SEOUL, South Korea – Calls are growing for South Korea’s president to resign or be impeached after he briefly imposed martial law on the country.

Opposition parties on Wednesday submitted a motion to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol, which was signed by all of their lawmakers.

Citizen groups in most major cities are planning large-scale rallies to demand Yoon’s ouster.

President Yoon lifted the martial law emergency at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, just six hours after declaring it in a surprise televised address.

In the speech, he accused the opposition-controlled parliament of “paralyzing” and “attempting to overthrow the liberal democratic system through a legislative dictatorship.” Yoon said his goal in declaring martial law was to “smash the anti-state forces sympathetic to North Korea and preserve the free constitutional order.”

A martial law command soon issued a decree suspending the legislature, blocking all political activity, and placing the media under its control. The command threatened to arrest violators without a warrant.

Leaders of the ruling conservative People Power Party and the main liberal opposition Democratic Party immediately condemned Yoon’s actions as unconstitutional and illegal.

Two and a half hours after the announcement, 190 lawmakers gathered in the National Assembly as armed soldiers flocked to the legislative grounds. Lawmakers, including 18 from Yoon’s party, unanimously lifted martial law.

The U.S. Embassy in South Korea issued a warning advising U.S. citizens to stay away from protests or other large gatherings because they could escalate into violence. The United Kingdom has also issued a similar travel warning.

“I felt like Alice in Wonderland”

It was the first time martial law was imposed in South Korea since the 1980s. But in the first decades of the country’s modern history, dictators and military juntas imposed martial law to suppress political rivals and pro-democracy movements, often citing unfounded threats from North Korea.

“And the South Korean people also know their history,” says Benjamin Engel, a political science professor at Dankook University outside Seoul. “And they will not accept a return of military rule or martial law. And that was clear from the start.”

On the chaotic and historic night, a growing crowd of protesters gathered outside the main gates of Parliament. At the site, demonstrators and parliamentary staff tried to prevent soldiers from entering the main meeting hall. Some set up barricades with furniture.

National Assembly Secretary-General Kim Min-ki said in a briefing that nearly 300 martial law troops stormed Parliament by flying in military helicopters or climbing over fences. Some broke windows to get into the main building, he said. Kim announced that members of the Defense Ministry and police will now be banned from entering Parliament to protect the institution’s functions and the safety of lawmakers.

In recent years, the main opposition party, the Democratic Party, has warned of the possibility that a conservative government could impose martial law to defuse a political crisis. Under President Park Geun-hye, the daughter of dictator Park Chung Hee, the military prepared a detailed plan for martial law amid nationwide protests against her corruption allegations that ultimately led to her ouster in 2017.

DP leader Lee Jae-myung only openly expressed his suspicions in September. Yoon’s office dismissed it as “irresponsible” and “brainwashing propaganda.”

However, after his suspicions became reality, Lee expressed his disbelief. “I felt like Alice in Wonderland, like I was in a cartoon,” Lee said at a rally Wednesday afternoon. “This country – the world’s 10th largest economy, a cultural powerhouse and an emerging fifth largest military power – retreated into an obsolete country.”

Lee said the Yoon government had resorted to physical force because it was cornered by a looming economic, security and political crisis.

Intentions of declaring martial law unclear

Yoon Suk Yeol is a former chief prosecutor who won the presidency by a razor-thin margin as a political newcomer in 2022.

Throughout his term in office, he struggled with scandals involving himself and his wife. His approval rating has fallen to 20% or lower in recent weeks as allegations surfaced that Yoon and his wife Kim Keon-hee were embroiled in an influence-peddling scandal.

The DP has pressured Yoon over First Lady Kim’s acceptance of a luxury bag, alleged stock price manipulation, involvement in state affairs and other allegations. The opposition has also questioned Yoon’s role in the alleged cover-up of the death of a Marine last year and in the controversial relocation of the president’s office and residence.

Yoon has largely denied these accusations or dismissed them as political attacks and has angered the opposition-run parliament by frequently blocking veto-wielding bills.

Earlier this week, conflict erupted again between his government and parliament when the DP cut large parts of Yoon’s budget proposal for next year.

It remains unclear what President Yoon wanted to achieve by declaring martial law.

Benjamin Engel of Dankook University says, “There is no real way to look at it other than a self-coup trying to expand its power” and “impose policies without any negotiation or compromise with the opposition party.”

President Yoon’s future and legacy are in doubt

The future of Yoon and his government seems bleak. Yoon’s senior advisers and defense ministers tendered their resignations. The DP accuses the president, the defense minister and the interior minister of insurrection.

The Korean won and stock prices experienced large fluctuations due to uncertainties. Diplomatic and military schedules are delayed, including a planned visit by the Swedish prime minister and a key nuclear deterrence meeting and exercise with the United States

In a post Wednesday afternoon, the U.S. Embassy in Seoul said: “The U.S. believes President Yoon’s announcement of lifting martial law is a decisive step.” The message was not about condemning the declaration of martial law.

The White House appeared relieved. But politics professor Engel says Yoon’s disruption of the democratic system “upends her entire trilateral cooperation efforts with the United States, South Korea and Japan.”

Yoon envisioned South Korea as a “key global state” that promotes liberal democratic order and pursues “values-based diplomacy” with like-minded democracies.

“Yoon’s legacy is gone,” says Engel.