The television seemed too loud compared to the house’s unusual silence. All watched, frozen in fear and rage. They felt their hearts drop upon seeing their president calling for Martial law, the first time since 1980. Confusion and fear were quickly chased out by anger and disbelief as they continued to listen.
Martial law is defined as an action that the President may take to allow the military to overthrow civilian power.
South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol declared a martial law order around 22:27 Korean Standard Time on Tuesday, December 3. President Yoon claimed that there was an opposition within their Parliament that sympathized with North Korea.
President Yoon prevented any South Korean citizen from speaking out of line.[/pullquote]The Associated Press, also known as AP News, noted that President Yoon had found information that accused multiple people in the opposing party of trying to impeach major government officials and senior prosecutors who side more with President Yoon.
While President Yoon sides more with the conservatives, he feels threatened by the Democratic party’s operations. Due to the Democrats holding the majority of power in their Parliament, President Yoon decided to take drastic action by initiating martial law.
According to Amnesty International, South Korean “Martial law can only be imposed in situations of extraordinary threats to the survival of the nation, such as war or armed rebellion”. However, while declaring martial law, it remains unclear if the declaration was illegal according to their Constitution.
Many believe that President Yoon only initiated this due to his own irrational fear. Others sympathize with his call and believe it to be cautionary. However, most recognized his call as inappropriate due to there being no immediate threat to all of South Korea’s population and land.
In South Korea’s Constitution, Article 77, reads that “When it is required to cope with a military necessity or to maintain the public safety and order by mobilization of the military forces in time of war, armed conflict or similar national emergency, the President may proclaim martial law under the conditions as prescribed by law”.
This means that any President in South Korea is not allowed to initiate any form of martial law without there being any legitimate reason. Some examples may include, but are not limited to: time of war, national emergency, public safety, and invasions.
Most of the Parliament had agreed that President Yoon’s calling of martial law was not a wise decision due to his already decreasing popularity. Along with the President’s popularity crash, the Democratic Party used his decision to their advantage, removing most of the powerful conservatives that still hold seats in court.
Through the 7th and the 8th of December, 2024, Parliament pushed a motion to impeach President Yoon. However, the People Power Party, also referred to as the PPP, boycotted the vote. President Yoon agreed to stay out of the country’s international affairs, as well as shortening his term in office.
Most people in the country are angry with this decision and have been leading protests around their Parliament building to express their demands. They wish for President Yoon to step down from his Presidency immediately, or at least remove his title and the powers that he has as Chief Commander of Defence.
In order to appease the general public, President Yoon has also agreed to be put under criminal investigation and remain within South Korea’s border. Most people still find his actions suspicious, and there have been numerous reports calling him out for treason. There have also been multiple military officials who claim that they won’t listen to any of President Yoon’s orders going forward without knowing the reasoning behind his actions.
This entire affair is important for the United States to know about for a multitude of reasons. For example, South Korea and the United States have multiple pacts and treaties together, and President Yoon maintaining martial law will create a rift between the two countries.
One of the most important ideas that the United States protects is freedom, a right to democracy, or the right to vote. Once martial law was called, President Yoon prevented any South Korean citizen from speaking out of line. Meaning that if the person doesn’t agree with the policies that Yoon is creating, they are unable to do anything about it.
Had South Korea’s common people not fought back against the initiation for martial law, the truce between the United States and South Korea could have easily fallen apart.
The United States was especially concerned with the lack of knowledge before the call was made. Around 27,000 United States service members are currently stationed in South Korea, just as a safety measure against North Korea. However, without the information of the potential threat, the United States fears that martial law will have a negative impact on those stationed in South Korea.
On December 14, 2024, South Korea’s Government announced that they decided to impeach Yoon over martial law. Even though there is public concern about there being only six judges instead of the regular nine due to most of them retiring, the Court decided that they are able to set the first trial date on December 27, 2024.
On Saturday, during the re-vote, many of the PPP realized that Yoon wasn’t going to step down from office like he had promised them to avoid the impeachment. Even though they had planned for Yoon to have a clean step-down from office, it was becoming increasingly obvious that Yoon wasn’t going to follow through with his agreements with them.
Many people recognized that Yoon, based on his current actions, might even refuse to take the stand for his own court case. BBC News found that, “He ignored a summons to meet prosecutors in Seoul on Sunday, and is set to be ordered in again for questioning. If he fails to come forward this week, police may move to arrest him”.
All five of the PPP Court Justices decided that after this case, they would resign which is going to negatively affect the country even more. This is because South Korea’s central government is continuing to collapse with a short amount of time for the positions to be filled.
This is the second time that a President has been impeached in South Korea, and the first time that so many people followed suit with the impeached president by either quitting or getting arrested.
However, President Yoon believed he was truly helping South Korea. He continues to stand by his claims, supporting martial law and continuously fighting against those who impeached him. South Korea is slowly falling apart. With all of the political instability, it makes people wonder which country is going to fall victim next.
