect."

1:23 a.m. - Soldiers leave the National Assembly building.

1:26 a.m. - Helicopters carrying soldiers take off from outside the back gate of the National Assembly building.

1:27 a.m. - A growing crowd of protesters outside the National Assembly call for President Yoon Suk Yeol's arrest.

Protesters gather outside the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul. [YONHAP]

1:30 a.m. - National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik confirms that no soldiers remain within the National Assembly. There has still been no announcement from the Presidential Office following the National Assembly vote.

1:38 a.m. - DP leader Lee Jae-myung says the declaration of martial law was unlawful as it was declared without going through legal procedures as stipulated by the Constitution.

1:40 a.m. - Lee: "A declaration of martial law without approval from a meeting of the cabinet is invalid."

1:40 a.m. - Lee calls on the military and police to refuse to follow illegal orders from the Presidential Office and return to their original posts.

2:00 a.m. - Now a full hour after the National Assembly voted to overturn the declaration of martial law, no official word has come from the Presidential Office. The crowd of people protesting outside the National Assembly appears to be growing, with protests likely to continue through the night.

BY KIM JEE-HEE AND JIM BULLEY [[email protected]]