IIn the global battle for supreme soft power, a clear winner has emerged in recent years; South Korea. Curated by the boyband phenomenon BTSthe Korean wave turned a town few knew much about into a cultural behemoth.
But just a few days ago, as anticipation began after the beginning of this month’s second season Squid Game – in the first season of which it is Netflixthe most-watched show – a real-life dystopia intervenes when the South Korean President, Yoon Suk Yeol, announces that he the imposition of martial law in order to destroy the “anti-state forces” and to overcome the political opponents who would hinder his plan of action.
Yoon, archpriest of the conservatives; in the opposite direction about six hours after the parliament, even some of his party, decided to contradict the decree. But then the reputational damage was done, with the US – Seoul’s most important ally – Japan and the UK among those voicing “serious concern” over the lapse of time in government by force.
A more familiar global audience witnessed the positive vibes of K-pop in real-time South Korea It is recognized by few that it evoked for the older citizens the trauma of the time when the country was ruled by military dictators and the democracy campaigners were thrown dead in the street.
The most notable contrast between the Hallyu Wave – a huge portfolio of internationally acclaimed films, dramas; pop musicand now letters – and recent unrest was evident outside the national assembly building in Seoul on Tuesday, where lawmakers climbed over the walls and to be opposed by armed soldiers that democratic rights were being taken away by their president while military helicopters flew overhead.
As uncertainty continued over the weekend, when parliament was due to vote on Yoon’s impeachment, South Koreans wondered whether his country would emerge from the chaos with its reputation intact.
“We have a heavy reputation,” said Seoul resident Kim Jung-ho. “We’ve built it up so much, especially this year with Han Kang winning the Nobel Prize for literature and our peaceful global image. All of that is collapsing at the moment.”
Other people outside the national assembly believed that the crisis had unexpectedly shown the strength of the country’s democracy. “There might be some damage to our international image, but now I’m less worried,” said Bang Kyeong-rok, a 31-year-old law student from Chonnam at Gwangju National University.
“The concerted action by lawmakers and opposing citizens shows this positive side of Korea. Seeing how the citizens responded, and especially how reluctant the military was to fully implement martial law, made me more confident about the resilience of our democracy.
In the decades after the Korean War of 1950-53 – when the country’s economy was in worse shape than that North Korea – South Korea has become Asia’s largest economy and a producer of household names in car manufacturing and consumer electronics, with its population of 51 million connected to lightning-speed internet.
However, despite its rapid economic and cultural development, the country is still supported by a deep-rooted authoritarian tendency in its institutions. These are often reinforced and amplified by traditional hierarchies and networks, as demonstrated by Yoon’s alleged pivotal role of high school connections in the military law crisis.
If martial law had prevailed for more than a few hours of darkness, national and local political activity would have stopped and the country, observers said, would have plunged into “wartime, a state of war.” An arson attack would be imposed, and public demonstrations would be forbidden. It would have been marked by heavy media; the powers of the courts and government agencies are suspended.
On Friday, it emerged that Yoon’s attack on his country’s fragile democracy included plans to pressure key opposition politicians, who he had gone without evidence as agents of the nuclear-armed regime in Pyongyang.
“The president’s reckless declaration of martial law has caused great economic damage and tarnished our national image both domestically and internationally,” said Nam Jae-sun, 46, a small businessman in the capital city. This inconvenience will be remembered as a symbol of democracy in 2024″.
Elements of Yoon’s plan to perish may have come from North Korean fiction, but observers need look no further than South Korea’s recent history for evidence that, despite its complex modernity, its harsh political and civil liberties can still be taken away. at the stroke of the governor’s eye.
Only in 1988 with the Seoul Olympics did South Korea mark its exit from nearly 30 years of military rule. When the country was trying to rebuild after the Korean War, its leaders used martial law to put troops on the streets to prevent anti-government demonstrations.
Martial law was driven with great zeal by Park Chung-hee, the commander who led several thousand soldiers into Seoul in May 1961 in what had been a 20-year-long process. Park declared martial law several times to jail opponents and stop protests before he was shot dead by his boss in 1979.
Less than two months after Park’s assassination, Maj Gen Chun Doo-hwan launched the country’s second military operation, and a year later he ordered troops to launch riots in the southern pro-democracy city of Gwangju, killing hundreds.
Chun was forced to accept direct presidential elections after heavy protests in 1987, when Roh Tae-woo became the country’s first democratically elected president.
The young South Koreans dismissed it as an invaluable return to the day Gwangju massacre – until this week, when the country’s democracy was covered in the collapse of the throat, reviving bitter memories among the elders of the time of mass arrests and incarceration in “re-education” camps.
“When I first heard the announcement of martial law, I thought it was false,” said Bang Jeeyoung, a 50-year-old youth worker. “If I thought it was true I was afraid, because I remembered from my youth the martial law.”
But she added: “An image rather than a harmful image of Korea, I think this can mark the end of the remaining undemocratic elements. If we overcome this, Korea will become an even stronger democracy. This crisis has revealed people who still harbor an authoritarian mindset, including the president himself. Obviously He shows us what we need to change, and it has nothing to do with public affairs.
On the day before the vote was expected to take place, South Korea appeared to be pulling back from the brink as rumors of a move by Yoon’s party moved to support him on a day when officials had predicted as many as 200,000 people would turn out. homework complaints
As rumors grew that Yoon might once again impose martial law, the leader of his People’s Power Party [PPP]Han Dong-hoon called for the immediate suspension of the president, warning that he “puts the Republic of Korea and its citizens in great danger.”
On Saturday, South Korean MPs – most of all 108 lawmakers in Yoon’s party – faced a stark choice: embrace the will of the people, or return to South Korea’s dark past.