It may seem that the wild predawn scenes in Seoul, with hundreds of armed troops and frantic lawmakers storming South Korea's parliament building after the president suddenly declared martial law, came out of nowhere.

The opposition-controlled parliament overturned the the martial law edict, and his rivals on Wednesday took steps to impeach him.

In South Korea, President Yoon Suk Yeol briefly declared martial law in a move that sparked widespread backlash. Here's why.