South Korea live: South Korea President Yoon says he will lift martial law he announced hours before
The military needs to listen to us – not the president, assembly member sayspublished at 18:40 Greenwich Mean Time
Tim Franks
BBC Newshour
Rarely do you get to speak to a member of parliament at 02:00 in the morning and even more rarely do you get to speak to them when they’ve just – in effect – broken in to grounds of parliament.
But that is what we have just managed to do on the BBC World Service’s Newshour programme.
Hong Kiwon is a national assembly member for the main opposition Democratic Party.
He told me he had been asleep when the president made his late-night declaration of martial law. Hong’s wife woke him up to break the news.
Image source, ReutersCrowds of people outside South Korea’s parliament have been protesting the declaration of martial law
Hong says he couldn’t believe it at first. Then, he raced to the parliament.
When he got there, police were blocking the entrance. So he told protestors who he was and they gave him a leg up to climb over the wall.
Inside the chamber of parliament, he said everyone was united. Even members of the president’s own party can’t believe what’s going on, he said.
“Democracy is strong here,” Hong insists, adding:
Quote MessageThe military needs to listen to us, to the constitution, and not to the president.”
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