South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol Faces Impeachment Demands After Brief Martial Law, Opposition Calls It a 'Grave Act of Rebellion'

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is under fire from the main opposition party, who are demanding his resignation or impeachment in the wake of a short-lived martial law imposition.

What Happened: The Democratic Party, which holds a majority in the 300-seat parliament, has called for President Yoon’s immediate resignation or threatened impeachment, according to a report by AP News on Wednesday. This comes after Yoon’s brief martial law, which saw military personnel encircling the parliament before lawmakers voted to lift it.

Yoon’s office revealed that senior presidential advisers and secretaries have offered to resign en masse, and Yoon postponed his official Wednesday morning schedule. The martial law, imposed on Tuesday night, was in effect for only about six hours before the National Assembly overruled the president.

The Democratic Party stated that its lawmakers have decided to call on Yoon to quit immediately or they would initiate impeachment proceedings. “President Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law declaration was a clear violation of the constitution… It was a grave act of rebellion and provides perfect grounds for his impeachment,” the party said in a statement.

If Yoon is impeached, he’ll be stripped of his constitutional powers until the Constitutional Court can rule on his fate. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo would assume his presidential responsibilities.

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Why It Matters: The political turmoil has had a significant impact on South Korea’s markets. As reported by Benzinga earlier, the benchmark Kospi index fell 1.15% and the tech-heavy Kosdaq 100 dropped 2.64% following the brief imposition of martial law. Major technology and industrial stocks, including Samsung Electronics Co. SSNLF, were affected.

At the time of writing, the KOSPI was seen trading lower by 1.8% at 2,455.28. Stocks that took a hit during Wednesday’s trading included LG Energy Solution, Naver Corporation NHNCF, and chip maker SK Hynix HXSCL.

Photo via Shutterstock.

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This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Shivdeep Dhaliwal