South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday declared a martial law in the country. While several social media users and online reporters linked the emergency situation to an imminent attack by North Korea, officials debunked these rumours. An official told Newsweek that the declaration is about the 'domestic political situation'.
Earlier in the day, President Yoon said: "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."
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All 190 MPs present in the National Assembly voted for Yoon to lift the martial law. Opposition leaders also called for the president's impeachment. Yoon's own People Power Party Han Dong-hoon, called martial law 'wrong', further adding: "We will stop it along with the people."
Explaining the real reason behind the martial law declaration, an official told Newsweek: "It's a mainly domestic situation. He believed he cannot run the government as usual."
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The official further added that Yoon 'believed it's an emergency situation so he declared it. His argument is that he did it in order to preserve democracy'. The further added it was not directly to do with the situation of his wife, Kim Keon Hee.
In his televised address on Tuesday, the South Korean president said: "With no regard for the livelihoods of the people, the opposition party has paralysed governance solely for the sake of impeachments, special investigations, and shielding their leader from justice."