The White House said it was “closely” monitoring the situation and it is in contact with the South Korean government.
The Chinese embassy urged its citizens in South Korea to exercise “caution”. It advised “Chinese nationals in South Korea to remain calm … enhance safety awareness, limit unnecessary outings, exercise caution when expressing political opinions”.
Yoon said on Tuesday night that he had no choice but to resort to such a measure in order to safeguard free and constitutional order, saying opposition parties have taken hostage of the parliamentary process to throw the country into a crisis.
He also accused the opposition Democratic Party of anti-state activities and said the government administration has been paralysed because of its conduct.
“I declare martial law to protect the free Republic of Korea from the threat of North Korean communist forces, to eradicate the despicable pro-North Korean anti-state forces that are plundering the freedom and happiness of our people, and to protect the free constitutional order,” Yoon said.
