Just past 1 a.m. local time in Seoul, after lawmakers unanimously voted to block the president’s martial law decree, dozens of troops that had entered the main parliamentary building began to withdraw, according to Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo.

Local television stations also showed troops withdrawing from the building.

Some forces are still waiting within the National Assembly grounds, though some appear to have set down their gear, Chosun Ilbo reported.

Citizens waiting outside the building cheered when news came of the lawmakers’ vote, according to Chosun Ilbo — with some shouting, “Long live the Republic of Korea!” and “Yoon Suk-yeol, step down!”

Key context: One hundred and ninety lawmakers voted to overturn the measure. It’s unclear what effect the vote will have on the martial law declaration. Under South Korean law, the president is obliged to comply with the vote.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol takes an oath during his inauguration in front of the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, on May 10, 2022.

Jeon Heon-Kyun/Reuters

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has seen his popularity ratings plunge since he took office in 2022, due to a series of scandals and controversies that even prompted hundreds of thousands to call for his impeachment.

Deadly crowd crush: Just months after his inauguration, the Itaewon Halloween crowd crush took place, killing 159 people, with the public demanding accountability and action from authorities.

Families told CNN a year on they remained unsatisfied with the response — especially after Yoon blocked a bill proposing a new probe into the incident earlier this year, according to Reuters.

Designer bag controversy: Then there was the Dior bag controversy: The president’s wife, Kim Keon Hee, was accused of accepting a $2,200 designer bag as a gift, which would violate the anti-graft law banning public officials and their spouses from receiving gifts valued at more than $750.

Yoon has called the Dior allegations a “political stunt” — but instead of blowing over, the scandal has escalated into a full-blown crisis for Yoon and his conservative party, reflected in the parliamentary elections in April where liberal opposition parties scored a landslide victory.

The opposition’s parliamentary sway is partly what prompted Yoon to order emergency martial law, citing a motion by the opposition to impeach top prosecutors and reject a government budget proposal.

Lawmakers who assembled in South Korea’s parliament unanimously voted to block the president’s martial law decree.

Of South Korea’s 300 National Assembly members, 190 were present to vote in the emergency late-night session, which took place hours after President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law in a televised address. All 190 voted to block the move.

“The people should … rest easy. The National Assembly will defend democracy with the people,” he said.

Remember: It is unclear whether Yoon will comply with the vote, which he is required to do under South Korean law.

The martial law decree published shortly before lawmakers assembled in parliament declared all political and parliamentary activities to be prohibited.

A general view of US Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, on February 21, 2019.

Jung Yeon-je/AFP/Getty Images

The astonishing political instability now coursing through South Korea will reverberate far beyond its borders, including in Washington.

South Korea and the United States have a decades-old mutual defense treaty, which means both must come to the aid of the other if they are ever attacked.

Key US military installations dot South Korea.

Among them is the US Army’s Camp Humphreys, the largest US military installation outside of the United States with a population of more than 41,000 US service members, civilian workers, contractors and family members.

Alongside Japan and the Philippines, which also boast a mutual defense treaty with the US, South Korea is part of a trio of regional powers that have helped to bolster American power in both Asia and the Pacific for decades.

Advocates argue that a significant US troop presence in the Korean Peninsula is crucial to deter any potential attack from North Korea as Kim Jong Un’s regime continues to build its nuclear arsenal and as a way of bolstering the US presence in the region to counter China’s aggression.

While tensions between North and South Korea have ebbed and flowed in recent decades, the relationship has become particularly fraught since Yoon took office, with both sides resorting to increasingly threatening rhetoric and actions.