On Tuesday, December 3, 2024 South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared an 'emergency martial law' accusing the Opposition of plotting an 'insurgency' and 'trying to overthrow the free democracy' in the country.
This declaration came amid rising political tensions in South Korea.
In the wee hours on Wednesday, Yoon's cabinet approved a motion to end martial law enforcement, approximately six hours after Yoon had declared it.
Glimpses of People Power!
IMAGE: A man confronts police officers outside the national assembly, December 3, 2024. Photograph: Kim Soo-hyeon/Reuters
IMAGE: Protests outside the national assembly. Photograph: Kim Soo-hyeon/Reuters
IMAGE: A woman lies on a road to block a vehicle transporting an army unit. Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
IMAGE: Soldiers outside the national assembly. Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
IMAGE: Furniture and boxes are piled up to barricade the entrance doors of the national assembly, which voted overwhelmingly to reject martial law. Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
IMAGE: Officials remove the furniture barricades from the doors of the national assembly building. Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
IMAGE: Police officers close the gate of the national assembly. Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
IMAGE: Protestors outside the national assembly. Photograph: Kim Soo-hyeon/Reuters
IMAGE: A woman holds a placard as police officers walk outside the national assembly. Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
IMAGE: Protestors gather outside the national assembly. Photograph: Kim Soo-hyeon/Reuters
IMAGE: People watch a television screen broadcasting a news report on President Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of martial law and the following announcement that he will lift martial law, after a parliamentary vote, at a railway station in Seoul. Photograph: Kim Soo-hyeon/Reuters
IMAGE: People take part in a rally to demand President Yoon's removal from power. Photograph: Kim Soo-hyeon/Reuters
IMAGE: A rally calling for President Yoon to resign. Photograph: Kim Soo-hyeon/Reuters
IMAGE: A man reads a newspaper during a rally calling for the president to quit. Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
SEE: South Korean president lifts martial law order after backlash
Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff.com
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com