The tensions in the Korean peninsula have reached a new high after South Korea's president Yoon Seok Yeol declared emergency martial law to protect the country from "anti-state" and "communist forces".
Known for his hawkish stance on North Korea and a "no-compromise approach", Yoon is also one of the most unpopular president's in South Korean history due to various scandals attached to the president.
The tensions in the Korean peninsula have reached a new high after South Korea's president Yoon Seok Yeol declared emergency martial law to protect the country from "anti-state" and "communist forces".
Moments after the president imposed emergency martial law, unrest took over Seoul, especially outside the National Asembly where the South Korean parliament voted to defy its president and recall the martial law.
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Yoon Seok Yeol, a former prosecutor, joined politics in 2021 and rose to the post of President by 2022. As leader of the conservative People Power Party, Yoon and his policies have managed to push away any chance of unification between the two Koreas.
Known for his hawkish stance on North Korea and a "no-compromise approach", Yoon is also one of the most unpopular president's in South Korean history due to various scandals attached to him.
One of the major scandals to hit Yoon was that of influence-peddling involving his wife, first lady Kim Keon Hee.
The allegation was that the president and first lady had influenced members of the PPP to ensure Yoon's selection as a presidential candidate.
While Yoon denied any involvement, his approval rating took a hit and fell below 20 percent.
After the scrapping of the key 2018 military deal, tensions between North and South Korea have been rising, reaching a new high this year.
With Yoon Seok Yeol's "scandalous" and conservative leadership upsetting Pyongyang even more in the past few months, the president has played an unusual card by declaring martial law.
"To safeguard a liberal South Korea from the threats posed by North Korea’s communist forces and to eliminate antistate elements … I hereby declare emergency martial law,” Yoon said in a live televised address.
“This is an unavoidable measure to ensure the freedom and safety of the people and guarantee the sustainability of the nation against the unrest stirred by these subversive, antistate elements," he added.