Martial law and military rule declared by President Yoon earlier in the day have now been lifted.

He had accused the country's main opposition party of paralyzing his minority government and sympathizing with North Korea.

While troops were on the streets and there were clashes between police and protesters outside parliament when martial law was announced, demonstrators then demanded President Yoon be arrested.

There is relative calm now, but the crisis has alarmed many around the world.

With South Korea a democracy firmly allied to the West, but sharing a border with communist North Korea.

Both the U.S. and the U.K. say they're deeply concerned about the situation.

Laura Bicker is live in Seoul for us tonight.

As you can hear, the protesters are still in full voice.

It's a new day here in Seoul and they have several pleas to the parliament.

They are calling for the president to be removed.

Remember, this is a population that has already lived through military dictatorship.

They did not expect to see it, however, briefly back here in 2024.

Now, there are two key questions, Clive.

Firstly, what was the president thinking?

And secondly, what happens next?

Soldiers and police blocked the entrance to South Korea's parliament following the orders of a desperate president.

Locked in a bitter fight with his political rivals and deeply unpopular, Yoon Seok-yol took drastic action.

Through this martial law, I will rebuild and protect the free Republic of Korea, which is falling into the depths of national ruin.

Within hours, thousands of protesters made it clear they would not comply with what they viewed as an attempted coup.

Withdraw the martial law, arrest Yoon, they chanted.

I believe I should step forward and take action.

Things like this should never happen.

After watching the news, I felt anxious and I also thought that this is such a national shame.

Clashes broke out as police tried to hold them back, while helicopters thumped overhead.

Meanwhile, members of the country's National Assembly battled their own military to take back their elected seats.

Getting there in whatever way they could.

The vote was unanimous.

Martial law was overruled, while the country's parliament bore the scars of the evening's Many protesters stayed in place and had to wait hours to hear that finally, President Yoon accepted.

His brief attempt at military rule was over.

The declaration of martial law lacks the necessary procedural requirements and was void from the outset.

South Korea is a stable democracy, but it's also a noisy one.

And today, its parliament and its people roared at the most serious challenge to the country's democracy since the 1980s.

Concern where you are, Laura.

And for the West, after events today, what could happen next?

Well, I think one of the first things we're hearing is there will be a move towards impeachment, which is what many of these crowds around us want.

I'm just watching police, Clive, wander towards us.

They are going to surround the parliament, the National Assembly building, by the looks of it.

And we are hearing that an impeachment vote could come as soon as today, but we'll have to wait and see.

There are also further protest plans to push politicians towards that goal, or to push President Yoon to step down.

But I think it goes back to the key question that I asked right at the beginning.

What on earth was he thinking?

This is a deeply unpopular politician who is struggling to get anything done in his own parliament, can't even get his own budget passed.

So you can see why he might push for some drastic action.

But military rule, martial law, is something that this country never wanted to see again.

And now President Yoon will probably pay the price.

And his political career is on the brink.