There are calls to impeach the South Korea’s president

Left or right: Lee Jae-Myung’s “Brainwashing Propaganda” during the September 11, 2001 Presidential Resummation

DP’s leader Lee Jae-myung openly raised a suspicion as recently as in September. It was brushed off by Yoon’s office as “brainwashing propaganda”.

The accusations of political attacks and antagonized the opposition-led parliament have mostly been denied by Yoon.

Dankook University’s Benjamin Engel says, “There’s no other real way to look at it except for a self-coup trying to extend his power” and “push through policies without any sort of negotiations or compromise with the opposition party.”

Large fluctuations in stock prices and Korean Won were experienced. Diplomatic and military schedules are being delayed, including a scheduled visit by the Swedish prime minister and a key nuclear deterrence meeting and exercise with the U.S.

The playbook has not been functioning the way it was supposed to. There have been protests demanding his impeachment over the last few months. Even though political protests are common in South Korea, the nation lionizes the protesters who opposed the dictatorship of the 1970s and 1980s and teaches students to revere the 1919 protests against Japanese colonial occupation. Even though he is an opposition politician, he is not the only one who has a popularity in the toilet. The country is now under martial law, due to the fact that pro-North anti-state forces have taken over and are plundering the freedom and happiness of our people. All political activities — including those of the National Assembly, the parliamentary body that can legally block his martial law order — were suspended.

The White House said it’s relieved. The professor says that when it comes to trilateral cooperation with the US, South Korea and Japan, Yoon’s disruption of democratic system throws egg on the face.

The conservative President is controversial, to be brief. From the moment he took office he was up to some weird-ass shit, like moving the president’s office out of the historic Blue House. (To give you a sense of how bizarre the news cycle got, Yoon had to issue a denial that he did so on the advice of shamans.) Misogynistic anti-feminism has been a component of building his powerbase, as has the persecution of journalists. The anti-communist scare- mongering that is the central tool in his arsenal works well in a country that is next to a very aggressive and volatile North Korea.

He’s had troubles with scandals involving him and his wife. His approval rating has fallen to 20% or below as allegations of his and his wife Kim Keon-hee’s involvement in an influence-peddling scandal have arisen.

An Australian President’s Plan for a Martial Law to Resolve a Political Crisis: “Alchemy in Wonderland”: Lee’s Disbelief

Nevertheless, after his suspicion became a reality, Lee expressed disbelief. “I felt like I was Alice in Wonderland, like I was in some cartoon,” Lee said at a rally Wednesday afternoon. The country is the 10th biggest economy in the world, a cultural powerhouse, and an aspiring 5th biggest military power.

In the past few years, the Democratic Party has urged against the possibility of the conservative government declaring martial law to resolve a political crisis. Under President Park Geun-hye, daughter of the dictator Park Chung Hee, the military prepared a detailed plan for martial law amid nationwide protests over her corruption allegations that eventually led to her impeachment in 2017.

Two and a half hours after the announcement, 190 lawmakers gathered at the National Assembly amid armed soldiers swarming onto the legislature’s premises. The lawmakers, including 18 from Yoon’s party, annulled martial law in a unanimous vote.

Over the chaotic and historic night, a growing crowd of protesters gathered outside the main gate of the parliament. Protesters and parliament staffers tried to stop the soldiers from entering the meeting hall. Some built barricades with furniture.

Opposition politicians in South Korea have submitted a motion to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol after his failed attempt to place the country under martial law. Since the country went from military rule to democracy in 1987, only one other time did a South Korean president attempt such an attempt. It caught South Korean citizens and the U.S., a main ally, by surprise. Yoon said the opposition politicians who control parliament are paralyzing the government and subverting democracy, accusing them of aligning with North Korea.

He accused the opposition-controlled parliament of attempting to overthrow the liberal democratic system through legislative dictatorship. Yoon said that by imposing martial law, his aim was “to crush North Korea-sympathizing anti-state forces and to preserve the free constitutional order.”

General Park Ahn-su issued an order at 11PM stating that media and publications would be placed under control of the Martial LawCommand and prohibiting political gatherings, strikes and slowdowns. I hear rumors of tanks in the street. The military is apparently at the National Assembly, trying to block a vote from happening.

Leaders of the ruling conservative People Power Party and the main liberal opposition Democratic Party both immediately decried Yoon’s action as unconstitutional and illegal.

South Korea is not going to abide by martial law or military rule, nor will the South Korean people tolerate a return of military rule or martial law

No emergency alert has been issued. Cellphones in the country tend to buzz with push notifications for all kinds of information: elderly people who go missing, traffic accidents downtown, even an alert for a North Korean balloon filled with propaganda and trash. Think Amber Alerts, but broader.

Martial law was imposed in South Korea for the first time in 30 years. But in the early decades of the country’s modern history, dictators and military juntas enforced martial law to squash political rivals and pro-democracy movements, often citing unsubstantiated threats from North Korea as the reason.

“And the South Korean people, they know their history as well,” says Benjamin Engel, a visiting political science professor at Dankook University outside Seoul. “And they’re not going to accept a return of military rule or martial law. And that was clear from the get-go.”

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Protecting Packages During the U.S. Holiday Season: How President Jill Biden decked the White House for “A Season of Peace and Light”

The Supreme Court will hear a case about the rights of children who are different from their parents. At issue is a Tennessee law that blocks minors from accessing gender-affirming care. Within the last three years, over two dozen states have enacted laws that ban puberty blockers, hormones and other treatments for minors who say their gender doesn’t align with their sex at birth.

The French government is in danger of collapsing today due to a no-confidence vote brought by the far left and far right. If they get the votes needed to pass in the lower house of parliament, Prime Minister Michel Barnier, who has been in power less than three months, could be ousted. France’s budget attempts to address its ballooning deficit. Barnier pushed it through parliament this week without holding a vote by using an emergency clause.

Local officials and retailers are warning Americans to remain vigilant this holiday season and not fall victim to porch pirates, who steal packages from homes. More than 120 million packages were stolen last year across the U.S., according to a SafeWise analysis. Here are some steps you can take to protect your packages:

First lady Jill Biden has decked the halls of the White House for the family’s last Christmas of President Biden’s presidency. “A Season of Peace and Light” is this year’s decor theme. More than 300 volunteers spent the past week decorating the White House’s public spaces and its 83 Christmas trees with nearly 10,000 feet of ribbon, over 28,000 ornaments, more than 2,200 paper doves and around 165,000 lights, according to the Associated Press.

The Jungles of South Korea: The ahjussis, the blasted seniors of Korea, and their future in the 21st century

This is, of course, an oversimplification of a body politic that is composed of complex individuals. A conservative value set does not mean that conservatives care about politics. These older men were young during the dictatorship, and they lived through the student protests and the bloody Gwangju uprising. It’s tempting to cast them in opposition to a younger generation that tends to vote liberal and is less prone to anti-communist redbaiting. But the ahjussis were once young too, and in their youth they ushered South Korea into a true liberal democracy.

I pace in my home as I attempt to find a writer to write about what’s happening in Korea, but no one is available. I don’t have the ability to interview people on the street or report on Korean politics. On a weeknight in Seoul, I am completely blasted. At dinner we were seated by a group of men with maybe a dozen empty liter bottles of beer on their table; we watched them wave down the proprietor for even more alcohol. “Wow,” I said, before going on to mix soju bombs for my companions. I sometimes describe Korea as the Ireland of East Asia; I’m not a huge drinker when I’m at home in the US, but the general ambience of Seoul shifts my habits.

While the president lifts the martial law order, I take off my makeup. My body is exhausted, my brain is racing, I can barely make sense of the news as I try to catch up. It isn’t yet possible to figure out what happened or what will happen next. I see the screencaps of Lee Jae-myung livestreaming himself climbing the wall at the National Assembly; I think about the GoPros and livestreamers; I think about the kids asking to have their picture taken, so they can tell their families that they were there on that important day. Politics has become almost invisible because of the way technology is used to intermediate it.

Line 1 — practically an internet meme due to how frequently old men get into drunken fights on its trains — is truly in its element tonight. A wasted man in the next car cries so loudly that another man slams the compartment door shut and stomps over. A girl in a collegiate athletic jacket sleeps through it, head against her boyfriend’s shoulder. A younger man, seated, is exchanging heated words with a very small white-haired man who is ineffectually attempting to loom over him; I cannot tell who the aggressor is in this conflict, but the older man is stumbling and swaying and seems barely verbal.

When I move from Line 8 to Line 9 to go to the National Assembly building, it’s different. This is the first time that I have ever seen people taking phone calls in public. The train empties out with me as I disembark at the National Assembly stop.

When I finally catch a cab, the gray-haired driver asks me if I was at the protests. When I answer in the affirmative, he thanks me. I am embarrassed; my Korean is not good enough to explain to him that I am a journalist, that I am an American, that I am supposed to be an impartial observer of history. The ahjussi goes on to tell me he’s always hated Yoon and complains about being called a commie for saying that Yoon was going to ruin the country. The man is listening to an internet commentator on his phone as he drives me home, I can see his video feed on his phone, and he is shaking his head as he listens. He asks me rhetorically about what the elites are doing to stop this situation. I don’t know what to do.

The protest is still going strong at 4 AM but I am too drunk to continue and it’s cold outside. I begin to leave the area; on my way out, I see a red-faced puddle of a drunk man being tended to by a cop — one who is not in one of the green vests I’ve seen throughout the night. He doesn’t seem to be in legal trouble; he’s just too wasted to be able to stand.

One kid with an open beer slurs is ignored. People are standing on top of tall decorative planters, on top of walls, on top of piles of unassembled police barricades that have been abandoned. People standing on the walls are a mixture of young men and ahjussis; I am starting to see some of the stuff on the internet enter the crowd. An ahjussi is yelling about how he loves his friends for coming out with him to protest. I do not know if he is drunk or emotional. Two older men are talking about the 1980’s and one of them says to a younger woman, “This is real history.” A protester in camouflage stands at the gate waving what appears to be a stolen riot shield. Another protester hops onto a pile of barricades and takes a selfie with a peace sign.

At 1:02AM, the man on the microphone announces that the Assembly has voted to block the declaration of martial law; a heartfelt cheer goes through the crowd. The loudspeakers begin to play some truly awful music, a tinny version of a cheesy protest song that sounds like it was recorded by literal children. The crowd is singing along and the people in the group seem to know all the words. The Republic of Korea is a democratic republic, according to the lyrics. The Republic of Korea’s power comes from its people.

A few minutes later I hear thunder and a helicopter flying overhead. (The news later reports that military helicopters landed on the other side of the building, carrying soldiers to invade the National Assembly. About an hour before I arrived, the leader of the liberal opposition party livestreamed himself scaling a fence in order to get to the Assembly building to vote.)

I cannot see soldiers on the street until I can process it. There is still camouflage here and there, but these are a smattering of protesters wearing it head-to-toe, possibly vestiges of their own time doing mandatory military service. A bunch of riot police in green vests are marching down the street. The protesters are ignoring them.

A man getting on a microphone narrates the news and starts asking the crowd to surround him and protect him from the police, so they won’t take his mic. The protesters oblige in an orderly fashion.

Source: 6 hours under martial law in Seoul

The Cold Night Air: The Case of a Demonstration of the 1980s Designed to Take the State of the Nation Off the Line

It’s freezing out, and people are mostly bundled up in puffer coats. I wonder if anyone else can tell how drunk I am or how many other people are. On television, politicians who sprinted to the National Assembly to stop the fall of democracy are blinking slowly and slurring their words. They appeared to be having the same experience I had had on Tuesday.

The sudden shift started when a middle aged aunty sat on a platform bench waiting for the other train to arrive. The escalator and stairs are in the middle of a crowd. A woman in a wheelchair yells political slogans as she makes her way to the exit. When I come out into the cold night air, I see military uniforms. My heart skips a beat as I look out my phone to see the two men in camo are frightened. The soldiers are surrounded by furious ahjussis pushing and shoving and cursing at them.

Yoon tried to take power with soldiers, police, and helicopters — to take the country back to the 1980s. But these aren’t the 1980s. He should have seized cell service first.