South Korean President’s Martial Law Gamble Backfired: What Was He Thinking?

His statement was a chilling reminder of a time many in South Korea have tried to forget. On television you could see the news anchors shaking.

In 1980, when pro-democracy activists, including many students, took to the streets in the city of Gwangju to protest martial law, the army responded with violence, killing about 200 people.

While martial law lasted three years – 1979 to 1981 – military rule had already existed for decades and lasted until 1987. And there was great distrust in South Korea during these years, as anti-government activists were labeled communist spies and arrested or killed.

But during his campaign, Yoon praised the authoritarian General Chun Doo-hwan and said he had handled government affairs well – apart from repressing pro-democracy activists.

He was later forced to apologize, saying he “certainly neither defended nor praised Chun’s government.”

But it does provide a glimpse into the president’s view of what constitutes power.

Rumors have been circulating in South Korean political circles for months that Yoon was considering imposing martial law. In September, opposition leaders and party members said this was possible. Most rejected it as too extreme an option.

But it could well be that something else was driving him: fear of prosecution.

Park Geun-hye, the country’s first female leader, was found guilty of abuse of power and corruption and imprisoned. Her predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, was investigated over allegations that he was involved in share price manipulation. He was sentenced to 17 years in prison in 2020 for corruption and bribery.

Another former president, Roh Moo-hyun, committed suicide in 2009 while under investigation for allegedly taking millions of dollars in bribes.

In South Korea, prosecutions have become almost a political tool – a threat to the opposition. This may partly explain why President Yoon took such drastic measures.

Whatever his motives, Yoon’s career will have a hard time recovering from this. He also faces calls for his resignation, and some local media reported that members of his own People Power Party discussed expelling him from the party.

South Korea is a stable democracy – but a noisy one. And it refused to accept another authoritarian dictate.

President Yoon now faces the judgment of a parliament and a people after they rejected the biggest challenge to the country’s democracy since the 1980s.