SOUTH KOREA’S main trade union organisation called a general strike yesterday, demanding the immediate resignation of President Yoon Suk Yeol.

The 1.1 million-strong Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) issued its call at a press conference in early hours, not long after MPs had overturned the president’s declaration of martial law.

The union grouping said the strike was a fight to protect democracy and accused Mr Yoon of abusing his authority in a bid to retain power when he announced the imposition of martial law on Tuesday.

Martial law lasted only about six hours, as the National Assembly voted to overrule the president and the declaration was formally lifted around 4.30am during an emergency cabinet meeting.

But Mr Yoon failed to resign, sparking the general strike and widespread calls for his removal by impeachment.

The KCTU said the president’s “unconstitutional” measure “marks the end of his regime. We, along with the people of this nation, will not stand by.”

KCTU chairman Yang Kyung Soo said Mr Yoon had “failed in [his] rebellion against the people,” as he called for the punishment of all government officials involved in the emergency declaration.

Meanwhile, opposition parties submitted a motion to impeach the president over Tuesday’s short-lived martial law.

The announcement led heavily armed troops to encircle parliament before MPs climbed walls to re-enter the building and unanimously voted to lift his order.

In his speech announcing the order on Tuesday night, Mr Yoon vowed to eliminate “anti-state” forces and continued to criticise parliament’s attempts to impeach key government officials and senior prosecutors. 

The liberal opposition Democratic Party, which holds a majority in the 300-seat parliament, said yesterday that its MPs had decided to call on the president to quit immediately or they would take steps to impeach him.

In a statement, the party said that the “martial law declaration was a clear violation of the constitution” that “provides perfect grounds for his impeachment.”

Two-thirds of parliament and at least six of the Constitutional Court’s nine judges would have to support the bid to oust Mr Yoon for it to succeed. 

The motion could be put to a parliamentary vote as early tomorrow.

Mr Yoon’s government and ruling party have been mired in an impasse with the Democrats over next year’s budget and an attempt led by them to impeach three top prosecutors.