In the hours after President Yoon Suk Yeol declared in South Korea at around 10:20 p.m. Tuesday, chaos ensued west of Yeouido in central Seoul as lawmakers, aides and reporters rushed to get to the National Assembly.
Soon after Yoon announced he would impose martial law, police squads began surrounding the gates of the legislature. At this point, people could enter at checkpoints if they presented their passes.
Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Kim Byung-kee, running up flights of stairs, could be heard muttering, “This is crazy, totally crazy.” He was among the first batch of lawmakers to arrive, at around 11:30 p.m.
The Democratic Party had called in all of its lawmakers for a meeting in a text message sent out at around 10:50 p.m. The ruling People Power Party did the same at around 11:05 p.m.
Roaring noise could be heard from inside the Assembly building, prompting people to flock to windows to see where they were coming from. They were helicopters flying in. It was not long after the martial law decree was issued by Army Chief of Staff Gen. Park An-su at 11:23 p.m.
By around midnight, more than a hundred lawmakers had gotten to the Assembly, according to a count given by some Democratic Party lawmakers.
Dozens of soldiers stood around the entries into the Assembly building, where lawmakers would gather to convene a plenary meeting to vote to lift martial law. They were visible through the glass doors, parts of which shattered as they were forced shut.
Legislative aides and other staff stacked up chairs, couches and other furniture to block the soldiers from getting in.
“People almost got hurt. What is the military even doing in the Assembly?” one aide who was among them said. “I think it’s going to be a matter of time before they (soldiers) break in,” another said.
The Assembly staff sprayed fire extinguishers to beat the soldiers back, but they eventually forced their way in.
One of the aides who stood in a standoff with the soldiers said he did not feel they meant to hurt people. “I felt like the soldiers did not really want to be here. They did not seem very willing, and they did not want to hurt anybody,” he told The Korea Herald.
Inside the halls crowded with reporters carrying cameras and laptops and people running around with confused looks.
Outside the Assembly front gate Crowds of demonstrators gathered chanting, "Impeach Yoon! Lift martial law!”
Others asked police to open up the gates: “This is a country of democracy. Let people in. End martial law now.”
