317 - Lessons for America from South Korea

South Korea's overnight drama Tuesday holds several lessons for the United States, especially as Trump sidles into the presidency and replaces his very different and very much more principled predecessor.

In a sudden evening address Tuesday to his citizens, President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, plunging South Korea into a frenzy of discord. Yoon claimed that his political opponents in the country and their representatives in the National Assembly were "trying to overthrow" democracy by voting against his legislative agenda and preventing his personal proposals from succeeding. He called them a "den of criminals." Parliament overwhelmingly rejected Yoon's proposed budget last week.

Yoon declared that his imposition of martial law was an act “of national resolve against the anti-state forces that [were] trying to paralyze the essential functions of the state" and "plundering the freedom and happiness of our people." Yoon also opined that he was attempting to save "the free Republic of Korea [from] falling into ruin.” Do you hear echoes of our own woes?

Fortunately for South Korean democracy, the nation's constitution both permits a declaration of martial law and also allows parliament to rescind it. Moreover, civil society in South Korea has dealt with would be dictators before, and mass protests have long been a signature element of its political culture.

Three things happened with startling alacrity when Yoon announced martial law:

1) Army General Park An-Su, Yoon's appointee as martial law commander, quickly banned all political activities, political and other rallies and protests, and labor union actions against martial law. “All news media and publications are under the control of martial law command,” he said. He promised to crack down on "fake news."

2) Aggrieved citizens in their thousands, in the middle of a winter's night, took to the streets to surround Parliament and denounce martial law and any halt to normal everyday political activity within South Korea.

3) The legislature itself, including leaders in Yoon's own party, denounced martial law and quickly voted unanimously to declare martial law null and void.

Yoon, gathering his senses overnight, accepted his defeat, convened his cabinet to agree, and ended martial law.

That left South Korean politics on Tuesday, Washington time (Wednesday in Seoul) back to where it was before. Or at least that is what Yoon might have hoped. Instead, an unpopular head of state, elected very narrowly in 2022, has become even more unpopular and disconnected from the nation's citizens and voters. (His political party was roundly trounced in 2024 National Assembly elections.) He will likely be impeached tomorrow by the National Assembly, eventually be removed from office, and even prosecuted for abusing the presidency in the manner of several of his predecessors. The end of his divisive presidency is surely near. He might even resign to avoid being impeached. The prime minister would succeed Yoon, and elections would follow.

This was the first time that a South Korean president had imposed martial law since the country's harsh military dictatorship had ended in the late 1980s. Indeed, ever since the now lamented rule by autocrats, South Korea has become a strong, conformist, democracy, with disciplined adherence to the rule of law, fiscal prudence, and comparatively little corruption. As the demonstrations outside Parliament showed, few South Koreans are anxious to return to the military ways of the past, even with the increasing threat of a North Korean attack.

Yoon won the 2022 election very narrowly and has lost popular approval (now down to 19 percent) and plummeted in public approval ratings ever since, consistently. He has allied himself with attacks on women and joined voices favoring misogyny. His wife has also been accused of corruption, receiving illicit gifts, interfering with elections, and manipulating stock transactions and prices. He quelled an investigation into her wrongdoing.

Yoon systematically has attacked South Korea's vibrant free press, and employed lawsuits and the state's justice system to halt the public expression of what he has called “fake news.” His police have repeatedly raided newsrooms and the private homes of journalists.

Under Yoon, relations with North Korea have gone dark and dangerous, with much more name calling and threat mongering from the north. Now that ruler Kim Jong-un has Putin and Russia behind him, the menacing posture of North Korea has become worrying. That Yoon has consistently met Kim's belligerency with his own antagonism has hardly given most South Koreans reason to support Yoon. That is especially so since Lee Jae-myung, Yoon’s opponent in 2022 and likely successor in 2027 or sooner, is much more open to attempting to improve relations with Kim.

Americans and Koreans can be pleased that civil society beat back the military in this somewhat comic opera attempted coup. But it could have succeeded in breaking the always fragile democratic barrier against creeping fascism and strong man bullying. Thus this fortunate failure reminds us that in almost all political systems a single-minded ruler with lofty opinions of himself or herself can eviscerate decades of constitutional obedience. Sometimes, fascism arrives in the stealth mode. Sometimes it comes in plain sight, accepted by legislators who should know better but are blinded, cajoled, or frightened.

This time Parliament and civil society were quick to respond. In other cases, even in our Congress, those who understand the dangers may be too few, or too cowed. Let South Koreans show the way.