South Korea: Yoon’s Martial Law Declaration No Bolt From the Blue

One almost understands South Korean President Yoon Sook-yeol‘s frustration. The leftist opposition in South Korea, the Democratic Party, holds a commanding majority in the National Assembly. Since day one, they have been trying to obstruct and undermine him.

They have blocked his policies at every turn and tried to impeach him 22 times since he took office in May 2022. They are impeaching his key officials and are also targeting his wife on corruption charges.

So much for “the loyal opposition.” This seems well beyond sharp-elbowed politics.

Yoon described it as a “legislative dictatorship.”

But Yoon’s declaration of martial law on December 4 was a “shoot, ready, aim” sort of thing.

It did not appear to be based on any specific intelligence of an immediate threat that might warrant or evoke popular support for such a drastic move in a well-established democracy.

Some reporting indicates the Defense Minister and perhaps the head of the Army encouraged Yoon to declare martial law as the best way of beating back the opposition that had made South Korea ungovernable.

However, Yoon’s own party’s leaders came out against the move. There was no groundswell of public support, and even the military support fizzled out.

A few hours after declaring martial law, Yoon rescinded the decree.

Nonetheless, the damage was done.

Besides the harm to South Korean civil society, it is a huge headache for the Americans when a key ally in Northeast Asia is in such straits.

The Chinese do not mind at all.

Here is something else to consider: President Yoon warned of North Korean supporters in the opposition in his statement announcing and justifying martial law.

He is actually right.  There is a sizable chunk of South Korea’s Democratic Party and leftist political world that is pro-North Korea and also pro-China – as hard as that is to imagine. They are also anti-American.

Imagine if unreformed 60’s-era radicals in the United States took power in the US. Some might say they did a couple of times in recent decades, but that is another story.

In South Korea the unreformed student radicals are from the 1980’s – and are known as Jusapa.

President Moon Jae In (Yoon’s predecessor) was a Jusapa. Moon was also preternaturally sympathetic to both North Korea and the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

He also had no love for the US. In his autobiography, he tells of his euphoria on hearing the Americans were defeated in Vietnam.

Read more HERE.