Writer: ANANYA RAUT
Editor- SHIVRAJ PATEL
South Korea has been a democracy since its freedom from the Military Dictatorship rule in 1980s, however the recent political step taken by the president had tried to change the power politics of the nation. The popularly elected leader of 2022 elections, the president “Yoon Suk Yeol” tried to impose martial law on December 4, 2024. Martial law refers to the political arrangement where the government control over the political institution is suspended and the military will take over everything, even the police will be replaced and courts can be shut down. The president has sole control over everything and the loyal military will follow the orders to establish the dictatorial regime.
As the president declared martial law in the mid-night, during the press conference, it led to a sudden national political chaos. He provided the reason for the imposition of the law as the opposition lawmakers are involved in anti-state activities, supported by North Korea. However, this was a lame excuse to grab power as he was under charge of corruption and was losing control over political power. The very moment when the law was declared, it led to people coming over the streets and in front of the national assembly to protest against the decree. A national assembly meeting was called in mid-night to oppose against the law and he even lost support from his own party members. Thus, he was unable to impose the law properly and was force to withdraw it within 7-8 hours.
Finally, in 14 December, he was impeached by the National Assembly. Following this, the constitutional court of South Korea started the legal proceedings against him and he was finally impeached in April 4. For the time being, the country was governed by the acting president which led to massive economic failures and gave rise to internal issues. Furthermore, an elected head was to be elected within 60 days of impeachment, so fresh new elections held on 3rd June which was originally scheduled for 2027. This situation gave the opposition party, i.e, Democratic Party a chance to strengthen its vote bank by raising the issues of restoring democracy, reviving the economy and safeguarding the rights of the people.
Picture Credit: BBC NEWS
The election was contested between 3 major Political Parties- Democratic Party with its nominee as Lee Jae Myung, People power party with its candidate as Kim Moon Soo and Reform Party with its nominee as Lee Jung Seok. The election also showed the major political turnout among people as ~80%, highest since 1997 elections. However, the political outrage among the people for the imposition of martial law gave an edge to the major opposition party to gather its vote. And the Democratic Party emerged as the single largest party with a popular mandate of 49% of total votes as contested against the ruling part which got 41.15% popular votes. Thus, the leader of Democratic Party, Lee Jae Myung was elected as the new president to protect the democratic setup of the country. According to various reports and sources, his campaign ally, Kim Min Seok is set to be the new Prime Minister. However with victory, the President comes with new responsibilities of Protect the country against the North Korean stances as well as Trade tariffs of USA.
Do let us know in comments whether martial law strengthens democracy or not?
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