South Korean martial law call turns domestic politics into international crisis

On Tuesday night, invoking the spectre of North Korean communists trying to destroy the country, South Korea’s right-wing leader, President Yoon Suk Yeol, hit the break-glass option typically reserved for the most extreme emergencies.

In a stunning, unannounced televised address at 10.30pm, Yoon declared martial law – a move that banned political activity and censored the media – plunging the country into chaos as South Korean soldiers charged with enforcing the edict descended on the National Assembly.

President Yoon Suk Yeol has rattled the nation with his shock declaration of martial law.Credit: AP

Within hours, Yoon had agreed to lift martial law after the opposition-led National Assembly voted unanimously to reject it, and protesters swelled out in front of the parliament and demanded his resignation.

The extraordinary events have shaken the democratic foundations of the nation of 51 million people.

South Korea is lauded by its Western allies as the democratic counter to its extreme totalitarian neighbour in Pyongyang, a case study of how economic modernisation can herald political freedoms and democratisation.

But the country’s democratic present is deeply rooted in its own authoritarian past, one that Yoon tapped into with his surprise declaration. Martial law has been imposed 16 times by South Korea’s authoritarian leaders since World War II.

Yoon’s declaration was the first such incidence since South Korea’s transition to parliamentary democracy in 1987. The last time martial law was imposed was in 1980 when Major-General Chun Doo-hwan staged a coup after the 1979 assassination of president Park Chung-hee.

Sending in the troops: South Korean soldiers try to enter the National Assembly building.Credit: Getty Images

Yoon’s target was his political opponents, primarily the Democratic Party, which holds a majority in the parliament and has been wielding its power to frustrate his government’s agenda.

The opposition has slashed Yoon’s proposed budget plans and repeatedly sought to impeach key government officials, infuriating the president, who has denounced them as communist pro-North Korean sympathisers.

Opposition MPs are now circling the president, calling on him to resign or face impeachment.

“Even if martial law is lifted, he cannot avoid treason charges,” Democratic Party MP Park Chan-dae said in a statement.

Yoon has been a deeply divisive leader since winning the presidency by less than 1 per cent in March 2022. In a sign of his deepening unpopularity, the Democratic Party boosted its majority at elections in April to hold 175 of the 300 seats in the National Assembly or just shy of 200 when smaller opposition parties are also factored in, while Yoon’s conservative People Power Party slid back to 108 seats.

His time in office has been marked by scandal, including incidents involving his wife, Kim Keon-hee. Yoon was forced to issue an apology after video footage emerged of his wife appearing to accept a luxury Dior handbag from a pastor who filmed the exchange, but he also vetoed a special counsel bill that would have triggered an investigation.

Kim has also been accused of being involved in a 63.6 billion won ($69 million) stock price manipulation case, over which prosecutors ultimately declined to indict her.

More broadly, experts have noted Yoon’s illiberal tendencies, including his disdain for the media, which he regularly attacks as “fake news”, and his administration’s willingness to use defamation suits, libel laws, and financial penalties to target media organisations that had engaged in critical coverage.

Perhaps the clearest sign of Yoon’s wild overstep in pulling the martial law lever and his imperilled path back from the brink to restore normality is the outrage within his own party.

“This is an unlawful and unconstitutional declaration of martial law. The Republic of Korea is a free democracy, and we will protect our democracy with the people,” PPP leader Han Dong-hoon said.

A bill to impeach Yoon would require two-thirds of parliament to vote for it, or 200 of its 300 members, meaning it would need the support of MPs from the president’s own party. While a number of them voted with the opposition to reject the martial law declaration, it’s unclear whether they would be prepared to take this next step.

The move to quickly shut down Yoon’s power grab was a sign the guardrails of South Korea’s democracy had worked, says associate professor David Hundt, an expert in Korean politics at Deakin University. But the focus now shifts to what role Yoon’s political allies will play in determining his fate.

“A big question is: are they going to disavow him? Does the president’s party want to hand that power to their opponents?” Hundt says.

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.