The incidents of May 1980 were quickly brought up as the martial law served as a grim reminder of the student-led Gwangju uprising against the dictatorship of Chun Doo-hwan which led to the special forces violently killing around 200 people with machine guns and clubs.
The New York Times
On 3rd December 2024, South Korea was shocked by a sudden declaration of martial law made by the unpopular President Yoon Suk-Yeol. This unplanned announcement was a grave reminder for those who lived through the martial law incident that took place 44 years ago. The incidents of May 1980 were quickly brought up as the martial law served as a grim reminder of the student-led Gwangju uprising against the dictatorship of Chun Doo-hwan which led to the special forces violently killing around 200 people with machine guns and clubs.
While the incidents that took place on Tuesday of 2024 came as a shock to the whole country, there were some pro-dictatorship indicators from the President in the past two and a half years. Korea’s pro-democratic opposition has used the term ‘prosecutor dictatorship’ to describe President Yoon Suk-yeol due to his use of the prosecution service to frustrate liberal and progressive politicians, as well as the media and labour unions. In addition to this, the President has also given speeches that foreshadowed the incidents that took place in late Tuesday.
Finally, in September of 2024, the Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Min-seok published a press release that alerted the public that President Yoon was planning something. In the release. Kim noted that Yoon had designated many of his high-school classmates and close associates to prominent security positions in state administration and the military.
Following these warnings from the democratic party, on December 3rd, President Yoon launched martial law, announcing the military coup on national television around 10.25 p.m. With this announcement, martial law came into effect, banning strikes, protests, and all political activities - imposing blanket censorship. As South Korea was reminded of its bloody past with martial law, protestors immediately looked to the streets to fight against yet another repeat of its history.
As troops surrounded the parliament, the military was faced with policymakers as well as protestors who were there to fight against martial law. Although the worst was feared, the President was met with intense political pressure and the parliament and policymakers voted to reject the military rule - leading to President Yoon lifting martial law in early Wednesday of 2024.
While President Yoon made the hasty and dangerous decision to declare martial law on national television without any prior warnings as he believed the decision was taken to eliminate ‘anti-state’ forces, accusing opponents of sympathizing with the communist North Korea, this hasty decision is likely to lead to the President's impeachment as it led to a night of unrest in South Korea.
