Insights into President Yoon Suk Yeol's reasoning behind his ill-fated martial law declaration emerged late Wednesday during a meeting among key figures of the ruling bloc. It appeared that the president anticipated the measure's rejection by parliament but proceeded nonetheless, framing it as “a warning to the opposition party.”

Han Dong-hoon, the leader of the ruling People Power Party and a participant in the meeting, dismissed Yoon’s claim afterward, saying, “Martial law cannot be a warning. Who would use martial law like that?”

Han, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, ruling party floor leader Choo Kyung-ho and several members of the government, the presidential office and the People Power Party had gathered for a closed-door meeting with Yoon to discuss follow-up measures to the six-hour martial law fiasco Yoon initiated Tuesday night.

Yoon had also been asked to leave the ruling party, but this was not discussed in detail during Wednesday's meeting.

Yoon, in a national address late Tuesday, declared martial law, only to lift it about six hours later, accepting the National Assembly’s resolution against it. Early Thursday, the six opposition parties tabled a presidential impeachment motion in parliament, with a vote expected as early as Friday.

In a party meeting Thursday morning, the 53-year-old Han also said, “(The president’s) perception of the situation was significantly different from mine and that of the public, making it difficult to find common ground.”

Still, he will work to unite his party in order to block the passage of an opposition-led motion to impeach the president, he added.

During Wednesday's meeting, Yoon told officials that martial law was intended simply as a warning to the opposition, and that he knew the measure would be promptly lifted after a request by the National Assembly. He reportedly explained this was why he instructed the military to be deployed an hour after the public address, which shows that he had no intention to seize parliament.

After Yoon declared martial law at around 10:27 p.m., military forces dispatched to the parliament building stopped people from going in, while simultaneously trying to enter the building themselves with unexplained intentions. Lawmakers who arrived there after the building was blocked off jumped fences and pushed through the soldiers, eventually participating in a unanimous vote to demand martial law be rescinded.

During Wednesday's meeting, Han also protested Yoon's attempt to arrest him during martial law. It was found that military forces had attempted to arrest Han and Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, who had become prominent political rivals to Yoon.

Yoon reportedly told Han that the arrest would have been because Han going to the National Assembly to vote was "against the orders under the martial law that banned political activities such as the National Assembly."

The president, during the state of martial law, ordered the cessation of all political activities, including National Assembly sessions, which local law experts allege was unconstitutional. Article 77 of the Constitution states that the National Assembly can demand the president lift martial law and the president is required to concede this demand, a process rendered impossible if lawmakers are banned from convening.