Yoon’s actions, seen as desperate and authoritarian, have led to calls for his resignation and impeachment.
Jung Su-yeon crawled on her hands and knees through the frantic legs of South Korea’s security forces to save democracy.
She had rushed through her city of Seoul shortly after the President shocked the world by announcing martial law and sending the army to the gates of Parliament to seize power.
Helicopters circled overhead as crowds of police and military stood between Jung and her colleagues making a last stand.
“The MPs and their secretaries all jumped the walls to get inside, but there were still police [there] and a fight broke out,” she told The Telegraph. “I managed to crawl between the legs of a policeman.”
South Korean protesters hold a banner that read "we condemn Yoon Suk Yeol's illegal martial law" during a rally against President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul, after martial law was lifted. Photo / AFP
Once inside, Jung – who works for the opposition Democratic Party’s secretary general Kim Yoon-deok – found herself in a face-off, and she was unsure where the situation would end.
“Paratroopers tried to break into the building so we fought back by spraying fire extinguishers … they were fully armed so we were worried that there might be bloodshed,” she said. “There were some injured people in the process, some with broken glasses and some people fell to the ground.”
Jung was on the front lines of a remarkable night in South Korea, considered a stable democracy and key regional ally of the West.
The turmoil began when Yoon Suk Yeol, the President, delivered a surprise televised address that would plunge the country into chaos. On Tuesday night he said South Korea was under the rule of the military.
The turmoil began when President Yoon Suk Yeol delivered a surprise televised address that would plunge the country into chaos. Photo / Getty Images
“As President of the Republic of Korea, I appeal to the nation with a bleeding heart,” the 63-year-old began, glancing at the statement in front of him.
Blaming the North Koreans and a “den of criminals” within his own country’s National Assembly, which he said had turned into “a monster that destroys the liberal democratic system,” he claimed South Korea could “collapse at any moment”.
Yoon, who had been facing possible impeachment over a string of corruption scandals, assured the country he was coming to their rescue from scurrilous opposition trying to bring him down.
But if he expected the announcement to bring calm and stability, he was in for a shock of his own.
After the announcement, the streets outside Parliament were teeming with thousands of protesters in their winter parka coats and down jackets. Photo / Getty Iamges
Soon, the streets outside Parliament were teeming with thousands of protesters in their winter parka coats and down jackets.
Attempts by the security forces to block roads with tanks and buses did not deter crowds forming around the building, nor did the helicopters circling above the city or the barrier formed by riot police.
The crowds even turned bravely on members of the army’s special forces sent to take control of Parliament.
“Aren’t you ashamed?” screamed Ahn Gwi-ryeong, a politician in a black leather coat, as she grabbed the gun of a balaclava-clad soldier, demanding to know why he was marching against unarmed civilians.
Other MPs meanwhile scrambled to get to the stone National Assembly building to call a vote to bring the entire debacle to a rapid close.
Citizens urged to ‘give life to democracy’
“Korea’s democracy is on the brink. The National Assembly must act swiftly to protect democracy from falling,” said Moon Jae-In, the former president. “The people should come together to give life to democracy, and add strength to the legislature so that it may function properly.”
Yoon’s political nemesis Lee Jae-myung – who narrowly lost the 2022 election – recorded a video message from his car as he raced across town to the Parliament building claiming the President had “betrayed the people” and was no longer the President.
South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung speaks at the National Assembly after lawmakers voted to lift the declaration of emergency martial law. Photo / Getty Images
Even Yoon’s party were dismayed; his lawmakers said the presidential office had never warned them about a martial law announcement.
Still – as Jung found out – getting inside the National Assembly itself would prove easier said than done, with South Korea’s special forces storming the parliament building and attempting to block the entrance.
Politicians’ aides pushed back – once inside, photos show opposition party staff creating their own ad hoc barricade with the building’s beige sofas and wooden coffee tables, to allow the assembled MPs to vote down the martial measures.
Remarkably, 190 of 300 MPs had made it, well above the 150 needed to vote down martial law.
South Korean soldiers tried get into the national assembly after the President declared martial law. Photo /Getty Images
And even as the military broke windows in an attempt to get in, photos from inside the conclave looked surprisingly calm – two hours and 48 minutes after Yoon’s original announcement, Parliament had officially voted the period over.
“After the resolution to cancel the martial law, we were relieved,” said Jung. But she and her colleagues remained in place – waiting for Yoon to lift martial law. He did so in the early hours of Wednesday morning local time.
Outside, while the MPs waited, hundreds of peaceful protesters still lined the streets, chanting “begone martial law!” and “begone Yoon Suk Yeol!” as temperatures hovered just above 0C.
Many told The Telegraph they were staying put, resolute to protect the lawmakers indoors until the President had agreed his power-grab was over.
Hundreds of peaceful protesters lined the streets, chanting “begone martial law!” and “begone Yoon Suk Yeol!” Photo / AFP
Yoon – a career prosecutor who was elected president in 2022 by a margin of less than 1% on the back of anti-feminist sentiment – had attempted to paint himself as the country’s saviour. But his move reminded many of an era of authoritarian leaders from the 1980s, and was widely seen as a desperate attempt to distract from domestic political difficulties.
Not only have Yoon’s approval ratings dipped in recent months, but his party has been locked in an impasse with the liberal opposition over next year’s budget, and he has faced a mounting scandal after his wife accepted expensive gifts.
‘President on the back foot for months’
“His claim that this was based on North Korean infiltration or a North Korean attack doesn’t seem to be corroborated anywhere,” said Dr John Nilsson-Wright, the head of Japan and Korea’s programme at Centre for Geopolitics at the University of Cambridge, adding that the President has “been on the back foot politically for a number of months”.
“If it was a calculation that he thought he was going to win, he seems to have seriously misjudged the situation,” he said. “I think President Yoon is probably feeling very isolated at the moment and increasingly powerless to stop what has been a pretty impressive rally by the opposition parties.”
Yet, what happens next is still unclear. The UK, US and other allies have said they are “deeply concerned” by events in South Korea, and called for a peaceful resolution.
Following the end of martial law, it is still not clear whether the President will continue to fight for his political survival.
Still, with calls for his resignation and eventual impeachment mounting, analysts said it is hard to see how he can weather this storm.
‘Forced to step down’
“There’s no ambiguity here, this is overreach on a massive scale by the President ... unless there was some unknown, unexplained, genuine set of reasons that allowed him to erroneously believe that somehow the left was in cahoots with North Korea,” said Nilsson-Wright.
“But I don’t see that. So I think there will be an effort to move quickly to make sure that a President who was already very unpopular is forced to step down.”
Few of those still chanting outside Parliament disagreed.
“I think he’s lost himself,” a 50-year-old man said. “I hope for him to reflect on his actions and that the first lady should face investigation. This is what the people want.”
