A Warning on Martial Law
Terry H. Schwadron
Dec. 4, 2024
However politically humiliating, the sudden withdrawal of martial law in South Korea just hours after it was ordered proved a set of instant snap judgments that felt way too familiar a possibility for this country too.
Just six hours after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared “emergency martial law” over what appeared to be domestic political conflicts sprinkled with concerns about North Korea, Yoon was ordered by a unanimous 190-member National Assembly to lift the order. By law, he had to comply, and his gamble for a power grab died.
For half a day, a conservative party president angered by liberal opposition was able to ban all political activities and order strict state supervision of all media and publications — in effect halting democracy in its tracks. What had brought the martial law order was political activity in the Assembly that opposed the president’s proposed budget and had threatened impeachment of some in the government, Yoon had said.
And he said the opposition was being amplified by “fake news.”
Whatever Yoon’s intentions, it immediately bombed, and crowds formed early in the morning to denounce him and call for his arrest. Yoon has been suffering low approval ratings since taking office two years ago and could face impeachment for ordering martial law. South Korea said no.
The Mirror
Anything here sound familiar?
Since the 1980s, South Korea has been promoted by the United States and Western allies as a model democracy, with leaders from different parties over time, in a neighborhood of authoritarian governments. Joe Biden, a supporter of a strong South Korean economy, has leaned on Yoon as part of the Ukraine alliance and supported a meeting of the Western alliance in Seoul.
The immediate response from the White House was a terse call for resolution of the conflict by lawful means. There was no immediate response from Mar-a-Lago.
Of course, what few want to see mirrored in the South Korean misstep was our own divisiveness. Donald Trump has threatened martial law repeatedly and has promised to draw the U.S. military into domestic enforcement of immigration law and deportations. He has threatened deployment of the military to “high crime” Democratic cities. His border czar pick, Tom Hogan, has threatened mayors and governors who do not cooperate with deportation policies. And, of course, Trump has gifted us “fake news.”
If anything, it is useful to look at South Korea for concern for democracy itself that will not stay within the Korean peninsula. What will we say when martial law that couldn’t happen here arrives at our doors?
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