r/InternationalNews • u/Trick_Pollution4776 • 24d ago
Asia South Korean President Declares Emergency Martial Law
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u/S_T_P European Union 24d ago
In an unannounced late night television address he says the move is necessary to protect the country from North Korea's communist forces and to eliminate anti-state elements.
The "communist forces" and "anti-state elements" being general population that had - yet again - elected wrong anti-democratic politicians:
Yoon cited a motion by the country's opposition Democratic Party, which has a majority in parliament, this week to impeach some of the country's top prosecutors and its rejection of a government budget proposal. - Reuters
"Defence of democracy" remains the banner of fascism since the time of Pinochet.
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u/TylerDurdenJunior 24d ago
Yeah. Not to mention the numerous corruption cases against his ministers and even his wife.
But sure. Blame the opposition
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u/IMendicantBias 24d ago
Democracy is nothing more than a euphemism for oligarchy which was prevalent in Athens, Greek, and Roman which the US models itself after in addition to the vatican . People forget all parties involved used slavery , child trafficking , pedophilia , and eugenics as status quo
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24d ago edited 14d ago
[deleted]
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u/CrackTotHekidZ 24d ago
That sounds and awful lot like the 2024 US elections.
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u/Omnipotent48 24d ago
Yes, literally yes. One party was openly declaring fascist intent in its domestic policies, the other party was fueling fascism around the world unrepentently, both of them deep in the pocket of oligarchs, and both claiming to be the primary defender of "Democracy."
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u/Beepboopblapbrap 24d ago
Coming soon to a US near you
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u/Hero_of_Hyrule 24d ago
Lol coming soon? The US is the one exporting this. The Nazis may have lost, but fascism won.
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u/Preindustrialcyborg 24d ago
"defense of democracy" sounds like some helldivers shit. Video games have once again proven themselves right.
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u/DependentFeature3028 24d ago
"Soon after, South Korean lawmakers voted to block the martial law decree, with 190 of the 300 members of parliament voting to overturn the measure.
The National Assembly chairman Woo Won-sik labeled the president’s announcement “invalid” following the unanimous vote and called on him to “immediately lift” the emergency measures.
Woo, a member of the opposition liberal Democratic Party, added: “The people should … rest easy. The National Assembly will defend democracy with the people.”
It was not immediately clear what effect the vote will have but under South Korean law, the president is obliged to comply."
The dictator has been stoped quickly
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u/Jimbo922 24d ago
More the open showing of fascism by the hand-picked US-choice for President of South Korea. Democracy in action here.
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u/April_Fabb 24d ago
This declaration by Yoon is a desperate attempt to consolidate power amid fears of impeachment and declining public support. The current administration has been characterized by consistently low approval ratings, hovering around 25% since April 2023.
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u/MassivePsychology862 24d ago
I’m not well versed on SK politics. Is Yoon corrupt?
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u/Yashoki 24d ago
SK Politics are crazy corrupt
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u/LeglessVet 24d ago
I don't think they're anymore corrupt than that of the US, they just have laws against what is normalized here. For instance, insider trading (which he is being accused of) is perfectly legal in the US for politicians, and also instead of 'taking bribes' in the US they are just called PAC's and 'private donations.' Go a but beyond this in the US and all youre looking at is a slap on the wrist.
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u/Stunning_Pen_8332 24d ago
Now it’s time to familiarise ourselves with the word Self-coup again:
A self-coup, also called an autocoup (from Spanish autogolpe) or coup from the top, is a form of coup d’état in which a political leader, having come to power through legal means, stays in power through illegal means through the actions of themselves and/or their supporters. The leader may dissolve or render powerless the national legislature and unlawfully assume extraordinary powers not granted under normal circumstances. Other measures may include annulling the nation’s constitution, suspending civil courts, and having the head of government assume dictatorial powers.
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u/burbular 24d ago
Over here in murica we just did one of those
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u/Neco-Arc-Chaos 24d ago
Nope, it was planned. If Trump didn’t win, Harris would have done the same thing as trump.
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u/Horus_walking 24d ago
CNN:
He describing martial law as a necessary measure to eradicate these “shameless pro-North anti-state forces.” He justified the decision as essential to protect the freedoms and safety of the people, ensure the country’s sustainability, and pass on a stable nation to future generations.
Sounds like a wannabe Park Chung-hee.
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u/gecata96 24d ago
The left-wing opposition party wants to impeach him and he jumps on the gun and calls them DPRK sympathizers and says he will eradicate anti-state elements through military action. The worst Korea seems to be doing very good and fascist lately.
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u/Order_of_Dusk 24d ago
Okay, while information on DPRK is limited and very heavily skewed, I would not go so far as to say North Korea is better than South Korea.
While South Korea is most certainly bad by any reasonable standards, it does at least have democratic institutions whereas North Korea is an autocracy, while we most likely won't know the full details of what's going on for a long time it is not unreasonable to assume North Korea has similar problems as any other similar authoritarian regime throughout history - i.e government corruption, an oligarchic in-group who live comfortably while the rest of the population do far worse off, and other fairly standard problems in authoritarian governments.
Keep in mind, just because one system is bad doesn't mean all alternatives are automatically better regardless of the characteristics of those systems, the liberal democracy capitalist hellscape we live in is awful but obviously that doesn't mean Italian fascism was better (Note: I'm just using that as an illustrative example of how a different system isn't automatically better, I'm not saying anyone here was claiming that.); so yeah I'd hold my horses on endorsing the DPRK, it's probably not as uniquely evil as people claim but I'm reasonably confident in saying it's probably not good.
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u/WinterSavior 24d ago edited 24d ago
Oh come on! The worst Korea? I'm very in support of this sub but what rationalizing would you have to favor North Korea? You're just being a contrarian at this point.
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u/Neco-Arc-Chaos 24d ago
what rationalize would you have to favor North Korea?
They're not south korea.
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u/gecata96 24d ago
Honestly all I’m concerned about is the level of misogyny, suicide rates and the decline of human rights in South Korea. Say whatever you want about the DPRK but we have to be real that we have no real information of what’s truly happening in there, it’s all hearsay and speculation.
As far as my statement goes, I think South Korea is just the worse Korea, we have enough information about what’s going on inside to make the statement.
Can I state it as a fact? Well no, not until I visit both and most importantly when there’s more direct and unbiased information regarding the DPRK. Not some garbage clickbait rage news article based on hearsay information.
Yet this is reddit and we state our opinions not objective facts.
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u/Birdminton 24d ago
How can you compare a declining of human rights in South Korea to a complete lack of human rights in North Korea.
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u/Gunbunny42 24d ago
There is an unfortunate number of folks here who think being anti imperialist means having the most blatantly tankie views imaginable.
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u/WinterSavior 24d ago
It just it doesn't help the perception that this sub is all bots and Russian propaganda accounts with takes like this. Like you can believe South Vietnamese government was corrupt and bad without lauding the Viet Cong, ala Jane Fonda isk.
Or more current, Ukraine is corrupt but can defend themselves but Russia also has a point to some regards but they over embellished for their own gain. Everything is not either or.
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u/LeglessVet 24d ago
So basically you're only allowed to have takes that are approved by the US/western state departments and can't show any support for any of their sworn enemies or you're a bot. lmao ok.
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u/WinterSavior 24d ago
I wasn't saying that was my take. I was saying I don't like that people think that's what this sub is.
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u/Omnipotent48 24d ago
Most of Reddit are Archliberals who think everybody is Russian, Chinese, or a robot. They will think this of anything that contradicts their world view, you're not going to ever see that change for as long as this website maintains the same bubbles it has now.
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u/PenguinSunday 24d ago
Anyone from Korea willing to chime in? Is this a power grab or is there an actual threat?
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u/Boardofed 24d ago
Pogroms incoming
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u/MassivePsychology862 24d ago
Of whom?
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u/djokov 24d ago
"DPRK sympathising leftists", which in a South Korean context simply means anyone to the political left of whichever right-winger is in charge. The former fascist military dictatorships were notorious for the absolutely insane amount of political prisoners they incarcerated, due to how they would persecute everyone from labour organisers or citizens with actual leftist sympathies (not necessarily pro-DPRK), to pro-unification liberal centrists and even rivalling fascists.
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u/MassivePsychology862 24d ago
What is right wing? Like anti women, anti queer, etc? Or is it more economic conservatism? I’m from the US for context.
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u/KingApologist 24d ago
Right-wing specifically means preserving the status of the elites. Economic conservatism in the US context is right-wing and endemic to both Democrats and Republicans (with a handful of halfhearted exceptions like AOC).
This declaration of martial law is more like right-wing infighting, although it's mostly because the president of Korea is flailing to avoid impeachment for his monumental level of corruption. Elites only get in trouble when they piss off other elites.
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u/MassivePsychology862 24d ago
So what type of corruption is this guy into? Is it like luxury commercial goods or resources like oil and gas?
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u/KingApologist 24d ago edited 24d ago
He's using the government to protect his wife, who appears to have been involved in stock manipulation. She also has likely accepted bribes on his behalf. He used his justice department to whitewash her crimes (and by extension, his own).
Now people who didn't think about him or know anything about his past are digging into his affairs and today's behavior is resulting in him doing a Streisand effect on himself.
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u/djokov 24d ago
The right wing in South Korea is just fascist. Especially so within the broader South Korean historical context. The country was founded by the right wing movement consolidating their power through fascist military youth organisations that were quite literally modelled on Nazi Germany's Hitlerjugend. The fact that Korea split into a communist North and a fascist South also means that that the anti-communism and anti-labour rhetoric and policies are much more aggressive compared to the far right movements of Western countries. The historical repression of leftists, combined with the fact that the perservering split between the two states makes it very easy to effectively engage in red scare rhetoric, means the Overton window of South Korean politics is skewed far over to the right.
Rabid anti-feminism and anti-LGBTQ is part of the parcel for pretty much every right wing movement nowadays, and the South Korean right also engages in all the typical right-wing culture war nonsense. Yoon won in large part because he garnered support from young men who somehow believe that their economic opportunities are limited by feminism rather than the fact that the bargaining power of South Korean labour has been carved out by decades of anti-union policies and that a culture of promoting employes based on their age/seniority has led to increased age stratification of wealth and income. Just to provide an example, Yoon ran on abolishing the Ministry of Equality and Family, on the basis that gender equality has "gone too far".
As for economic policy, Yoon represents a tendency within the South Korean which adheres more closely to the tendency of the international far right, pursuing aggressive neoliberal deregulation and pro-business interventionism. Within a South Korean context this differs from the traditional right, who favours more statist economic intervention and planning. Essentially the South Korean right is divided between these two groups, with Yoon representing a slight departure from the traditional right wing. The New Right is funnily enough pro-Japanese, which the traditional right (and Koreans in overall) aren't for very obvious reasons. While this makes sense given that their more liberal economic policies are more catered towards international corporations and capitalists, rather than the traditional nationalist approach, it is still hilarious whenever fascists are not even able to do nationalism correctly.
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u/DoctorDeath147 24d ago
Leftists and feminists
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u/MassivePsychology862 24d ago
How are they anti feminist? Tbh this is the first I’ve heard of SK being conservative.
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u/DoctorDeath147 24d ago
Long story short:
Feminism and women empowerment are shunned in South Korea. They blame their low birth rates on feminism. The current president also doesn't like feminism.
And there are a lot of incels in South Korea and some people frame it as a literal gender war.
Articles online explain it better.
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u/MassivePsychology862 24d ago
Is it dangerous to be a woman? What about trans women / trans rights in general? Is there access to gender affirming care? What about reproductive healthcare and abortion? I’m honestly shocked. I never hear about this side of SK in the US news.
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24d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/MassivePsychology862 24d ago
Ok so yeah. South Korea is basically just Samsung. Lovely. The narrator was right: this is some cyber punk dystopian bullshit if I’ve ever seen it.
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u/AlabamaHotcakes 24d ago edited 24d ago
So is this the beginning of WW3 or a powergrab by the President?
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u/ASharkMadeOfSharks 24d ago
It’s just another addition to the dumpster fire of current world affairs….
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u/Man_in_the_uk 24d ago
When martial law is declared only to be lifted hours later, they are clearly missing the idea.
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