December 5, 2024
Cited article by Associated Press
HRRC emphasizes that unnecessary impositions of martial law and authoritarian measures threaten democratic values and must be unequivocally condemned.
News Brief
South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol is under risk of possible impeachment for sending soldiers into Seoul’s streets with a baffling declaration of martial law that reminded the country of past military-backed dictatorship regimes. South Korea’s constitution gives the president the authority to resort to the military forces to keep order in “wartime, war-like situations or other comparable national emergency states.” The constitution also gives the National Assembly power to lift the declaration with a majority vote, and the constitution does not let a president use the military to suspend parliament.
The impeachment proceedings against Yoon started hours after parliament unanimously voted to cancel martial law, forcing the president to lift his order. In recent years, Yoon has struggled to get his agenda in the political sphere while facing corruption scandals involving him and his wife. The scandal centers on allegations that Yoon and his wife exerted inappropriate influence on the People Power Party to select a certain candidate to run for a parliamentary by-election in 2022, at the request of an election broker and founder of a polling company who conducted free opinion surveys for Yoon before his presidency.
South Korea has a dark history of martial law. During the dictatorships that emerged as South Korea rebuilt from the 1950-53 Korean War, political rulers occasionally proclaimed martial law that allowed them to station combat soldiers and tanks on streets or in public places to prevent anti-government protests.