Get the Ricochet app
Ricochet will work fine in a browser on your mobile devices, but for the best experience please download our app.
There have been serious developments in South Korea over the past several hours, including a declaration of martial law by the South Korean president and a vote in the National Assembly lifting the martial law declaration.
I know little about the South Korean government or the formal state of our relations, though I know that tens of thousands of American troops have been stationed in South Korea since the 1950s. It appears that we have a formal treaty of alliance with South Korea.
The reports that I've read indicate that this is a result of internal political gridlock in South Korea, not some North Korean provocation.
Here is a summary of news reports that I've seen (some links at bottom):
- South Korean President Yoon declared martial law in a live broadcast overnight.
- President Yoon's statements, according to reports with English translations, include: "To safeguard a liberal South Korea from the threats posed by North Korea's communist forces and to eliminate antistate elements" and a pledge to eradicate "shameless pro-North Korean anti-state forces."
- Among other actions, the military martial law commander announced a prohibition on all political activities including those of the National Assembly.
- 190 of the 300 representatives in the National Assembly met and, of the 190 present, voted unanimously to lift the martial law declaration. Several news reports indicated that the president of South Korea is required to lift a martial law decree in response to such a vote in the National Assembly.
- Though the National Assembly is controlled by the party opposed to the South Korean president, the leader of the president's own party in the National Assembly stated that the "declaration of martial law is wrong." Thus, it appears that President Yoon does not have the support of his own party in the parliament.
- The opposition party stated that the martial law "declaration is illegal and constitutes a criminal act" and that it is "essentially a coup d'etat."
This is the first time that martial law has been declared in South Korea since 1980, and the only time since it became a parliamentary democracy in 1987.
Here are a few citations to stories on the issue: BBC; Associated Press; Reuters; Al Jazeera; Fox News.
Discussion (40)
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
Just came across this X post below, which is a list of South Korean Presidents and how they fared. It is jaw-dropping (to me, anyway, since I haven't paid much attention at all to the country). So jaw-dropping, I must say, that I will have to make some time to verify the details. Meanwhile, here it is:
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
Holy Toledo. That's worse than Chicago.
CHARTER MEMBER
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
We're getting there.
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
Via Al-Jazeera, Yoon says:
The gist I get is that Yoon is being hounded by the opposition party. The only remote culpability I can find is that his wife accepted a gift. There's probably more, but I doubt any of it justifies the oppo's lawfare. But Yoon is a lame duck whose party was defeated in 2022. The oppo has gone to the extent of defunding some functions of the executive branch.
Now Yoon's really put his foot in it. It looks like he really did declare martial law because he can't get anything out of Parliament, and he's not strong enough to make it stick.
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
When I was in Bolivia they told me they had a long-playing government: 33 revolutions per minute.
You're seeing five of 40 comments. Sign in, or join for just $5 per month, to read them all and add your own.