South Korea's quick martial law creates chaos as Parliament scrambles to undo it
South Korean President, Yoon Suk Yeol, announcing martial Law on South Korea (Reuters)
This Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024, South Korean President, Yoon Suk Yeol, imposed martial law on South Korea. This news was unexpected, there was no schedule for President Yoon to to have a speech broadcasted, and it occurred in the middle of the night. In this broadcast, he declared that he was placing South Korea under "emergency martial law". His explanation was vague, stating only that the South Korean government was under threat from North Korea.
Protesters stopping Military personnel from getting into the National Assembly building(france24 news)
Martial law means that the military takes over the government. To try and execute this, soldiers were sent to the National Assembly building to try and stop members of Parliament from entering the building and lifting the order. Although the soldiers were sent quickly, 190 of the 300 members of Parliament were able to get into the building with some even having to jump over a fence because the police were blocking the gate. However, this was not the end as military personnel attempted to storm the National Assembly. They were met with fierce resistance from the staff and protesters piled up near parliament. The protesters were doing everything they could, from pulling soldiers away from the doors to even trying to pull away their guns. Although the soldiers were able to get into the building, barricades were set up within the building making it difficult to traverse. This gave the members of Parliament enough time to vote on whether to lift the martial law. With a unanimous vote, Parliament officially lifted the martial law at around 4:30 am on December 4th, 2024 local time.
What could this mean for President Yoon? President Yoon has had a low approval rating, with just about a 17% rating from the start and this new event will cause it to lower even more. With several corruption scandals on him, this will probably be his last one with many calling for his resignation or impeachment. There are already lawmakers in South Korea that have started the process of impeaching him and this will probably not have a hard time passing through as he tried to overthrow them using military force. It will only be a matter of time until he is impeached.
This raises the question: Could this happen in America? The short answer is likely no. While the President has the authority to implement martial law, it would require a specific and compelling reason. In such a scenario similar to South Korea’s, Congress has the power to lift martial law promptly, ensuring that the situation is resolved before it escalates into something more severe. An overstep of this power will result in the same outcome as South Korea’s president, an impeachment.
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20241204-soldiers-vs-office-chairs-south-korea-s-martial-law-standoff
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0lgw1pw5zpo
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/south-korean-president-declares-emergency-martial-law-says-opposition-sides-with-north-korea
https://apnews.com/article/south-korea-yoon-martial-law-997c22ac93f6a9bece68454597e577c1
17 comments:
Wow. South Korea has a stronger democracy than us. That aside, Yoon's sudden decision to impose martial law is both surprising, to the say the least, and out of the blue. Digging into some analysis on what prompted Yoon to take this bold, radical action, it looks like he was not in an emotionally good state when considering that his closest political allies had handed in their resignation letters. Also, parliament requested to investigate Yoon's wife--who's in deep waters for all sorts of controversies--which he swiftly refused. Not only that, Yoon just doesn't seem like an effective leader; he made lots of promises at the start of his presidency, but he's yet to bring any substantial change and his approval rating continues to go down in the gutters. By the way, what's ironic is that Yoon, prior to being elected as President, was a notable investigator dealing with high-level corruption investigations; one of which he spearheaded was the investigation of former President Park Geun-hye who was eventually impeached. To me, suddenly carrying out martial law is not befitting of a man who used to take on corruption cases--isn't that a breach of power and also contradictory? Anyways, this is a good sign that the South Korean democracy is alive and active.
If President Yoon is forced to resign or is impeached, he will have essentially gone from a democracy’s highest position to unemployment. I have to say, it was surprising how fast Parliament officially lifted martial law, especially considering the military was present to stop them from entering the building. It brings a sense of comfort as with such a complex situation, officials create the time to work towards resolving the problem. This is a symbol of the strength of democratic resistance. A sign that people can act. However, I am interested in seeing how the situation unfolds as what about long term? President Yoon’s action can reduce trust in the government. Similarly, when Watergate happened, the public started losing faith in the government. In all honesty, it would not be surprising if President Yoon’s stretch or even over-extension of power led to him being removed from his position.
This is quite startling. The declaration of martial law is quite serious and I wonder what pushed Yoon to carry out such drastic measures, perhaps the recent North Korean missile drills resulted in a heightened sense of caution and feeling of danger to the South. However, those drills were a month ago so I am curious as to what Yoon was (or maybe wasn't) thinking. I have also seen on social media some of the eye-witness/POV accounts of the protesting against the Korean military, including a video of a soldier bowing and apologizing to a protestor. This prompts the question, how does the military actually feel about this? We often consider either the one who gives the orders or the people who fight back against them, but what about the in-betweeners who are forced to carry out a will that may not align with their own values? It feels like an all-around loss of trust in the government, and quite frankly I feel that Yoon should be removed as this is a serious breach of democracy and the will of the people. However, it is good that the people of South Korea are using their voices to stand up against this executive oppression.
Martial Law is quite wild to see as if this happened in our country I don't know if we would respond as quickly as they did and I am glad they responded as quickly as they did as who knows what would have happened if they don't. But on a broader context as well it is fairly concerning to see this in one country especially to see what happened in France as well as democracy's and governments in power as a whole seem to facing pushback. Though it is good that the people in South Korea stomped this out quickly which will hopefully call talks of impeaching Yoon and stop future attempts the same thing by him or other people. As well as hopefully making other attempts around the world not happen or at least call to people that it can be stopped if it does happen.
The crowding and overtake of the National Assembly draws some parallels to January 6th. It is concerning to see this happening in not just the US but in South Korea as well. Democracy seems to be getting weaker as the power of the president gets stronger...as if we were approaching authoritarianism. Of course, it is relieving that martial law was lifted and there is a high chance of impeachment in South Korea. What is not relieving is that we just elected a president who basically incited a coup on the Capitol Building. We cannot continue this downward spiral away from democracy. The presidential powers cannot keep growing unchecked, and we require a strong Congress to do this. We require members of Congress willing to climb over fences and take away guns from trained soldiers in order to preserve democracy.
Personally, I'm shocked about what is unfolding in South Korea with President Yoon's decision to impose martial law. Especially imposing it in the middle of the night with such a vague explanation about a “ threat from Korea” it feels undemocratic. what stood out to me was how quickly the parliament acted to lift the martial law despite all the chaos unfolding. for you I believe this could be the end of his presidency with such low approval ratings in all his history of scandals I really can't see how he'll recover from trying to use the military to shut down the very government he supposed to lead
Although President Yoon is known for his low approval rating, I still want to believe that there are more reasons behind the “threat from North Korea.” However, at the same time if there were no reasons and just imposed martial law out of nowhere, it is frightening to see him stil as a president. As of today, the vote to impeach President Yoon failed and is said to be reconsidered next weekend. Additionally, it is interesting to see the economic side effects of this incident. On Thursday, South Korea’s benchmark stock index, the KOSPI, dropped 0.9%, 1.44% lower than the previous day. The unstable situation of South Korea forces the investors and consumers to stay away from South Korea. The so-called, “Korea discount,” was due to factors like the proximity to North Korea, but now South Korea itself is becoming a problem of undervalued stocks of South Korean firms like Samsung.
The fact that this attempt to overtake the government came even somewhat close to success makes me fearful of what the future could hold for South Korea's future could hold if no changes are made to their government. The fact that a vague reason could be enough to transfer control of the government to a sole body means that the democracy of the nation is in the hands of the president. Obviously, there is some connection to the January 6th insurrection, but in this case, it doesn't seem like any laws were broken--there was simply a gaping hole in the system that had not been abused before.
This is a very astonishing piece because South Korea has a democracy like the U.S. has, which makes it more surprising. The comparison between South Korea and the US was fascinating to me, but it also came with many questions. While the US president does have the power to do this, the Congress and the checks and balances system set in the US would not allow the US to do this because this situation would be one of too much power. If this were to happen the American people wouldn’t allow this which would come with lots of protesting and pushback and of course impeachment of the president. What happened in South Korea was truly astonishing and shows what would happen if one person had too much power. South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol deserves to be impeached for this misuse of power and for hurting his people.
This is impactful of a decision being able to take place as an executive decision is shocking. It's scary to think how quickly a democracy can be transformed as civilians are stripped of their rights. The civilians quick rise to action, trying to prevent the soldiers from disrupting the parliament meeting, shows the severity of the issue. People were willing to put their lives upon the line to protect themselves and their democracy. While I agree that this circumstance wouldn't likely take place in the U.S., this sudden and drastic decision doesn't seem too off from the tendencies of Donald Trump. Unfortunately, as we saw from January 6th a decision like that may actually have the support from some Americans.
This whole situation with President Yoon just feels crazy. Martial law is such a big step, and the fact that it happened so suddenly in the middle of the night with no clear explanation makes it even more alarming. The fact that Parliament had to fight back against military personnel trying to stop them from lifting it shows how intense things got. It’s a reminder of how quickly a government can spiral when the people lose trust in their leader. As for whether this could happen in America, I think it’s unlikely—there are too many checks and balances to let something like this go too far. But who knows, the way things are going, anything’s possible.
Yes, President Yoon was unable to create any real change but this is because he can't get anything through. He has attempted to pass different laws and bills but wasn't able to get them through the National Assembly because they hold a majority party opposing President Yoon's party so it isn't fully his fault. Nonetheless, his scandals are really shady like you said, and his refusal to cooperate is suspicious. I do believe that it is ironic that he has become what he was investigating and it brings me to the question of did he think he could avoid the investigations because he knew what to avoid?
I was also very surprised by how fast Parliament was able to lift martial law. The swiftness of their actions was able to seize the chaos quickly. I also wonder what will happen long-term-wise, as I feel like the South Korean people are going to lose trust in the government with the impeachment of soon-to-be two consecutive presidents. I like how you connected this to the Watergate scandal because these types of actions are what mark history in government and I believe that this may be a defining moment in South Korean history.
There could have been a lot of things that could have caused him to take such drastic actions and most probably include North Korea. I have heard rumors that North Koreans have infiltrated into high ranks of the South Korean government and this could be a possible reason as to why as he may have been trying to avoid them from taking over the government. I do believe that many of the soldiers were heavily against martial law too but were forced to carry out such orders. The video that you found demonstrates this with that soldier apologizing to a protestor. Along with this, not a single bullet was fired, highlighting that the soldiers didn't want to take any major actions.
I don't think our country could convene so fast because of the country's size. It was definitely good to see this being stopped as fast as it did because we wouldn't know what could have happened if the National Assembly didn't lift martial law before anything big could happen.
I didn't really think about the economic effects of this but you are definitely right as the economy has taken a hit since this effect. People may see South Korea as an unstable country and pull out their investments which could stall their growth or even cause them to have a recession. This would be horrifying to see because they have been on a rise and even became an economic powerhouse.
There is a parallel to January 6th and the only difference I can really see is that the roles of the military and the people were reversed. I do believe with you that the president shouldn't hold this much power and should be spread more evenly to avoid situations like these.
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