Biden has backed President Yoon. But now he must support his ouster by the South Korean people who fear anti-democratic crackdowns similar to past dictatorships.
South Korea’s Yoon Suk Yeol backs down after declaring martial law
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Wednesday he would lift a martial law declaration he had imposed just hours earlier.
On Tuesday, South Korean President Yoon Seok Yeol − who hosted a “Summit for Democracy” just months ago − shocked the world by declaring martial law on national television, making bizarre claims about threats from “North Korea’s communist forces” and “anti-state elements.”
Yoon ordered nearly 300 armed elite assassins to storm the National Assembly to arrest lawmakers, but legislative aides and citizens blocked the troops with their bodies, furniture and fire extinguishers as lawmakers climbed walls to get into the building to vote, 190-0, to revoke Yoon’s unconstitutional order.
By dawn, Yoon called off martial law.
While Yoon’s outburst caught many in the United States off guard, it was much less surprising to those of us who have tracked his increasingly autocratic rule in South Korea, a crucial U.S. ally. Celebrated abroad by the Biden administration as a champion of democratic values and a visionary diplomat, Yoon has revealed himself to be a petty tyrant at home.
I know, because I was just on the receiving end of his anti-democratic policies.
Why did the Yoon regime ban me from entering South Korea?
In October, Yoon’s government banned me from entering South Korea, where I was to address an international youth peace summit, with no explanation or due process.
I had been banned before by former President Park Geun-hye’s administration as retribution for the 2015 women’s peace walk I led across the Demilitarized Zone, but in 2017 the newly elected liberal Moon Jae-in administration reversed it.
I have since traveled to South Korea to visit family and meet civil society leaders, journalists and diplomats, including in 2022 when I went to accept an award from Nobel Peace laureates.
When I awoke this week to news of Yoon’s attempted coup, I wasn’t surprised.
“This late night assault left the nation restless, driving countless people to the streets and to the National Assembly to confront abuse of power,” Youngmi Cho, executive director of the Korean Women’s Movement for Peace, told me. “The damage to South Korean democracy is profound.”
Memories of bloody repression, martial law
Martial law was last declared 44 years ago by military dictator Chun Doo Hwan, whose bloody massacre of hundreds of pro-democracy activists in Gwangju brought down the dictatorship.
To South Koreans, a return to martial law triggers traumatic memories of decades of dictatorship that was marked by mass beatings, detentions and torture. One Korean journalist, Kap Seol, recalled how during the dictatorship, military police beat him with a baton and nearly cracked open his skull for exercising his democratic rights.
“The physical and emotional scars are still fresh,” he said.
It explains why South Koreans gathered in the dark cold night to defend their hard-won democracy this time. They see Yoon’s absurd declaration for what it is − a coup attempt by a deeply unpopular and embattled politician. Last month, only 17% of South Koreans approved of Yoon’s rule.
Yoon, a former prosecutor, was elected in 2022 by the narrowest margin in South Korean history of less than 1%. Ever since, he has been embroiled in endless scandals, including political corruption and alleged election interference.
Under Yoon’s reign, South Korea has also undergone serious democratic backsliding as his administration has targeted women, critics, journalists, labor unions and peace and reunification activists.
Weeks before Yoon’s call for martial law, more than 100,000 South Koreans took to the streets demanding his impeachment.
South Koreans are outraged by his tax cuts for the wealthy while slashing social spending for the poor and working class, his exacerbating the problems of an already overburdened health care system and his incompetent response after more than 150 people were crushed on Halloween.
United States must back Yoon’s ouster
Since Yoon’s attempted coup, the Biden administration − which proclaims that its foreign policy champions democracy and fights autocracy − has not issued a single condemnation. Instead of praising the South Korean people and parliamentarians, the administration perversely gave Yoon credit for calming the situation.
Despite Yoon’s many transgressions against democracy, why does President Joe Biden continue to hail him as a defender of freedom and a model ally?
Yoon, a foreign policy hawk, eagerly overrode fierce domestic opposition to accept unjust forced reconciliation with Japan, Korea’s brutal former colonizer, in order to participate in Biden’s trilateral alliance designed to contain China.
Before Yoon further exploits tensions on the peninsula to deal more damage to South Korean democracy or put the peninsula at further risk of war, Biden and world leaders must support the South Korean people and their elected officials calling for Yoon’s ouster.
Meanwhile, Americans can learn from South Korea’s pro-democracy movements on how to fight back against authoritarian strong men.
President-elect Donald Trump has promised to target “radical left lunatics” whom he considers “the enemy from within,” threatening to deploy the U.S. military against American citizens.
Even Mark Esper, Trump’s former Defense secretary, warned that such threats should be taken seriously because he witnessed firsthand Trump’s desire to use troops to squash the 2020 nationwide racial justice protests.
As news spread of Yoon’s martial law, Youkyung Ko, a longtime democracy and peace activist, described how netizens urged South Koreans to immediately go to the National Assembly to protect the parliamentarians. Although they feared military violence, Youkyung told me, they chose to sacrifice their own personal safety to “fight for democracy at any cost.”
Christine Ahn is the founder and co-director of Women Cross DMZ, a women-led global movement mobilizing for peace in Korea.
