In the last half hour, the president of South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol, has declared martial law.
In an unannounced late-night television address he says the move is necessary to protect the country from North Korea’s communist forces and to eliminate anti-state elements.
Yoon said the decision was made to remove pro-North Korea forces from the country and to protect the liberal constitutional order.
Yoon said he had no choice but to resort to martial law, but did not say in the address what specific measures will be taken.
In his late-night TV broadcast, President Yoon Suk Yeol said he had no choice but to resort to martial law in order to safeguard free and constitutional order.
“I declare martial law to protect the free Republic of Korea from the threat of North Korean communist forces, to eradicate the despicable pro-North Korean anti-state forces,” Yoon said.
South Korea’s main opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung has condemned the move, calling it unconstitutional.
He has called on all lawmakers from his Democratic Party to converge on parliament to vote down the declaration, but the latest reports from Seoul say police buses have been moved in to block the entrance to the parliament building.
The last time martial law was declared in South Korea was in 1979 after the assassination of then-dictator Park Chung Hee.
The Yonhap News Agency says members of the National Assembly have been banned from accessing the building.
Footage has begun circulating on social media which purports to show heavy police presence outside the assembly in the Yeongdeungpo District in the South Korean capital, Seoul.
BBC
