Six hours that shook the country

19-year-old Hwang was watching the protests in Georgia on the news on Tuesday night when the images on television suddenly changed – his country was in the spotlight after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law.

“I couldn’t believe what I saw,” said the 19-year-old student who wished to be identified only by his last name.

On Wednesday afternoon, he was among the protesters standing in front of the National Assembly, still stunned by what happened the day before.

“It is important for me to be here to show that we are against what Yoon is trying to do,” said Hwang.

A little less than six hours later, Yoon was forced to retract his shocking announcement after lawmakers insisted on blocking it.

But that was chaos, it sparked protests, fear and uncertainty in the country that elected him.

On Tuesday night, at 23:00 local time (14:00 GMT) President Yoon, sitting in front of blue curtains, made an unexpected speech to the nation.

He said he was imposing martial law to protect the country from “anti-state” forces sympathetic to North Korea. The divisive leader is facing an uproar over the budget bill, which has been plagued by corruption scandals and investigations involving members of his cabinet.

What followed was a sleepless night in Seoul.

Shortly after Yoon’s announcement, police lined up at the white metal gates outside the National Assembly building in central Seoul, a building that the country’s tourism authorities have hailed as a “symbol of Korean democracy”.

The military then announced that all parliamentary work had been suspended under martial law. But that or heavy security did not stop thousands from gathering in front of the meeting out of concern and anger.

It’s easy to forget that South Korea – now a vibrant democracy – last entrenched a dictatorship not too long ago – emerging from military rule in 1987. Martial law was last imposed in 1979.

This was “a step I didn’t expect to see in the 21st century in South Korea,” university student Juye Hong told the BBC World Service’s OS program in Seoul.

Shortly after Yoon’s shocking announcement, opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, held a live broadcast urging people to gather at the National Assembly and protest there.

He also asked his law colleagues to go to the meeting to vote to drop the order.

Hundreds of South Koreans responded.

Tensions quickly rose as a sea of ​​dark, puffy winter coats pushed against a line of police in neon jackets, chanting “no to martial law”.

And as the vehicles came with the soldiers, the crowds blocked them. A woman was sleeping defiantly between the wheels of a car.

In stark contrast, there was a facade of normalcy throughout Seoul. Still, the city was full of confusion.

“The streets look normal, people here are confused,” John Nilsson-Wright, an associate professor at the University of Cambridge, told the BBC World Service in Seoul.

The police officer he spoke to was “as confused as I was,” he added.

There was no sleep for others. “At first I was happy with the thought of not going to school today,” 15-year-old Kwon Hoo told the BBC in Seoul on Wednesday. “But then a sense of fear settled in, which kept me up all night.”

“There are no words to express how scared I am that things could become like North Korea for our people,” the South Korean, who did not want to be named, told BBC OS.

At that time, a report was spreading that special forces had been sent to the assembly building. Helicopters were heard circling the sky before landing on the roof of parliament.

Journalists crowded the crowd outside the gates, clicking their cameras.

As concerns grew that the government might clamp down on the media, journalists in Seoul kept in touch with each other, offering advice on how to stay safe.

Ahn Gwi-ryeong, 35, a spokesman for the opposition Democratic Party, found himself facing down soldiers at gunpoint. The video of this moment, where he pulls a soldier’s gun, has gone viral.

“I wasn’t thinking about anything smart or rational, I was saying, ‘We have to stop this, if we don’t stop this, there’s nothing else,'” he told the BBC.

“To be honest, I was scared at first when I first saw the military personnel. I thought, ‘Is this something that can happen in the 21st century in Korea, especially in the National Assembly?’

“After such a storm last night, it was hard to come back to reality,” he added, recalling the previous night. “I felt like I was witnessing a reversal of history.”

As Ahn faced the military, the clock was ticking on opposition lawmakers, who rushed into the meeting to block the order. If that happens, the president will have to withdraw it.

But first, MPs and their assistants had to go inside. Some crawled on the legs of the security forces, others shuffled and screamed at the armed soldiers; many went up and down and over fences and walls.

Lee Seong-yoon of the Democratic Party told the BBC that he had to scale a 1.5m (4.9ft) high fence to enter the building, and was stopped by police even after he showed them his identity as a lawyer.

Another opposition member of parliament, Hong Keewon, said the protesters helped lift him up the wall. He was asleep when Yoon made the announcement – when his wife woke him up, he ran to parliament.

“Democracy is strong here,” Hong said. “The military needs to obey us, the constitution, not the president.”

Lawmakers who entered the building huddled together, calmer than the people outside. Hastily, they covered the doors with whatever they could find: padded benches, long tables, sofas.

Others tried to push back the soldiers who had entered the assembly building.

At 01:00 local time, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-sik sent a resolution to lift martial law.

With that, less than two hours after Yoon’s shock announcement, the 190 lawmakers gathered, including some from Yoon’s party, voted unanimously to block it.

After the vote, opposition leader Lee told reporters that this was “an important opportunity to break the vicious cycle and return to normal society”.

By 04:30, Yoon was back on TV, in front of the same blue curtains, saying he would lift martial law. But this will only be made official, he said, when he can get his cabinet together enough to lift the order.

This announcement was received with joy outside the meeting. In the pre-dawn hours, more people emerged from the building, behind the barricades they had automatically put together.

With holes in the doors and broken windows, this beautiful building already bears the scars of the night when South Koreans saved their democracy.

Schools, local businesses and banks opened as usual on Wednesday morning – and flights continued to land without a hitch in South Korea’s bustling capital.

But the public anger – and the political fallout – did not end.

As the sun rose on Wednesday, thousands gathered to call for Yoon to step down. The president is also facing trial.

“We are a strong democracy…But the Korean people want security – President Yoon must resign or be impeached,” Yang Bu-nam, a Democratic Party politician, told the BBC.