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    Hwang Sok-Yong: In South Korea, Young People Are Resisting Authoritarianism

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    In South Korea, the collective memory of a pro-democracy uprising inspires a new generation to resist authoritarianism.This personal reflection is part of a series called The Big Ideas, in which writers respond to a single question: What is history? You can read more by visiting The Big Ideas series page.Modernity is born from the struggle between remembering and forgetting, and South Koreans on all sides of the political spectrum have learned from our shared history.That history includes the Gwangju uprising, a 10-day mass protest that occurred shortly after the 1979 assassination of President Park Chung-hee, who ruled South Korea for 18 years as a military dictator.Taking advantage of the power vacuum, Chun Doo-hwan, an army general, staged a coup and quickly began laying the groundwork for a new dictatorship. In May 1980, he declared martial law, and the citizens of Gwangju rose up in opposition to this continuation of military rule.The military responded with lethal force, indiscriminately killing citizens regardless of their involvement in the protest. Despite this, Gwangju became a watershed moment in the fight for Korean democracy.“We know that we cannot defeat such a powerful army. But to end the resistance now would render meaningless all the blood shed by our fellow citizens. We must defend the provincial office to our deaths. That’s the only way for us to be remembered by future generations and for the resistance to be complete.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      South Korea’s President Will Learn His Fate on Friday

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      The Constitutional Court will announce on Friday whether Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached in December for declaring martial law, will be permanently removed from office or restored to power.Yoon Suk Yeol, the president of South Korea, who was impeached in December over his failed attempt to impose martial law, will learn on Friday whether he will be formally removed from office or returned to power, the nation’s top court said on Tuesday.Suspense was building in South Korea as the country waited for the Constitutional Court to rule on Mr. Yoon’s fate. Mr. Yoon has been suspended from office since the National Assembly impeached him on Dec. 14. In South Korea, the Constitutional Court decides whether an impeached official is removed permanently from office or reinstated.Removing Mr. Yoon would require the votes of six or more of the court’s eight justices; otherwise, he will return to office.​ The court’s decision, which cannot be appealed, is a critical moment in the political upheaval​ that Mr. Yoon unleashed when he declared martial law on Dec. 3.If ​the court removes him, Mr. Yoon will become the second president in South Korean history to leave office through impeachment. (President Park Geun-hye was the first, in 2017.) The country will quickly shift gears toward a new election; a successor must be chosen within 60 days.If he is reinstated, South Korea’s political crisis is likely to deepen. Mr. Yoon’s attempt to impose martial law angered millions of South Koreans. Even if reinstated, he will resume his presidential duties with his ability to govern considerably weakened.Mr. Yoon was detained on Jan. 15 on insurrection charges, also connected to his ill-fated imposition of martial law. The suspense surrounding his future intensified after a Seoul court unexpectedly released him from jail on March 8, saying that his detention was procedurally flawed.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      South Korea’s President Impeached After Martial Law Crisis

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      Some members of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s own party helped remove him from office. But the political uncertainty is far from over.Eleven days ago, President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea made a bold power grab, putting the country under military rule for the first time in 45 years, citing frustration at the opposition for obstructing his agenda in Parliament.His martial law decree lasted only hours, and now he finds himself locked out of power: impeached and suspended by the National Assembly after a vote on Saturday in which a dozen members of his own party turned against him.Lawmakers sought to draw a line under Mr. Yoon’s tenure after his declaration threw the country’s democracy into chaos and drew public outrage across the country.Street protests turned to celebrations outside the Assembly when news broke that the impeachment bill had passed. Mr. Yoon’s popularity has plummeted during his two and a half years in office, a term marked by deepening political polarization, scandals involving his wife and a near-constant clash between his government and the opposition-dominated Parliament.But the political turmoil and uncertainty unleashed by his short-lived declaration of martial law is far from over. Speaking soon after the vote, Mr. Yoon vowed to fight in court to regain his power, even as the police and prosecutors closed in on him with a possible criminal charge of insurrection.Protesters holding signs calling for President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment in Seoul on Saturday.Jun Michael Park for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      South Korea President Yoon Defends Martial Law Decree in Defiant Speech

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      President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed to “fight to the end,” despite the opposition’s push to impeach him and his own party’s demand that he resign.President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday defended his botched attempt to put South Korea under martial law last week, vowing to “fight to the end” despite the opposition-dominated legislature’s push to impeach him and his own party’s demand that he resign from office.In a televised speech, Mr. Yoon said he had never intended to disrupt the “constitutional order” when he declared martial law on Dec. 3 and sent hundreds of troops into the National Assembly. He said he had done so to “save the country” from what he called the “anti-state” opposition parties. Mr. Yoon said the opposition parties had used their majority in the Assembly to “paralyze” the country.Mr. Yoon said his action was part of his constitutional powers as president and did not amount to “insurrection,” as the opposition has charged.“I will fight to the end,” he said.Mr. Yoon’s People Power Party, which blocked opposition lawmakers’ attempt to impeach him on Saturday, has recommended that he instead resign in February or March. That would mean a new presidential election in April or May, which the party argues is the swiftest way to end the political turmoil triggered by the short-lived martial law decree.But Mr. Yoon indicated in his speech that he intends to remain in office while the opposition tries again to impeach him and, if impeached, will fight his removal at the Constitutional Court.If a president is impeached by the National Assembly, he is suspended from office while the Constitutional Court decides whether to reinstate or formally remove him, a process that can take up to six months.This is a developing story. More

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      North Korea Breaks Silence on South Korea’s Martial Law Declaration

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      In its first statement about the turmoil over President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law decree, the North said nothing about how inter-Korean relations might be affected.North Korea made its first public statement on Wednesday about the short-lived declaration of martial law in South Korea last week, with its state media saying that President Yoon Suk Yeol had plunged his country into “pandemonium.”The article gave no indication of how the turmoil in the South might affect relations between the Koreas. Since Mr. Yoon, who has a confrontational policy toward North Korea, took office in 2022, the relationship has reached its lowest point in years.The North’s main government newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, gave the article relatively little prominence, running it on the sixth page of its Wednesday edition. It summarized Mr. Yoon’s failed attempt to seize control of the National Assembly on Dec. 3 by sending in troops, the spread of protests across South Korea and the political uncertainty that has prevailed since then.“The puppet Yoon Suk Yeol’s shocking decision to level his fascist guns and bayonets at his own people has turned the puppet South into pandemonium,” the article said.It also said that the failure of opposition lawmakers’ attempt to impeach Mr. Yoon in the National Assembly on Saturday, after Mr. Yoon’s People Power Party boycotted the vote, had turned all of South Korea into a “protest scene.”The political vacuum in the South has raised concerns that its government and military could be ill-prepared for any escalation in tensions with Kim Jong-un’s regime in the North.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      South Korea Unsure Who Is Running the Government

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      President Yoon Suk Yeol’s ill-fated bid to impose martial law has created a power vacuum in his governing camp, pushing the country deeper into what analysts call a constitutional crisis.South Korea’s government was paralyzed Sunday, mired in a new constitutional crisis after President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea clung to his office, but his own party’s leader suggested that he had already been ousted from power.Mr. Yoon has barely been seen in public since his ill-fated decision last week to declare martial law. Meanwhile, Han Dong-hoon, the chairman of Mr. Yoon’s People Power Party, or P.P.P., has presented himself as the government’s decision maker and said the president is no longer running the country.The trouble is that South Korea’s Constitution doesn’t allow for anyone to replace the president unless he resigns or is impeached.Mr. Yoon’s office did not comment on Mr. Han’s statement. But Mr. Yoon “has not and by law, cannot, cede power to anyone” except through resignation, impeachment or election, said a senior government source familiar with the discussions inside Mr. Yoon’s office. Mr. Yoon exercised his role as president on Sunday by accepting the resignation of his home minister, Lee Sang-min.Opposition groups immediately complained that Mr. Han was overreaching: trying to use the power vacuum created by Mr. Yoon’s ill-fated imposition of martial law and the ensuing turmoil to establish himself as the top leader in the governing camp.“We have a situation where the president cannot make decisions, he cannot give guidelines, he cannot give orders,” said Kang Won-taek, a professor of political science at Seoul National University. “Although we have a president, we are in a state of anarchy.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      South Korea’s Ex-Defense Chief Is Detained Over Martial Law Episode

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      Prosecutors are investigating whether President Yoon Suk Yeol and his followers committed insurrection when they briefly put South Korea under martial law.Kim Yong-hyun, the former defense minister of South Korea, was taken into custody early Sunday as prosecutors investigated his role in President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived effort last week to impose martial law. That episode set off political upheaval in South Korea, including an opposition-led attempt to impeach the president and huge protests.Mr. Kim is the first person to be detained as prosecutors begin their investigation into allegations made by President Yoon’s political opponents​. The opposition asserts that Mr. Yoon and his followers in the ​government and military​ committed insurrection and other crimes when they sent soldiers and police officers into the National Assembly to seize the legislature shortly after the president declared martial law on Tuesday night.Mr. Kim, who surrendered himself to investigators early Sunday, was arrested with​out a court warrant. The police and prosecutors ​can use such an “emergency​ arrest” when they have grounds to suspect a person committed a serious crime and there is risk of them fleeing or destroying evidence. ​They must apply for a court warrant​ within two days to formally arrest the suspect.Mr. Kim, a key supporter of Mr. Yoon’s martial law plan, resigned after the extraordinary move fell through. The military rule lasted only six hours, after the National Assembly voted against it early Wednesday and forced Mr. Yoon to back down.It was unclear whether Mr. Kim had a legal representative. Before his arrest, in an interview with the daily Dong-A Ilbo, he said he had been involved in Mr. Yoon’s declaration of martial law, but that it was imposed according to legal procedures.​For most of the two and a half years he has been in office, Mr. Yoon has endured low approval ratings and been in a near-constant political standoff with the opposition. They have tussled especially over his refusal to accept their demands that a special prosecutor be appointed to investigate allegations of corruption involving his wife.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Read President Yoon’s Speech Apologizing for Declaring Martial Law in South Korea

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      President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea delivered the following televised address on Saturday morning:My fellow citizens,I declared emergency martial law at 11 p.m. on Dec. 3. About two hours later, at around 1 a.m. on Dec. 4, I ordered the withdrawal of the armed forces in accordance with the National Assembly’s resolution to lift martial law, and lifted martial law after a late-night cabinet meeting.The declaration of martial law was born out of desperation as the president, the ultimate head of state, but it caused anxiety and discomfort to the people in the process. I am deeply sorry for this, and I sincerely apologize to the people who must have been greatly surprised.I will not dodge my legal and political responsibility for this declaration of martial law. There is talk of martial law being imposed again, but let me be clear: There will never be a second martial law.My fellow citizens, I will entrust my party with the task of stabilizing the country, including my term in office. My party and the government will be responsible for the management of the country’s affairs in the future.I would like to bow my head and apologize once again for the worry I caused to the people. More

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      The Head of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s Party Calls for His Impeachment

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      The statement by Han Dong-hoon makes it more likely that President Yoon Suk Yeol will be impeached in a parliamentary vote on Saturday.In a surprise about-face, the leader of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s governing party said on Friday that he supported the impeachment of the president, calling him unfit to lead South Korea after his short-lived martial law decree catapulted the country’s democracy into turmoil.“I think that President Yoon Suk Yeol should be suspended from office as soon as possible,” said Han Dong-hoon, the leader of the People Power Party, or P.P.P., during an emergency party leadership meeting.It was not clear how many members of the party shared Mr. Han’s view. But his comments increased the likelihood that the impeachment bill against Mr. Yoon would gain enough support to pass through the National Assembly. A vote is scheduled for Saturday evening. The bill needs two-thirds of the 300-member Assembly to pass. With all 192 opposition lawmakers supporting the bill, they would need at least eight votes from the 108 legislators in Mr. Yoon’s governing camp to impeach the president.How the Impeachment of South Korea’s President Could UnfoldA detailed look at each stage of the impeachment process, and what is to come for President Yoon.The opposition party proposed impeaching Mr. Yoon this week, arguing that he had committed “insurgency” and other anti-constitutional crimes when he declared martial law on Tuesday night. He banned all political activities and sent troops to take over the National Assembly. Legislation on martial law banned such acts, the opposition said in its impeachment bill formally submitted on Thursday.If impeached, Mr. Yoon would be suspended from office until the Constitutional Court decides whether to reinstate or remove him.Mr. Yoon’s martial law lasted only six hours, until early Wednesday. He was forced to lift it following the Assembly’s vote to reject the military rule. But the short-lived episode, which the opposition likened to a failed “palace coup” by an extremely unpopular leader, triggered outrage across South Korea. Even if briefly, it also exposed the fragility of the democracy South Koreans have been proud of.On Thursday, Mr. Han said he opposed impeaching Mr. Yoon for fear of creating more national confusion. But on Friday he said, “There is fear that if President Yoon stays in office, he may repeat extreme actions like martial law.”“If that happens, South Korea and its people will fall into a bigger crisis,” he said.Some opposition lawmakers have warned that Mr. Yoon might attempt to impose martial again out of desperation. More