After President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law in a late-night address to the nation Tuesday, a tense standoff unfolded in the National Assembly for over two hours until lawmakers voted to overturn military rule.
In the hours following the declaration, armed troops forcibly entered the Assembly for the first time in the history of the country’s legislature.
From around 10:50 p.m., less than an hour after Yoon’s surprise martial law declaration, the Assembly compound was lined with police squads that restricted people from entering.
After that point lawmakers could not get in despite presenting proof of their identities, forcing some, including Democratic Party Floor Leader Rep. Park Chan-dae, to climb over the fence.
At around midnight, some of the troops broke the windows of the offices of the ruling party chair and other party leaders to access the main building of the Assembly.
Legislative aides and staffers built barricades by stacking chairs and couches and sprayed fire extinguishers at oncoming troops in an attempt to prevent them from getting to the plenary chamber -- where enough lawmakers from both parties had gathered by the time to vote to reject the decree.
As the rifle-wielding, fully armed soldiers forced their way in, some people fell or got injured. The front entrance doors were shattered.
The troops left after all of the 190 lawmakers who made it to the plenary hall voted to lift the martial law decree.
The armed break-in sent a shock wave across the divided Assembly.
An immediate denouncement came from Han Dong-hoon, the ruling conservative party leader.
“In my 20 years of working at the Assembly, the most unthinkable thing has happened,” a senior aide with the ruling conservative party, who was not allowed in until about 4 a.m., told The Korea Herald.
In another address to the nation at approximately 4:30 a.m. Yoon said he would lift the martial law he imposed about six hours prior. But lawmakers and aides stayed put, fearing a possible reversal.
“He could do it again. That’s the most worrying thing,” four-time Democratic Party Rep. Jung Chung-lae told reporters waiting outside.
The Assembly estimates around 280 soldiers entered the premises late Tuesday night into early Wednesday morning.
According to Kim Min-ki, the Assembly’s secretary-general, helicopters made at least 24 trips in and out of the parliament compound to drop around 230 soldiers off between 11:48 p.m. Tuesday and 1:18 a.m. Wednesday.
About half an hour past midnight, around 50 soldiers climbed over the walls and broke in.
“It is illegal to close off the Assembly and to bar lawmakers from entering and leaving. Mobilizing armed forces to trample on the grounds of the Assembly as all eyes watched has deeply scarred our country,” the secretary-general told a press conference Wednesday.
The secretary-general’s office has placed a ban on Ministry of National Defense officials and the police from entering the Assembly buildings, Kim said.
The Democratic Party said Wednesday it would receive reports of injuries and other issues experienced by people who were at the scene.
