South Korean lawmakers on Wednesday proposed impeaching President Yoon Suk Yeol for his sudden decision to declare martial law, which he rescinded after a chaotic standoff between parliament and the army that damaged the country’s standing.

Yoon’s declaration of martial law late on Tuesday attempted to ban political activity and censor the media in South Korea, which has Asia’s fourth largest economy and is a key U.S. ally.

Washington had no advance notice of the decision, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Reuters, adding that he expected to speak with his South Korean counterpart in the coming days.

Armed troops had forced their way into the National Assembly building in Seoul but stood back when parliamentary aides sprayed them with fire extinguishers. Lawmakers rejected the martial law decision while protesters scuffled with police outside.

On Wednesday evening, civic and labour groups held a candlelight vigil in downtown Seoul calling for Yoon’s resignation - a reminder of the massive candlelight protests that led to the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye in 2017. They then marched to the presidential office.

Six South Korean opposition parties submitted a bill in parliament to impeach Yoon, who had already faced accusations of heavy-handed leadership from his opponents and from within his own party, with voting set for Friday or Saturday.

A plenary session to formally introduce the bill was scheduled to begin shortly after midnight (1500 GMT) on Wednesday.

“We couldn’t ignore the illegal martial law,” DP lawmaker Kim Yong-min told reporters. “We can no longer let democracy collapse.”

The leader of Yoon’s ruling People Power Party called for Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun to be fired and the entire cabinet to resign. Kim has offered to resign, the defence ministry said.

The crisis rattled global financial markets and left South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI index .KS11 down 1.4%, taking its year-to-date losses to over 7% and making it the worst performing major stock market in Asia this year.

The won was stable but close to a two-year low, with dealers reporting suspected intervention by South Korean authorities after overnight talks between Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok and Bank of Korea Governor Rhee Chang-yong.

Choi sent an emergency note to global financial chiefs and credit rating agencies late on Wednesday which said the market was functioning as usual, and that the finance ministry was working to alleviate any adverse impact from political turmoil, the ministry said in a statement.