-Analysis-
PARIS – Last year, the top-grossing film in South Korea was called “12-12, The Day.” And it tells the true story of a 1979 military coup. On Tuesday, South Koreans felt like they were living a remake of the film; social media was flooded with the movie’s poster, but with the South Korean president’s face in place of the lead actor’s.
The events in Seoul on Tuesday went far beyond cinema. In the end, South Korean society proved that democracy is deeply rooted in the country and cannot be manipulated.
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It all started when South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, suspending parliament, censoring the press, and banning protests. He justified the move by citing the threat of an opposition he claimed was sympathetic to North Korea’s communists.
The military immediately took action but nothing unfolded as expected: The president’s power grab has so far failed.
How an opposition reacts
Yoon, an ultra-conservative former prosecutor general elected in 2022, united everyone against him: No one accepted his explanations. Even the head of his own party called the martial law unconstitutional.
Despite the ban, lawmakers rushed to Parliament, climbing over barriers to get inside. They then voted, 190 to zero, to abolish the martial law declared just two hours earlier by the president.
The population took to the streets, both spontaneously and at the opposition’s call; tens of thousands of people made it impossible for the military to enforce martial law, while trade unions declared a general strike. The only slogan heard in the crowd: the resignation of President Yoon, who had been abandoned even by his own supporters.
President in freefall
What brought about this crisis? South Korea is a relatively young democracy. After the Korean War, in 1953, the southern part of the peninsula, supported by the United States, lived under military dictatorships. Democracy was only achieved in the late 1980s, alongside the country’s economic rise.
Poverty-stricken after the war, South Korea is now the world’s 11th largest economy, with a per capita income nearing the European average. It has risen to prominence through its major conglomerates, such as Samsung and Hyundai, as well as its soft power, including K-pop music, films and TV series.
Tuesday’s events are a good news story.
Why did Yoon act so harshly? He is in freefall in the polls following scandals. The opposition controls the Assembly and is blocking the adoption of the budget. And regional tensions with its northern neighbor are high. Did Yoon believe he would be welcomed as a savior? He was mistaken, and that may prove fatal for him.
In these times of global political uncertainty, Tuesday’s events are a good news story, showing that it is when democracy is at risk that people are most committed to it — and ready to fight to save it.
