law and overturning the martial law and it is now an open question as to what happens next in south korea and what happens to the president and what happens to those measures he tried to bring in. as we continue to watch these pictures we will try over the next hour to bring you the latest lines and pictures and to try to answer some of those crucial basic questions. we stay with this major breaking story from south korea, because, to recap, the events of a dramatic two or three hours, these pictures from inside the parliament, to the president of south korea has shocked the country by declaring martial law, accusing the main opposition party of paralysing the government and sympathising with north korea, following a major battle over next year's budget bill.

parliament has voted to overturn

wreaking havoc and are the main culprits of our nation's downfall. this is an unavoidable step to protect the freedoms and safety of the people, as well as to ensure the nation's sustainability and security against the anti—state forces attempting to overthrow our system. that's how the announcement was made, and it had an instant response, as i was saying, so many people heading down to the parliament building and the opposition parties asking for mps to get to the parliament to try to vote, which is what we've seen play out in the last hour. initially, the president had ordered army forces to actually

try to block off the roads with the police and security forces, we saw helicopters landing on the top of the parliamentary building and special forces inside the parliament, but still, that didn't actually prevent them actually getting in there, the session started and that crucial vote to overturn the declaration of martial law. so now you have the standoff between the president to try to bring it in, and a parliament that has overturned it. i want to go back to our reporter who is there on the ground for us, and as we speak now, we had that standoff but it is absolutely unclear about the path forward now, isn't it? even though the national assembly has just voted to block the president's moved to declare martial law, the president hasn't responded yet and still there are many protesters gathering around the

assembly building. find protesters gathering around the assembly building.— assembly building. and many opposition — assembly building. and many opposition party _ assembly building. and many opposition party members - assembly building. and many| opposition party members are requesting the current president to take responsibility of what happened by making this social chaos, so we don't know what will happen tomorrow and so on. that we don't know what will happen tomorrow and so on.— tomorrow and so on. that is tomorrow. _ tomorrow and so on. that is tomorrow. a _ tomorrow and so on. that is tomorrow, a quick— tomorrow and so on. that is tomorrow, a quick question | tomorrow, a quick question about what has happened today. when you heard that martial law had been imposed, give me a sense of what you thought. it was as an ordinary citizen, it was as an ordinary citizen, it was very shocking moment because including myself, many people seemed to be freaked out. because many of them mistook it as a north korean invasion at first glance, i also got a call from my friend and many still seem to be confused even after they read and watch the news, because

they didn't know how they should react, whether they can go out or whether they can go to their office tomorrow morning, and i think that's because the past declaration of martial law involved imprisonment of citizens and the latest declaration of martial law was made in 1979 so that was pretty much back then. many people, especially those young people, who are not used to what martial law is and how they should react.— they should react. that's really fascinating - they should react. that's. really fascinating listening they should react. that's - really fascinating listening to you describe what it was like when you first heard. you know, thank you so much, korean reporter on the ground. i want to go back to outside of the parliament and give you a flavour of what it's like there, i spoke a

while ago to jake quan. i see right police, buses, you can hear behind me that chanting, people are chanting you know, bring down the dictatorship thomas stop martial law and arrest the president. these people are against this martial law being enacted. this thing was a complete stunning moment. i think the general mood here is one of fragility. find think the general mood here is one of fragility.— one of fragility. and we heard that from _ one of fragility. and we heard that from just _ one of fragility. and we heard that from just about - one of fragility. and we heard l that from just about everybody who has joined us that from just about everybody who hasjoined us here in the last couple of hours, as this news has emerged and no—one was anticipating. has the news filtered out to the people around you that actually, we've had a vote inside the parliament itself and they have voted that this move is invalid, how is that news spread out?— invalid, how is that news spread out? invalid, how is that news sread out? , ., spread out? yes it has. so a lot of peeple _ spread out? yes it has. so a lot of people here _ spread out? yes it has. so a

lot of people here were - lot of people here were watching the vote happening in the parliament live on their youtube, and as soon as the motion was passed, you heard a loud cheer among the crowd. and a lot of people were saying open the door now, open the gate now, and people are ready to go into the national assembly.— to go into the national assembly. to go into the national assembl . �* , ., assembly. and in terms of the national assembly, _ assembly. and in terms of the national assembly, earlier - assembly. and in terms of the national assembly, earlier we | national assembly, earlier we saw just scenes of jostling, national assembly, earlier we sawjust scenes ofjostling, we sawjust scenes ofjostling, we saw soldiers, we think there were special forces soldiers inside the building. are they using large numbers of security?— using large numbers of security? using large numbers of securi ? . �* , ., security? that's right. i mean most of the — security? that's right. i mean most of the police _ security? that's right. i mean most of the police officers - most of the police officers here, i see easily hundreds of police officers all in their hive viz. jackets, but they are not carrying any batons, they are not carrying riot shields. i see some people who are carrying those but the mood is for now quite peaceful. i think the public is still kind of standing by it, waiting to see

what is going to happen. i spoke to a few experts today about what is going to happen but none of them could give us an answer, because we are and aren't hundred territory. — uncharted territory. fix, aren't hundred territory. - uncharted territory.- aren't hundred territory. - uncharted territory. a lot of eo - le uncharted territory. a lot of people looking _ uncharted territory. a lot of people looking now - uncharted territory. a lot of people looking now at - uncharted territory. a lot of people looking now at what| uncharted territory. a lot of. people looking now at what the military will do if you have a standoff between president and parliament, the worry is that instructions will be given to the military to try and enforce his will. but do we know, i was asking someone in the studio, but you are there we do we know the whereabouts physically of where the president actually is as we are talking now? the best cuess as we are talking now? the best auess is as we are talking now? the best guess is that — as we are talking now? the best guess is that he _ as we are talking now? the best guess is that he is _ as we are talking now? the best guess is that he is in _ guess is that he is in his presidential office which is right in the middle of seoul city. the thing is, a lot of people have together here because they wanted the police here, the military here to let the lawmakers through because the lawmakers through because the big fear was that the

police will block the access of the national assembly to prevent the motion to lift the martial law from taking place. so we actually heard the stories of a lawmaker who had to hop over this 1.5 metre fence to get into the assembly hall to participate in the vote and people were blocking anybody from going in and out. that was kind of widespread fear. thankfully, the vote had taken place but now the question is will the president back down? this is a huge gamble for him.- back down? this is a huge gamble for him. going back to some of the — gamble for him. going back to some of the politics, - gamble for him. going back to some of the politics, we - gamble for him. going back to some of the politics, we were| some of the politics, we were just talking to other contributors here who were talking about how politically his will was being supported. has that been evident that there was a standoff brewing? it was a week of very tense

standoff, the headline for the last week has been dominated by a tit—for—tat between the presidential office and the national assembly here. the mood between those two institutions had been the worst institutions had been the worst in recent years. and we saw the president escalating his rhetoric against the national assembly, the national assembly bonding and kind but no—one could have predicted that president yoon would essentially go for the nuclear option. essentially go for the nuclear 0 tion. �* essentially go for the nuclear otion. �* , ~ essentially go for the nuclear otion. �* g. ~ ., option. and, jake, tell me more about whether _ option. and, jake, tell me more about whether those _ option. and, jake, tell me more about whether those people - option. and, jake, tell me more | about whether those people who have gathered with you know about some of the restrictions that he brought in with martial law? those restrictions even extend to the media. have those details actually filtered out? i think the people who are gathered here are ones who are very much invested in the political news of the country. i mean, it is passed to 1:30am here, most of the people would be in bed, actually, when the

news broke. a lot of people must have been in bed. and then people i saw, when i first arrived here there were dozens of people at the gate and now there are hundreds of people. so these people had been glued to their phone looking at every single update, looking at the youtube videos of the live stream, sorry, yes, they are screaming for this martial law to be lifted. and there had been a real real fear amongst the main opposition party circles that this might come to pass and that unit essentially press the button. —— macro to would press a button. right now, there is no freedom in terms the military can arrest you and search you without any warrant. there had been huge anxiety amongst the general public and secondly, there had

been also fake news going around that there might be a curfew from 11pm. so there has been a lot of confusion, a lot of people have been glued to their phone all night. let me bring you an important breaking line on the story, the afp news agency is reporting that south korea's military said they will maintain martial law until it is lifted by the president. i'll repeat that because that is really important given what has happened in the last hour or so, the military in south korea saying they will maintain martial law until it is lifted by the president himself. with me is, su—min hwang, the former head of the bbc�*s korean service. the role of the military here is key and very critical, if they comply with martial law and have a harsh crackdown, there will 1546 00:12:54,608 -->