What’s going on in South Korea?
That’s one of those post titles that promises more than I can deliver. But I’ll do my best.
The president of South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol, gave a speech declaring martial law in the country. His explanation was something akin to “in order to save democracy.” From his speech:
Since the inauguration of our government, the National Assembly has initiated 22 impeachment motions against government officials, and since the inauguration of the 22nd National Assembly in June, it is pushing for the impeachment of 10 more. This is a situation that is not only unprecedented in any country in the world, but has never been seen since the founding of our country …
This trampling of the constitutional order of the free Republic of Korea and the disruption of legitimate state institutions established by the constitution and laws is an obvious anti-state act that plots insurrection. …
The National Assembly, which should be the foundation of liberal democracy, has become a monster that collapses the liberal democracy system. …
Dear citizens, I declare emergency martial law to defend the free Republic of Korea from the threats of North Korean communist forces and to eradicate the shameless pro-North Korean anti-state forces that are plundering the freedom and happiness of our people and to protect the free constitutional order.
And the National Assembly countered by blocking the declaration of martial law, with the military standing down. And it seems that even Yoon’s own party isn’t backing his martial law move.
It’s hard to get any really in-depth analysis at this point. But it seems at the outset, anyway, that he’s not a popular guy and it’s not a popular move. My hunch is that North Korea doesn’t have all that much to do with it. And I guess that either it will blow over, or we’ll find out more.
It appears to be an attempt at what is called an autogolpe in Latin America. The President of Guatemala tried this in 1993 and ended up being run out of Dodge.
He’s backed down now, and rescinded the order. But, he’s toast
“Since the inauguration of our government, the National Assembly has initiated 22 impeachment motions against government officials, and since the inauguration of the 22nd National Assembly in June, it is pushing for the impeachment of 10 more. ”
Seems like democratic behavior, multipled. Can’t happen here..
He has tried to reverse some of the foolish policies of his predecessors hence the 4B performance artists, the korean version of the swamp
Fujimori was successful in 92 a generation before bordaberry in uruguay against the tupamaros the wannabe guevaristas
He should go straight for a George Costanza type defense.
Wait, you thought I was being serious? I was kidding! I thought you knew I was kidding!
The rest of the story
https://x.com/GordonGChang/status/1863970929606373602
Among his other talents he sings pretty well as well as being pro American
It’s true that there are few good analyses of the politics surrounding the martial law declaration, but “The Korea Times” has just published a summary that seems pretty even-handed (https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2024/12/356_387646.html).
“The Korea Times” is a well-established English-language newspaper that’s generally viewed as politically lightweight. It’s audience is primarily English-speaking expats living in Korea.
An American-centric comment:
I’d guess that President Yoon Suk Yeol will either resign or be impeached, and that the next president will be from a left-wing party. In Korea, that means pro-North Korea, pro-China, and very anti-American. The Korean Left has already compared Yoon Suk Yeol to Trump, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see lots of anti-American demonstrations in the coming years. Trump hatred will be used to inflame the base.
Whenever you hear a kerluffle its only half of the story
Kimchi Revolution.
(It stinks…)
Like the ginzu knife commercial
https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/1863983549138763933
Autogolpe in progress
I was determined not to ask my Korean teacher about any of this stuff this evening, and I held to that. She has family in Seoul, of course, so certainly has a stake in the matter. Besides, I don’t have any political- or government-related vocabulary yet.