In a late-night unscheduled press conference on Tuesday night local time, President Yoon Suk Yeol announced he was ordering martial law across the nation of 52 million people, citing "anti-state forces" at work.
The military responded by entering the National Assembly building, facing staffers wielding fire extinguishers and furniture used to blockade access.
Thousands of demonstrators gathered at the parliament as MPs raced, some jumping fences, to an emergency vote to lift the declaration - which succeeded with 190 MPs present, six hours after it was first made.
Yoon then ordered the army to withdraw, and is now facing impeachment proceedings filed by opposition MPs.
Thousands have protested the shock move, which analysts believe is linked to Yoon's "lame-duck" political status after a series of scandals involving his wife.
(Reuters: Kim Soo-hyeon)
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Inside one room of the National Assembly in Seoul. (Reuters: Kim Hong-Ji)Workers remove furniture used as barricades inside the National Assembly building. (Reuters: Kim Hong-Ji)A door broken when military forces entered South Korea's parliament building. (Reuters: Kim Hong-Ji)
A protester holds a placard that reads "Democracy will not surrender to Yoon Suk Yeol". (Reuters: Kim Soo-hyeon)
Sung-Ae Lee (Supplied)
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(Reuters: Kim Hong-Ji)(Reuters: Kim Hong-Ji)(Reuters: Kim Hong-Ji)
