LONDON, Dec 20 (IPS) – Democracy is alive and well in South Korea. When President Yoon Suk Yeol tried to impose martial law, the public and parliaments rallied to defend it. Now Yoon must face justice for his power grab.
The president is under pressure
Yoon narrowly won the presidency in an incredibly tight contest in March 2022, beating rival Lee Jae-myung by 0.73 percentage points. That marked the political comeback of one of South Korea’s two main political parties, the rebranded center-right People Power Party, and the defeat of the other, the more progressive Democratic Party.
In a divisive campaign, Yoon capitalized on and helped revive a backlash among many young men against the country’s fledgling women’s movement.
South Korea had a MeToo moment in 2018, as women began speaking out following high-profile revelations of sexual harassment. South Korea is one of the worst-performing members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in terms of gender equality: it ranks third lowest in women’s political representation and last in its gender pay gap.
Some modest steps forward in women’s rights have brought a major setback. Groups formed to protect men’s rights, whose members said they were discriminated against at work. Yoon played to the crowd, promising to end the ministry of gender equality. Exit polls show that more than half of young male voters support him.
Human rights conditions worsened under Yoon’s rule. His administration was responsible for many public property restrictions. This included harassing and criminalizing journalists, raiding union offices and arresting their leaders, and banning demonstrations. Media freedom has deteriorated, lawsuits and defamation laws have had a negative impact.
But the power shifted after the 2024 parliamentary elections, in which the People Power Party suffered a heavy defeat. Although the Democratic Party and its allies fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to impeach Yoon, the result left him a crippled president. The parliament, which was full of opposition parties, blocked important budget proposals and filed 22 petitions not to impeach government officials.
Yoon’s popularity has declined amid ongoing economic problems and allegations of corruption – sadly nothing new for the South Korean leader. The First Lady, Kim Keon Hee, was accused of accepting a Dior bag as a gift and manipulating stock prices. It seems clear that Yoon, backed into a corner, overdid it and took an incredible gamble – one that the South Koreans did not accept.
Yoon’s decision
Yoon made his rare announcement on state television on the night of December 3rd. Sadly, he said the move was necessary to fight ‘anti-national forces in North Korea’, blasting those trying to make him accountable as supporters of the tyranny across the border. Yoon ordered the military to arrest key political figures, including his party leader Han Dong Hoon, Democratic Party leader Lee and National Assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik.
The declaration of martial law gives the South Korean president enormous powers. The military can arrest, detain and punish people without a warrant, the media is under strict control, all political activities are suspended and protests are widely banned.
The problem was that Yoon had clearly exceeded his authority and acted unconstitutionally. Martial law can only be declared if there are imminent threats to the nation’s survival, such as an invasion or armed rebellion. A series of political controversies that put the president under unfair scrutiny clearly don’t fit the bill. And the National Assembly was supposed to go ahead, but Yoon tried to shut it down, sending armed forces to try to stop the delegates from gathering to vote.
But Yoon ignored the determination of many people not to return to the dark days of dictatorship before multi-party democracy was established in 1987. In the Candlelight Revolution of 2016 and 2017, massive weekly protests built pressure on President Park Guen-hye, who had been impeached, impeached and imprisoned for corruption and abuse of power.
People gathered outside the National Assembly in protest. As the army closed the main gates of the building, politicians climbed the fence. Demonstrators and parliamentarians clashed with heavily armed soldiers carrying fire extinguishers, who chained the building so lawmakers could vote. 190 joined, and unanimously rejected Yoon’s decision.
Time for justice
Now Yoon must face justice. Protesters will continue to call on him to resign, and a criminal investigation has been launched into the decision to declare martial law.
The first attempt to impeach Yoon was thwarted by political intrigue. People Power politicians came out to block the vote on December 7, apparently hoping Yoon would resign. But he showed no signs of stepping down, and a second vote on 14 December unanimously supported the trial, with 12 members of the People Power Party backing the move. The vote was greeted with cheers from tens of thousands of protesters who gathered under tense conditions outside the National Assembly.
Yoon is now suspended, and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo is the interim president. The Constitutional Court has six months to hold the impeachment process. Polls show the majority of South Koreans disapprove, although Yoon said his move was necessary.
Democracy is protected
South Korea’s representative democracy, like most, has its faults. People may not always be happy with election results. Presidents may find it difficult to work with a parliament that opposes them. But while it’s not perfect, the people of South Korea have shown that they value their democracy and will defend it against the threat of a dictatorship – and they can be expected to continue to unite if Yoon escapes justice.
Thankfully, Yoon’s attack on public space had not yet reached a stage where the ability of civil society to unite and the power of the people to defend democracy had been reduced. Recent events and the uncertain future of South Korea make it imperative that the public space restrictions imposed by the Yoon administration be rolled back as soon as possible. To protect against regression and deepen democracy, it is important to expand public space and invest in society.
Andrew Firmin is the Editor-in-Chief of CIVICUS, director and author of CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the Civil Society Regional Report.
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© Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
