The National Assembly voted Wednesday to demand President Yoon Suk Yeol lift emergency martial law.
Under the Constitution, martial law must be lifted when a parliamentary majority demands it.
Of the 300 members of parliament, 190 were present and all 190 voted in favor of a motion demanding the lifting of martial law.
With the motion's passage, the martial law declaration is void, according to the parliamentary speaker's office. [1]
Seems like everybody's staking out all-in positions here. Those military officials are certainly aware of what generally happens to perpetrators of failed coups.
The President has said he will stand down martial law through the cabinet meeting.
My understanding is that the parliamentary vote itself is not binding, but requires essentially a rubber stamp by the cabinet. They can decline to do so and the President wouldn't be legally required to stand down. Regardless, 190-0 is an overwhelming statement and if I was represented by one of the 110 absent members I would have a lot of very serious questions for them.
It is my understanding that some members of parliament were having trouble making it in. It is also likely that they took the vote as soon as enough members were present to be legal, instead of waiting any longer for all the members of parliament to arrive. Of course, some may have taken their time in order to avoid voting on it.
No, the constitution mandates the president to stand down. The cabinet approval is just a procedural one to make the boundary clear between authorities. The supreme court's interpretation is that if they don't approve it within a reasonable time, the resolution will automatically take effect regardless of the cabinet.
The police kept the protesters out, but eventually let in most members of the national assembly and their staff after checking their ID.
Martial law is about using the military to control civilian activities. The police are civilian. Their order is to maintain peace, not to interfere with people who have legitimate business at the facility. If Yoon really wanted to preempt the national assembly, he should have sent in the military earlier.
"1. 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
conict or similar national emergency, the President may proclaim martial law as
prescribed by law.
2. Martial law shall be of two types, extraordinary martial law and precautionary
martial law.
3. Under extraordinary martial law, special measures may be taken with respect to
the necessity for warrants, freedom of speech, the press, assembly and association, or the powers of the Executive and the Judiciary as prescribed by law.
4. When the President has proclaimed martial law, he shall notify the National
Assembly without delay.
5. When the National Assembly requests the lifting of martial law with the
concurrent vote of a majority of the total members of the National Assembly, the
President shall comply."
From Yonhap (Korea state news):
"Activities related to National Assembly, political parties banned: martial law commander." [1]
"Entry, exit from National Assembly blocked after declaration of martial law." [2]
> sounds like the National Assembly just needs to meet & vote to counter this
If the President is accusing "the country’s opposition of controlling the parliament, sympathizing with North Korea and paralyzing the government with anti-state activities," that vote will take place without the opposition.
(It's mindblowing they left this in their Constitution after the 80s.)
National Assembly has been suspended by the military so they will have trouble meeting.
> Following Yoon’s announcement, South Korea’s military proclaimed that parliament and other political gatherings that could cause “social confusion” would be suspended
Sorry for the slight tangent, but I noticed the "conict" typo in your quote. Selecting article 77 in the pdf you linked to selects everything but the "fl" in "conflict". How odd.
According to the Martial Law Act, there's an extra power by the martial law commander to move the military as they want.
Some translations say "guarding martial law" instead of "precautionary":
https://elaw.klri.re.kr/eng_mobile/viewer.do?hseq=45785&type...
"Once guarding martial law is declared, the martial law commander shall have authority over the administrative and judicial matters concerning the military of the area where martial law is declared."
Can someone ELI5 if this is a huge deal (like declaring martial law would be in the west), or if this is the equivalent of a "government shutdown" when similar budget impasses occur in the US?
Almost everyone in Korea is completely shocked, including most people who voted for him in the presedential elections. This is in a country where no one bats an eye even when sirens go off.
Advanced, sure, but the leadership has always been dodgy.
They've had seven leaders since 1993 (before which they really did have a military junta in power). Three of them ended up impeached or jailed for corruption or wrongthink [0], a fourth has just attempted to use the military to crack down on the opposition. This is more like what I expect from Argentina or Brazil than a fully fledged democracy with peaceful transitions of power, say France.
That said, the Economist has it at #22 on its Democracy Index [1], one of the worst "full democracies" but ahead of France #23, USA #29, Brazil #51.
There's a recent video with what look to be armed forces (weapons visible, to be more exact) entering a building which is labeled as the Parliament's building [1], so I'd call this a big thing.
> President Yoon Suk Yeol declared an “emergency martial law,” Tuesday accusing the country’s opposition of controlling the parliament [...] Yoon — whose approval rating has dipped in recent months —
Seems like a coup.
> Yoon’s conservative People Power Party had been locked in an impasse with the liberal opposition Democratic Party over next year’s budget bill.
Yeah, just like in France where the government is expected to fall within the next two days. Not a reason to attempt to force the way: the fact opposition can actually sometimes fulfil its purpose which include blocking a budget is a normal thing in democracy.
Not just link in France. France is in the midst of a government fall, but this is something built into how they do democracy and so a new one is expected to form in a few months on the backs of their democratic process.
This is instead a rejection of the democratic process. I don't know enough about SK's internals to say if the democratic process is already dead because of corruption (as the leader claims), or if the leader is trying to kill the process using corruption as a scape goat - but everyone should strongly lean towards the later.
The president attempted to block access to the National Assembly via police and military. The military administration's first order was to announce a ban on public gatherings and political activities and announce violators would be arrested without due process. This would have been a huge deal if it had been implemented even a few hours faster and the National Assembly were unable to convene.
If we're just blindly speculating, why limit it to a tiny window of worst case outcomes. Political stunt? Strong message being sent to NK based on some intel that isn't public?
Obviously none of us know the details yet but there are clearly better possible outcomes than a full on coup.
S Korea was a laggard in the years after the war and their economy was modernized by a militaristic authoritarian government. The military authority was harsh but effective and only gave way to democracy in 1988. There is still a lot of sympathy for the authoritarian era.
Martial law typically involves the suspension of ordinary law and the imposition of direct military control, which for a relatively fresh democracy like South Korea doesn't sound like a nothing-burger exactly.
Makes me think of the Gwangju Uprising in 80s, which happened after martial law was instated, after a military dictator was put in place. IIRC, the US was also involved with the newly installed military junta.
Any realist assessment of the power structure in SK (in general, and much more so in the military) has to acknowledge the history and presence of US military in Korea.
As a casual non-Korean reader, this does appear to be a way for the current leadership to shut down corruption investigations against him, and to end democratic opposition to his policies.
Democratic opposition can seem stifling. However the solution is to negotiate.
The leader here is taking an authoritarian dictatorship path so a solution, unfortunately, it appears to my eyes.
I feel like I'd seen absolutely nothing about South Korea in the news for a long time, and then suddenly woke up to this, with zero context.
Do folks have any recommendations for how to keep up with global news at a high level so that you're not completely clueless when something like this happens? Like I mean some sort of "international edition" of an aggregator like Google News, I guess.
I don't read it regularly, but The Economist is a great source that covers pretty much every corner of the world. In fact I don't subscribe because its just a firehose, and I just can't keep up with the internal squabbling of parties all over the world.
I went to check to see if its available online- even via my local library, but it seems The Economist was pulled from major online sites around 2023 due to their pricing model. So I can't verify if this was covered. That said, what information has trickled out points to this being a big surprise, so there may not have been storm clouds brewing that could have foretold this.
For Korea specifically, I listen to KBS world radio news. Over the last few weeks I’ve seen an increasing number of stories about interparty scuffles and investigations of certain politicians.
> In order to protect liberal democracy from the threat of overthrowing the regime of the Republic of Korea by anti-state forces active within the Republic of Korea and to protect the safety of the people, the following is hereby declared throughout the Republic of Korea as of 23:00 on December 3, 2024:
> 1. All political activities, including the activities of the National Assembly, local councils, and political parties, political associations, rallies and demonstrations, are prohibited.
> 2. All acts that deny or attempt to overthrow the liberal democratic system are prohibited, and fake news, public opinion manipulation, and false propaganda are prohibited.
> 3. All media and publications are subject to the control of the Martial Law Command.
> 4. Strikes, work stoppages and rallies that incite social chaos are prohibited.
> 5. All medical personnel, including trainee doctors, who are on strike or have left the medical field must return to their jobs within 48 hours and work faithfully. Those who violate will be punished in accordance with the Martial Law.
> 6. Innocent ordinary citizens, excluding anti-state forces and other subversive forces, will be subject to measures to minimize inconvenience in their daily lives.
> Violators of the above proclamation may be arrested, detained, and searched without a warrant in accordance with Article 9 of the Martial Law Act of the Republic of Korea (Special Measures Authority of the Martial Law Commander), and will be punished in accordance with Article 14 of the Martial Law Act (Penalties).
> Martial Law Commander, Army General Park An-su, Tuesday, December 3, 2024.
Transparent coup d'etat attempt rumored to happen for months. The only option when the mouse is cornered. Approval rating in the <10% range, Japan whispering in his ear and pulling the puppet strings, crazy selfish wife abusing state resources, it is almost comically predictable if not for how serious it is. North Korea is always the convenient excuse... only hope Westerners don't get fooled by the rhetoric. Guy digging his own grave, only hope Koreans get off their complacent asses and take this guy down quickly. World cannot afford more instability.
>Japan whispering in his ear and pulling the puppet strings
I'm curious if you have some sources for this? I'm not that familiar with SK politics and I'm obviously biased since almost all info about SK I either get from English/Japanese sources.
Afaik he was pretty dovish towards Japan during his election, which goes against the decades long tradition of tit-for-tat during election between SK&Japan since "looking tough to the neighbor" win votes. I wasn't aware of any "Japan whispering in his ear" level embezzlement. He seems just more pro US, closer ties with Japan rather than "balance things between China/US-JP"
The conservatives tend to blame the liberals for being North Korean sympathizers. The liberals tend to blame the conservatives for being Japanese sellouts. They use these angles to inflame public opinion against the other party and distract from other issues.
I’d say anyone seriously thinking Japan has bought out the conservatives is just as foolish as someone that seriously thinks the liberals are North Korean spies.
That said, there is a contingent of South Koreans that genuinely consider Japan a mortal military threat just biding their time and waiting to attack Korea. And that North Korea is just a merely misguided misunderstood brother that is absolutely harmless despite their sabre rattling.
Seems to be something that kind of happens when someone in Korea rises to the top of political power. Remember the former president that was pretty much ousted for corruption a few years back? She had a confidant that would pull her strings.
Western politicians might pretend to take it at face value, as it's useful to fuel the foreign threat narratives, and help elites use similar excuses here too.
I don't think the AP is the sector of the West the OP is worried might turn sympathetic towards him if he makes the right noises and does outreach to the right people.
Unclear if it’s better if they do or they don’t. On one hand it’s clearly against the interests of the country to support him, on the other hand democracies absolutely don’t want the military taking any domestic political role
On December 3, 2024, at 10:27 PM, President Yoon Seokyeol declared martial law. This declaration is illegal and constitutes a criminal act, directly violating the Constitution and other laws.
It is essentially a coup d'état.
The current political and social situation does not meet the criteria of "a time when it is necessary to respond to military needs or maintain public order in wartime or a similar national emergency" as outlined in Article 77 of the Constitution. Therefore, the emergency martial law is invalid and illegal, and the president should be held accountable.
Additionally, martial law is procedurally invalid as there was no cabinet meeting, which is required by Article 2(5) of the Martial Law Act.
This martial law is null and void!
It is illegal for martial law forces to enter the National Assembly. We demand the immediate lifting of martial law.
Kim Min-seok, Member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea
The military tried to physically prevent the National Assembly from meeting on a vote to disband the martial law. If they had been successful, the elected National Assembly would have no power. That's about as close to a military takeover as you can get without shots being fired.
From what I could understand from the news:
- the current parliament and the president are at war: the president vetoed any law the parliament passed because he doesn't like them. The parliament voted the budget and cut funding to whatever the president wished for.
- all political parties voted to have the martial law order revoked.
I don't know what the fallout of this will be, but the curent president of South Korea is toast. He went all in and lost big time.
Declaration of martial law isn't necessarily a coup attempt, in the same way that walking into the parliament building—hell, maybe even walking in armed—isn't necessarily a coup attempt.
On the other hand, declaration of martial law or walking armed into parliament might well be a coup attempt.
Korean law specifically prohibits presidential interference with the legislative branch even under martial law, a clause written in blood. The first thing Yoon did was try to lock down the legislature and arrest party leaders. This is a blatantly unconstitutional self coup attempt.
Readit News
The National Assembly voted Wednesday to demand President Yoon Suk Yeol lift emergency martial law.
Under the Constitution, martial law must be lifted when a parliamentary majority demands it.
Of the 300 members of parliament, 190 were present and all 190 voted in favor of a motion demanding the lifting of martial law. With the motion's passage, the martial law declaration is void, according to the parliamentary speaker's office. [1]
[1] https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20241204001651315
>Martial law will remain until the president lifts martial law"...Armored vehicles also seen in the city center
https://m.ytn.co.kr/news_view.php?s_mcd=0101&key=20241204013...
Very much not good...
My understanding is that the parliamentary vote itself is not binding, but requires essentially a rubber stamp by the cabinet. They can decline to do so and the President wouldn't be legally required to stand down. Regardless, 190-0 is an overwhelming statement and if I was represented by one of the 110 absent members I would have a lot of very serious questions for them.
Any idea how and why it was unblocked ? Anyone with more context ?
EDIT: This is the first I cannot think of any reason for getting a downvote... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Martial law is about using the military to control civilian activities. The police are civilian. Their order is to maintain peace, not to interfere with people who have legitimate business at the facility. If Yoon really wanted to preempt the national assembly, he should have sent in the military earlier.
Deleted Comment
"1. 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 conict or similar national emergency, the President may proclaim martial law as prescribed by law.
2. Martial law shall be of two types, extraordinary martial law and precautionary martial law.
3. Under extraordinary martial law, special measures may be taken with respect to the necessity for warrants, freedom of speech, the press, assembly and association, or the powers of the Executive and the Judiciary as prescribed by law.
4. When the President has proclaimed martial law, he shall notify the National Assembly without delay.
5. When the National Assembly requests the lifting of martial law with the concurrent vote of a majority of the total members of the National Assembly, the President shall comply."
https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Republic_of_K... page 16
[1] https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20241203013900315 [2] https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20241203013200315
If the President is accusing "the country’s opposition of controlling the parliament, sympathizing with North Korea and paralyzing the government with anti-state activities," that vote will take place without the opposition.
(It's mindblowing they left this in their Constitution after the 80s.)
> The entrance to the National Assembly has been sealed, and MPs have been barred from entering the building, according to Yonhap.
> Following Yoon’s announcement, South Korea’s military proclaimed that parliament and other political gatherings that could cause “social confusion” would be suspended
conflict vs conflict
Some translations say "guarding martial law" instead of "precautionary": https://elaw.klri.re.kr/eng_mobile/viewer.do?hseq=45785&type... "Once guarding martial law is declared, the martial law commander shall have authority over the administrative and judicial matters concerning the military of the area where martial law is declared."
But this time it was the emergency one.
Deleted Comment
Dead Comment
They are very proud of the country they built over just a few generations(and really since about 1990); no way they take this sitting down.
They've had seven leaders since 1993 (before which they really did have a military junta in power). Three of them ended up impeached or jailed for corruption or wrongthink [0], a fourth has just attempted to use the military to crack down on the opposition. This is more like what I expect from Argentina or Brazil than a fully fledged democracy with peaceful transitions of power, say France.
That said, the Economist has it at #22 on its Democracy Index [1], one of the worst "full democracies" but ahead of France #23, USA #29, Brazil #51.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_South_Korea
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist_Democracy_Index
Deleted Comment
[1] https://x.com/BigBreakingWire/status/1863964015376089313
Seems like a coup.
> Yoon’s conservative People Power Party had been locked in an impasse with the liberal opposition Democratic Party over next year’s budget bill.
Yeah, just like in France where the government is expected to fall within the next two days. Not a reason to attempt to force the way: the fact opposition can actually sometimes fulfil its purpose which include blocking a budget is a normal thing in democracy.
This is instead a rejection of the democratic process. I don't know enough about SK's internals to say if the democratic process is already dead because of corruption (as the leader claims), or if the leader is trying to kill the process using corruption as a scape goat - but everyone should strongly lean towards the later.
South Korea is a new democracy and sudden impositions of martial law harken back to the 1970s-80s when military rule existed.
Best case, this is a blatant attempt at a self coup d'etat.
Worst case, North Korea actually engaged in war.
Obviously none of us know the details yet but there are clearly better possible outcomes than a full on coup.
Makes me think of the Gwangju Uprising in 80s, which happened after martial law was instated, after a military dictator was put in place. IIRC, the US was also involved with the newly installed military junta.
Dead Comment
I’m no expert but I find it hard to believe there’s much pro-PRK sympathy in Seoul among a major political party.
Considering this is making western news, it seems the president has over-played his hand. Hopefully this passes quickly.
Democratic opposition can seem stifling. However the solution is to negotiate.
The leader here is taking an authoritarian dictatorship path so a solution, unfortunately, it appears to my eyes.
National Assembly has voted to lift martial law. Yoon (and the army) would still have to recognise it.
Do folks have any recommendations for how to keep up with global news at a high level so that you're not completely clueless when something like this happens? Like I mean some sort of "international edition" of an aggregator like Google News, I guess.
I live in the "rest of the world" and never thought of myself like that.
https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/world-next-week
I went to check to see if its available online- even via my local library, but it seems The Economist was pulled from major online sites around 2023 due to their pricing model. So I can't verify if this was covered. That said, what information has trickled out points to this being a big surprise, so there may not have been storm clouds brewing that could have foretold this.
Edit: Got past the paywall on the site and did a search and there appears to be no articles published that would have predicted an issue like this: https://www.economist.com/search?q=south+korea&sort=date&pag...
https://theonion.com/the-economist-to-halt-production-for-mo...
I can't imagine reading every issue cover to cover unless it's really relevant to your work.
> In order to protect liberal democracy from the threat of overthrowing the regime of the Republic of Korea by anti-state forces active within the Republic of Korea and to protect the safety of the people, the following is hereby declared throughout the Republic of Korea as of 23:00 on December 3, 2024:
> 1. All political activities, including the activities of the National Assembly, local councils, and political parties, political associations, rallies and demonstrations, are prohibited.
> 2. All acts that deny or attempt to overthrow the liberal democratic system are prohibited, and fake news, public opinion manipulation, and false propaganda are prohibited.
> 3. All media and publications are subject to the control of the Martial Law Command.
> 4. Strikes, work stoppages and rallies that incite social chaos are prohibited.
> 5. All medical personnel, including trainee doctors, who are on strike or have left the medical field must return to their jobs within 48 hours and work faithfully. Those who violate will be punished in accordance with the Martial Law.
> 6. Innocent ordinary citizens, excluding anti-state forces and other subversive forces, will be subject to measures to minimize inconvenience in their daily lives.
> Violators of the above proclamation may be arrested, detained, and searched without a warrant in accordance with Article 9 of the Martial Law Act of the Republic of Korea (Special Measures Authority of the Martial Law Commander), and will be punished in accordance with Article 14 of the Martial Law Act (Penalties).
> Martial Law Commander, Army General Park An-su, Tuesday, December 3, 2024.
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/full-text-south-k...
so, the Assembly meeting to even discuss this is explicitly banned.
I'm curious if you have some sources for this? I'm not that familiar with SK politics and I'm obviously biased since almost all info about SK I either get from English/Japanese sources.
Afaik he was pretty dovish towards Japan during his election, which goes against the decades long tradition of tit-for-tat during election between SK&Japan since "looking tough to the neighbor" win votes. I wasn't aware of any "Japan whispering in his ear" level embezzlement. He seems just more pro US, closer ties with Japan rather than "balance things between China/US-JP"
I’d say anyone seriously thinking Japan has bought out the conservatives is just as foolish as someone that seriously thinks the liberals are North Korean spies.
That said, there is a contingent of South Koreans that genuinely consider Japan a mortal military threat just biding their time and waiting to attack Korea. And that North Korea is just a merely misguided misunderstood brother that is absolutely harmless despite their sabre rattling.
Deleted Comment
I wonder what the level of journalistic independences is in KR. What their public discourse is like. How truth, and opinions are tolerated.
Seems to be something that kind of happens when someone in Korea rises to the top of political power. Remember the former president that was pretty much ousted for corruption a few years back? She had a confidant that would pull her strings.
Anyone who has dealt with Japanese bureaucracy and government at large is stifling a giggle at this idea.
Deleted Comment
Source?
Sept 3, 2024 Lee’s raising of suspicions of martial law plans isn’t baseless — just look back to 2017 https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/1...
Sept 4, 2024 [News analysis] Why is Korea’s Democratic Party talking about martial law? https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/1...
Sept 4, 2024 [ED] No room for martial law talk https://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.amp.asp?newsIdx=381...
Sept 5, 2024 DPK's martial law claim backfires due to lack of evidence https://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.amp.asp?newsIdx=381...
Sept 5, 2024 Martial law equals coup-d’etat: What would it mean for South Korea? https://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.amp.asp?newsIdx=381...
This AP article is written very unsympathetically towards him
Deleted Comment
On December 3, 2024, at 10:27 PM, President Yoon Seokyeol declared martial law. This declaration is illegal and constitutes a criminal act, directly violating the Constitution and other laws.
It is essentially a coup d'état.
The current political and social situation does not meet the criteria of "a time when it is necessary to respond to military needs or maintain public order in wartime or a similar national emergency" as outlined in Article 77 of the Constitution. Therefore, the emergency martial law is invalid and illegal, and the president should be held accountable. Additionally, martial law is procedurally invalid as there was no cabinet meeting, which is required by Article 2(5) of the Martial Law Act. This martial law is null and void!
It is illegal for martial law forces to enter the National Assembly. We demand the immediate lifting of martial law.
Kim Min-seok, Member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea
http://youtube.com/post/Ugkxb5QujtsQagPZalY1RJLx8Cd-W3gdyqO1...
Do you consider Justin Trudeau's invocation of the Emergencies Act in Canada to have been a coup?
- all political parties voted to have the martial law order revoked.
I don't know what the fallout of this will be, but the curent president of South Korea is toast. He went all in and lost big time.
On the other hand, declaration of martial law or walking armed into parliament might well be a coup attempt.
Context and intent is everything.
Korean law specifically prohibits presidential interference with the legislative branch even under martial law, a clause written in blood. The first thing Yoon did was try to lock down the legislature and arrest party leaders. This is a blatantly unconstitutional self coup attempt.