At 10:23pm on Tuesday, December 3, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law upon the country during an unannounced TV program. According to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary, martial law is defined as “the law administered by military forces that is invoked by a government in an emergency when the civilian law enforcement agencies are unable to maintain public order and safety.” Yeol claims that he declared the decree because he believed that the opposing democratic party was affiliated with North Korean officials.
When the decree was active, Korean soldiers flooded the streets, particularly defending the National Assembly building. By doing this, it prevented members of parliament from getting in to discuss the movement. In this time, protests formed to rally against the president since concerns about democracy and freedom were on the line. After a long six hours, at 4:30am, the members of parliament were able to effectively vote out the decree constitutionally.
On December 7th, the impeachment vote took place to remove Yeol from office. During the vote, members of his party left parliament, leading to Yeol surviving the vote. Although Yeol is still in office, his party awaits his resignation. His own party, along with many of the Korean citizens are strongly pressuring him to step down. Kim Joon-hyung, member of the opposing party, says “The sooner that he resigned or impeached, the better for our country.”
This is considered a landmark event for South Korea especially due to their affiliations with North Korea. Throughout history, South Korea was constantly being invaded by communist North Korea during which, South Korea was under martial law. The audacity to resurrect the law shows the severity and boldness of the move. Additionally, this concerns the United States because of the mutual defense treaty which binds the two countries to act. The treaty states that the other country would need to assist one another if one country is under attack. This was seen as an attack on democracy which could have led the 30,000 US troops in South Korea to interfere.
