President Yoon Suk-yeol says he will lift a martial law order after the South Korean parliament passed a motion requiring it be lifted.

    In an unannounced live address earlier, Yoon said the imposition of martial law was aimed at safeguarding a “liberal South Korea from the threats posed by North Korea’s communist forces and to eliminate antistate elements”.

    Yonhap news agency cites the military as saying activities by parliament and political parties would be banned and media and publishers would be under the control of the martial law command.

    Live footage shows hundreds of people gathered outside Parliament to protest against the president’s move.

    Since taking office in 2022, Yoon has struggled to push his agenda against the opposition-controlled parliament.

    Top general urges vigilance against North Korean threats

    South Korea’s top-ranking general has called on the military to be on guard against potential threats from North Korea.

    Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Adm. Kim Myung-soo called on troops to “guard the safety of the public” and “maintain a firm readiness posture so that North Korea will not make wrong judgments,” the state-funded Yonhap News Agency reported.

    Kim made the comments in an emergency meeting of military leaders after Yoon lifted his martial law declaration overnight following a unanimous vote in the National Assembly to overturn the order.

    North and South Korea have tense relations and remain technically at war after fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

    South Korea’s former foreign minister says martial law order ‘shocking’

    South Korea’s former Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha has described Yoon’s martial law declaration as unconstitutional and an “aberration”.

    “Nothing in the circumstances around the country warranted this,” Kang told CNN from New York, where she is now the president and CEO of the Asia Society.

    “It was shocking to put it mildly, but then it was a relief to see the National Assembly acting very quickly to pass a resolution overturning this.”