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Hours into the shock declaration of emergency martial law by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, not a single political ally appeared to be left standing with the embattled leader.
Mr Yoon had dropped the bombshell at 10:21 pm on Dec 3, during an apparently unannounced TV address.
Less than three hours later, all 190 lawmakers who turned up at the National Assembly voted to reject his declaration at an emergency plenary session, while troops blocked entry to the parliament building. Among them, 172 were opposition lawmakers, while 18 were members of the ruling People Power Party.
All eyes are now on Mr Yoon’s next course of action.
“He only has two options, to resign tomorrow (Dec 4) or wait to be impeached,” said Kyonggi University’s professor of political science and law Hahm Sung-deuk, who decried the martial law declaration as “a terrible thing for South Korea’s democracy”.
Prof Hahm said Mr Yoon has demonstrated a failure to understand “democratic rules, so he will be punished by the people”.
Speaking from the presidential office in Seoul, Mr Yoon said that martial law was necessary to protect the nation “from the threats of the North Korean communist forces, and to eradicate the shameless pro-North anti-state forces that plunder the freedom and happiness” of South Koreans.
