Tessa Wong & Leehyun Choi
in Seoul

Earlier today hundreds gathered for a protest at Gwanghwamun, the main square of Seoul and the focal point for rallies in the city.

The protest called for the impeachment of Yoon Suk-yeol and declared a national strike.

By lunchtime, the protesters dispersed and the square was filled with the usual crowd of tourists snapping pictures and Seoul residents going about their day.

Many Koreans at Gwanghwamun spoke of their fear and shock when they heard about the declaration of martial law last night.

“At first I was excited at the thought of not going to school today! But then overwhelmingly the sense of fear settled in, that kept me up all night,” said Kwon Hoo, 15.

Though the teen is too young to remember previous periods of martial law, his father had told him what it had been like living with a strict curfew at night.

Image source, Tessa Wong

We've put together some of the CCTV footage showing the moment South Korea's military entered the country's National Assembly last night, after the president declared martial law:

The United States is "encouraged by the resilience of Korean democracy", its ambassador to South Korea tells the country's Yonhap news agency.

"We were concerned about the events of last night... The United States supports that democracy and the people of Korea to resolve issues peacefully, democratically and constitutionally," Philip Goldberg says.

There were concerns last night that North Korea could take advantage of chaos in the South to escalate tensions, Goldberg adds.

He says the US's commitment to South Korea is "unwavering", and the US is "always on alert and prepared".

Starting today, activists are planning days of protest rallies across the country to demand President Yoon steps down.

In Busan, South Korea's second biggest city, activists are planning to hold a rally every day for the next week, Yonhap news agency reports.

About 1,000 citizens are expected to attend a candlelight rally this evening in Gwangju, a city in the south-western corner of the country.

And protesters in the south-eastern cities of Daegu and Pohang, and the southern Jeju Island, are planning similar rallies in the afternoon.

An indefinite general strike has also begun, organised by South Korea's main labour union.

Image source, EPA

Earlier this morning we reported that President Yoon Suk Yeol's staff had offered to resign en masse following his short-lived decision to declare martial law.

We can bring you more on this now - the presidential office has announced that all senior secretaries to the president, as well as his chief of staff, national security adviser, and director of national policy, have all tendered their resignation this morning.

Yoon must accept these resignations for them to go into effect and it is not yet clear if he will do so.

Image source, Getty Images

Lawmakers have tabled a motion to impeach President Yoon. We explained the impeachment process in more detail a little earlier, but basically the process will take days, and two-thirds of lawmakers - 200 people - need to vote for it.

The opposition party almost has those numbers by themselves. The president's own party has spoken against his actions, but is still deciding how it will respond - though only a few of its members would need to vote in favour of impeachment for it to succeed.

If the motion does pass the parliament, Yoon's powers and duties would be immediately suspended, and the prime minister would become acting president.

The Constitutional Court of Korea then has the final say. If it approves the impeachment, the president is removed and an election must be held within 60 days. If they don't approve it, he can stay in office.

Nick Marsh
Reporting from Seoul

Even outside Seoul's parliament building, politicians are demanding that President Yoon step down or suffer the consequences.

"I’m very disappointed," Yang Bu-nam, a member of the opposition Democratic Party, tells the BBC outside the National Assembly, where he was taking photographs with gathered supporters.

“What the president did is shameful and we need to shout about it."

Yang was keen to assure those overseas that South Korea is not "chaos", though.

"We are a strong democracy," he said. "But Korean people want to be safe - President Yoon must resign or be impeached."

South Korea's opposition leader Lee Jae-myung calls for people "to be alert and fight together".

He adds that he thinks martial law is "something I think [the ruling party] will try again when the situation is organised and improved".

What happened last night was "a coup against the people", Lee says in a speech in front of the National Assembly, adding that the "great Korean people [had] overcome this coup".

Image source, Reuters

North Korea has not yet publicly reacted to the political chaos in South Korea, the Seoul-based news website NK News reports today.

Wednesday's edition of North Korea's ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun did not mention the martial law crisis, according to the NK News report.

The paper has instead published a short article highlighting demands by civic groups for Yoon to resign.

As a reminder, President Yoon said removing "North Korean forces" was part of his initial decision to impose martial law.

Image source, Reuters

Nick Marsh
Reporting from Seoul

After the chaos of last night, the mood here in front of the National Assembly feels quite relaxed.

While the politicians inside the building hold crisis talks, a couple of hundred opposition supporters have gathered on the parliament's steps demanding that President Yoon pays the price for his decision to declare martial law.

Speaker after speaker has taken to the microphone: some cracking jokes, some rallying the crowd more forcefully under a crisp blue December sky in the capital.

For now the setting is serene, but South Korea is bracing itself for what could be one of the most turbulent periods in its modern political history.

Joon Hyung Kim, an opposition MP, spoke to the BBC News channel a little earlier, explaining how the martial law order caught the country by "total surprise".

"There was a rumour, but we never believed it - [I was] really shocked," he said, explaining how he immediately rushed to the National Assembly building.

"[The police] blocked me, I wrestled a lot... but finally I got through."

Even now, Kim said he doesn't understand why Yoon made the order.

"It was very impulsive. Maybe he's not in his right mind.

"I think this is the end of his presidency... the remaining [question] is how and when it will end."

Yoon was a relative newcomer to politics when he won the presidency in 2022, in the closest race since the country began holding free presidential elections in the 1980s.

A prosecutor, he had risen to national prominence for leading the corruption case against disgraced former President Park Geun-hye who was impeached in 2016.

During the 63-year-old's presidential campaign, he advocated a more hardline approach to North Korea and on divisive gender issues.

In office, he's been known for a series of gaffes and political scandals, which have sent his approval rating plummeting and weakened his government's grip on power - culminating in last night's dramatic scenes.

You can read more about how we got here in this story.

Image source, Getty Images

As we've just reported, opposition lawmakers in South Korea have tabled a motion to impeach President Yoon, triggering what will likely be a days-long process.

Once an impeachment bill is proposed, at least two-thirds of South Korea's 300-member National Assembly must vote to impeach Yoon - that translates to at least 200 votes.

The vote must take place within 72 hours.

The next step now though, is for the Speaker of the Assembly Woo Won-sik to open a session for the motion to be debated - which could happen as early as in two days.

Opposition lawmakers in South Korea have put forward a motion to impeach President Yoon over his botched attempt late on Tuesday to impose martial law.

The motion will still need to be debated before going to a vote, possibly later this week.

Image source, EPA

Image source, Getty Images

Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has expressed "exceptional and serious concerns" over President Yoon's short-lived decision to declare martial law and said he is monitoring the situation in the neighbouring country closely.

Ishiba says his government is "taking all possible measures" to ensure the safety of Japanese nationals in South Korea and that he is unaware of any reports of injuries.

As mentioned earlier, South Korea's Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and other top officials are due to hold an emergency meeting now (at 14:00 local).

It's unclear if that meeting is currently taking place, but we'll bring you the latest once we know more.

South Korean President Yoon's decision shows he is "completely out of touch with [the] reality of what the country is going through at this point", former foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha tells the BBC.

Yoon has become increasingly unpopular for how he handled questions about his conduct and a recent controversy over his wife, Kang adds, and has been blaming the opposition party for blowing these issues out of proportion in parliament.

What happens next, says Kang, is entirely up to Yoon himself.

"The ball is in the president's court to find a way out of this corner that he himself has put in."

Image source, EPA

João da Silva
Business reporter

South Korea's central bank says it will "keep all options open" to support its financial markets after the country was rocked overnight by news of Yoon's martial law imposition.

The statement noted that markets had "somewhat" recovered after the martial law declaration was lifted.

South Korea's Kospi share index recovered some losses and was down 1.8% in early afternoon trading. The won (South Korea's currency) also partially recovered after overnight losses.

Earlier, authorities promised to inject "unlimited" cash to the markets.

Despite those pledges, analysts warned about the impact that the turmoil could have on Asia's fourth largest economy.

"A prolonged period of political conflict that impacts economic activity and leads to work stoppages... would be credit negative,” warned Anushka Shah from Moody's Ratings in a note.

Credit ratings affect how much it costs governments to borrow money in the international financial markets.

As the situation in South Korea continues to develop, the internet has been asking: what is martial law?

Martial law is a temporary rule by military authorities in a time of emergency, when the civil authorities are deemed unable to function.

The implementation of martial law can have legal impacts, such as the suspension of normal civil rights and the extension of military law.

In theory, it's temporary - but it may continue indefinitely.

The last time martial law was declared in South Korea was in 1979, when the country's then long-term military dictator Park Chung-hee was assassinated during a coup.

Yoon's declaration on Tuesday night marked the first time it has been invoked since the country became a parliamentary democracy in 1987.

When declaring his drastic decision in a late-night TV broadcast, Yoon cited "anti-state forces" and the threat from North Korea as justification.

But observers say Yoon acted like a president under siege, and that his decision was spurred less by external threats than his own desperate political troubles.

The South Korean leader has been a lame duck president for months after the opposition won a landslide in April's general election, and has seen a continuing fall in approval ratings amid several corruption scandals this year.

Image source, EPA

Former South Korean foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha says last night's events proved the strength and resilience of the country's democracy - citing the quick response from citizens and politicians to oppose the president's martial law order.

She also says she is "hugely relieved" that the dust appears to be settling.

"My first reaction was - this can't be happening to my country, a fractious democracy, but certainly a vibrant and an increasingly mature democracy," she tells the BBC.

"Over the hours through the night, [seeing] the National Assembly doing its part and the citizens out in the streets calling for this to be withdrawn - I have to say at the end, it demonstrated that the democracy in my country is strong and resilient."

Kang served as the foreign minister under former President Moon Jae-in from 2017-2021.

Image source, Getty Images