South Korea president declares emergency martial law (https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/03/asia/south-korea-martial-law-intl/index.html)
QuoteSouth Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law in an unannounced late-night TV address, accusing the country's main opposition party of sympathizing with North Korea and anti-state activities.
Yoon did not say what measures would be taken. He cited a motion by the opposition Democratic Party, which has a majority in parliament, to impeach top prosecutors and reject a government budget proposal.
"To safeguard a liberal South Korea from the threats posed by North Korea's communist forces and to eliminate anti-state elements... I hereby declare emergency martial law," Yoon said in a live televised address to the nation.
What's going on? Someone who knows Korean politics can explain?
Ad hoc comments from the internet
QuoteThe opposition has been wanting to impeach him for years and with his histroically low approval ratings, they're very close and he's panicking. The Armed Forces are having a meeting right now, I do not expect them to play along with this. If they do, god help us. And yes, it came out of nowhere for Koreans too. No one expected fucking martial law. Not even when they actually successfully impeached the president before last. Everyone on Korean internet right now is shocked and suprprised by the absolute hell of a news flash that got dropped on them out of nowhere.
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cn38321180et
QuoteRuling party and opposition both vow to block declaration - report
published at 15:17
15:17
The Yonhap News Agency is reporting that the leader of South Korean opposition Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung, has said the declaration of martial law is unconstitutional.
Yonhap is also reporting that Han Dong-hoon, the head of the ruling People Power Party - of which President Yoon Suk Yeol is a member - has also vowed to block the declaration, describing it as "wrong".
Ok so I wasn't the only one completely surprised by this one. First I thought NK was up to something.
I guess it's up to the military now if they want to install a junta, otherwise it'll be over quickly.
Great, there goes one of my potential destination countries for when we need to flee the US.
More seriously, the increasingly prevalent authoritarianism is really giving me 1930s vibes. Not a fan of it TBH.
So I'm not master of Korean history but I seem to recall that from the Korean War up until the 1980s South Korea was various flavours of military dictatorship.
Which on the one hand might make them more susceptible - but on the other hand gives them much better public awareness of exactly why a military dictatorship is a bad thing, and that it really can happen.
So just a unpopular president trumping?
I had no idea anything was so wrong in Korea.
I have a feeling the President of S. Korea will be resigning soon.
The South Korean parliament has voted to block the imposition of martial law but the military is saying it will maintain it until the President lifts it. He has around 25% approval rating...
If you're a wonnabe strongman you have to now act bigly to secure a place in the queue outside Mara-largo.
Quote from: mongers on December 03, 2024, 01:40:36 PMIf you're a wonnabe strongman you have to now act bigly to secure a place in the queue outside Mara-largo.
:bleeding:
I guess we'll be going through something similar in a month.
Quote from: mongers on December 03, 2024, 01:40:36 PMIf you're a wonnabe strongman you have to now act bigly to secure a place in the queue outside Mara-largo.
The timing is interesting yeah.
Whoever is currently running the US better get on this fast. :hmm:
Quote from: Legbiter on December 03, 2024, 01:31:57 PMThe South Korean parliament has voted to block the imposition of martial law but the military is saying it will maintain it until the President lifts it. He has around 25% approval rating...
Well that's not good.
Absolute shitshow yeah.
So... if the north was ever to invade now would be the opportune moment.
And on the unions, Korean TUC launching an indefinite general strike and mobilisation for protest until the President and his supporters step down.
Supposedly the president said that he will accept the parliamentary vote and let ft martial law.
So basically a YOLO coup?
Quote from: Sheilbh on December 03, 2024, 03:13:10 PMSo basically a YOLO coup?
All the cool kids are doing it.
That was a wild 7 hours.
Amid all this, the response of the military seems less than idea even if they're standing down now:
QuoteYonhap: Joint Chiefs of Staff announce troops deployed to Seoul will return to their original units and the disbandment of Martial Law Command
Quote from: Barrister on December 03, 2024, 10:50:00 AMSo I'm not master of Korean history but I seem to recall that from the Korean War up until the 1980s South Korea was various flavours of military dictatorship.
Starting in 1961.
My entire childhood was spent under military dictatorship. :hmm:
Quote from: Admiral Yi on December 03, 2024, 06:53:10 PMQuote from: Barrister on December 03, 2024, 10:50:00 AMSo I'm not master of Korean history but I seem to recall that from the Korean War up until the 1980s South Korea was various flavours of military dictatorship.
Starting in 1961.
My entire childhood was spent under military dictatorship. :hmm:
Quick Yi, sire a child now and she or he too can suffer the childhood their father endured. :D
A CBC summary of the lead up to the short lived dictatorship
Yeah also being the President of SK has to be one of the most cursed positions on Earth looking over his predecessors. :hmm:
A total shock, no one expected it.
I was watching this last night and the fact that the networks were broadcasting and the internet was up and the troops didn't go in guns blazing against the blockers at the doors told me everything I needed to know about how serious the military rank and file and their officers were taking this coup, not very.
They were preformatively following orders in the most inefficient manner possible without being directly insubordinate. Just waiting things out until the assembly could get a qurom together and vote it down.
If they were really serious they could have easily stopped that from happening.
This was Yoon flailing around and throwing a hail Mary to avoid impeachment. Frankly, before this fiasco I was skeptical it was going to happen, even with his approval rate at 17~19 percent. The bar is high, and President Park managed to pass it via some unique circumstances.
Obviously he's sunk now. The leader of the PPP in the legislature was immediately on Facebook denouncing this as an unconstitutional power grab and demanding the military not listen.
Some good English Language News sources for Korea.
https://www.koreaherald.com/
https://en.yna.co.kr/
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www2/index.asp
Quote from: jimmy olsen on December 03, 2024, 09:49:35 PMA total shock, no one expected it.
I was watching this last night and the fact that the networks were broadcasting and the internet was up and the troops didn't go in guns blazing against the blockers at the doors told me everything I needed to know about how serious the military rank and file and their officers were taking this coup, not very.
They were preformatively following orders in the most inefficient manner possible without being directly insubordinate. Just waiting things out until the assembly could get a qurom together and vote it down.
If they were really serious they could have easily stopped that from happening.
This was Yoon flailing around and throwing a hail Mary to avoid impeachment. Frankly, before this fiasco I was skeptical it was going to happen, even with his approval rate at 17~19 percent. The bar is high, and President Park managed to pass it via some unique circumstances.
Obviously he's sunk now. The leader of the PPP in the legislature was immediately on Facebook denouncing this as an unconstitutional power grab and demanding the military not listen.
So voters will reelect him in four years.
Quote from: HisMajestyBOB on December 03, 2024, 10:15:48 PMQuote from: jimmy olsen on December 03, 2024, 09:49:35 PMA total shock, no one expected it.
I was watching this last night and the fact that the networks were broadcasting and the internet was up and the troops didn't go in guns blazing against the blockers at the doors told me everything I needed to know about how serious the military rank and file and their officers were taking this coup, not very.
They were preformatively following orders in the most inefficient manner possible without being directly insubordinate. Just waiting things out until the assembly could get a qurom together and vote it down.
If they were really serious they could have easily stopped that from happening.
This was Yoon flailing around and throwing a hail Mary to avoid impeachment. Frankly, before this fiasco I was skeptical it was going to happen, even with his approval rate at 17~19 percent. The bar is high, and President Park managed to pass it via some unique circumstances.
Obviously he's sunk now. The leader of the PPP in the legislature was immediately on Facebook denouncing this as an unconstitutional power grab and demanding the military not listen.
So voters will reelect him in four years.
No nation would be dumb enough to reelect a president who tried and failed a coup.
Oh wait.
Quote from: HisMajestyBOB on December 03, 2024, 10:15:48 PMSo voters will reelect him in four years.
Lol, this is the ROK. Like half of their presidents have been jailed for corruption since 1988, they will not treat him with kid gloves.
Quote from: jimmy olsen on December 03, 2024, 11:42:51 PMQuote from: HisMajestyBOB on December 03, 2024, 10:15:48 PMSo voters will reelect him in four years.
Lol, this is the ROK. Like half of their presidents have been jailed for corruption since 1988, they will not treat him with kid gloves.
But does that spell the end of their political careers? Those can be two different things. :P
The (Russian?) conspiracy machine is off and running. The main one seems to be that the Chinese and North Korean spies have infiltrated the opposition that that the president was trying to enact stricter anti-spying measures and was being block by said spies hence his need for martial law.
One of the main culprits resigned
https://m-en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20241205002400315?section=national/politics
QuoteSEOUL, Dec. 5 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk Yeol has accepted the resignation of Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, the presidential office said Thursday, amid growing controversy surrounding his role in Yoon's aborted martial law declaration.
Kim, who proposed the martial law declaration to Yoon, offered to step down Wednesday, after Yoon abruptly declared martial law Tuesday night and lifted the decree hours later following the National Assembly's passage of a resolution to overturn it.
Yoon has nominated Choi Byung-huk, a retired four-star general currently serving as South Korea's ambassador to Saudi Arabia, to succeed Kim, Chung Jin-suk, Yoon's chief of staff, said in a press briefing.
That former defence minister was now arrested and charged with high treason.
Yoon just gave a speech where he made clear he thought martial law was the right call and that he won't resign.
Quote from: jimmy olsen on December 11, 2024, 08:16:35 PMYoon just gave a speech where he made clear he thought martial law and that he won't resign.
What about it?
What the fuck does that mean?
Writing too fast on my phone is what it means.
I fixed it
I believe 5 PPP members had already said they were going to vote yes in the next vote before this speech, this probably pushes the opposition over the top
https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20241212050012
Quote[Breaking] Ruling party leader says impeachment against Yoon now only solution
By Jung Min-kyung
Published : Dec. 12, 2024 - 10:09
Ruling People Power Party Chair Han Dong-hoon said Thursday that it "has been confirmed" that President Yoon Suk Yeol is not willing to participate in the party's plan for his orderly resignation, and stressed that impeachment is the "only valid way" to stop him from exercising his powers as president.
Han's remarks, made at a press briefing, follow Yoon's public address on Saturday, in which he said he would hand over the rest of his term and the fate of his presidency to his party.
Han called for ruling party lawmakers to participate in the upcoming parliamentary impeachment vote -- the second of its kind -- scheduled for Saturday. "The lawmakers of our party must participate in the impeachment vote based on their conviction and conscience," he said.
If Joe Biden had done something like this I would be a hundred percent behind impeachment.
Quote from: Razgovory on December 11, 2024, 08:51:48 PMWhat the fuck does that mean?
Guy was just trying to pick a toon to fight King in Tekken. It's all a big misunderstanding.
Quote from: Razgovory on December 11, 2024, 10:17:43 PMIf Joe Biden had done something like this I would be a hundred percent behind impeachment.
If (when) Trump does something like this, the Republicans will praise and support him.
Some funny pics of the PPP reacting to Yoon's speech
https://x.com/josungkim/status/1867032731508674860
https://x.com/josungkim/status/1867032152841273368
Quote from: jimmy olsen on December 12, 2024, 04:36:30 AMSome funny pics of the PPP reacting to Yoon's speech
https://x.com/josungkim/status/1867032731508674860
https://x.com/josungkim/status/1867032152841273368
Guess they're imagining the blowback against their own re-elections.
204-89
Impeached!
Get rid of those 89 too.
Quote from: HVC on December 14, 2024, 04:47:31 AMGet rid of those 89 too.
Unfortunately, the latest legislative election was this April, so the next election is in 2028.
Apparently it's bad news for the world outside Korea that this all went down.
I have read this wannabe dictator had been pushing for directly selling to Ukraine and that idea is now firmly tainted and not going to happen.
Thank God, Yoon is cooked
https://bsky.app/profile/benjaminaengel.bsky.social/post/3lellhc3yjk2w
QuoteActing President Choi appoints two judges to the Constitutional Court. Another spot remains open but this likely clears the path to confirming Yoon's impeachment and turns down the tensions between the govt and opposition controlled National Assembly.
https://m-en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20241231007500315
Great thread here, with the court just dunking all over Yoon.
https://bsky.app/profile/sslee.bsky.social/post/3llxed52l5c2n
QuoteYoon is impeached.
"The impeachment petition in this case is lawful."
"Yoon's exercise of emergency powers cannot be justified."
"There was no lawful deliberation or Cabinet meeting regarding Yoon's declaration of martial law. This violated the procedures stipulated by the Constitution and the law."
"It was also confirmed that Yoon ordered the arrest of key political figures and opposition lawmakers."
"Yoon violated the political neutrality of the military."
"Yoon infringed upon the political freedoms of the people."
"Yoon violated the independence of the National Election Commission."
"Yoon violated the independence of the judiciary."
"Yoon denied popular sovereignty and democracy, and extensively infringed upon the fundamental rights of the people."
Saw a bit of this on the TV news. Why on earth do the crooks supporters all have American flags :unsure:
These people are nuts
https://www.reddit.com/r/Living_in_Korea/comments/1gn7l2q/why_do_people_display_us_flags_at_protest/
Quote from: Josquius on April 04, 2025, 05:25:46 AMSaw a bit of this on the TV news. Why on earth do the crooks supporters all have American flags
I bolded the relevant parts.
Quote from: Josquius on April 04, 2025, 05:25:46 AMSaw a bit of this on the TV news. Why on earth do the crooks supporters all have American flags :unsure:
These people are nuts
https://www.reddit.com/r/Living_in_Korea/comments/1gn7l2q/why_do_people_display_us_flags_at_protest/
They want their corrupt authoritarian president returned to power. What represents that better today than the American flag?
Quote from: HisMajestyBOB on April 04, 2025, 08:44:41 AMQuote from: Josquius on April 04, 2025, 05:25:46 AMSaw a bit of this on the TV news. Why on earth do the crooks supporters all have American flags :unsure:
These people are nuts
https://www.reddit.com/r/Living_in_Korea/comments/1gn7l2q/why_do_people_display_us_flags_at_protest/
They want their corrupt authoritarian president returned to power. What represents that better today than the American flag?
Yep. We represent corrupt authoritarian nationalist strongmen.
Quote from: Valmy on April 04, 2025, 10:31:03 AMQuote from: HisMajestyBOB on April 04, 2025, 08:44:41 AMQuote from: Josquius on April 04, 2025, 05:25:46 AMSaw a bit of this on the TV news. Why on earth do the crooks supporters all have American flags :unsure:
These people are nuts
https://www.reddit.com/r/Living_in_Korea/comments/1gn7l2q/why_do_people_display_us_flags_at_protest/
They want their corrupt authoritarian president returned to power. What represents that better today than the American flag?
Yep. We represent corrupt authoritarian nationalist strongmen.
Like the "El Presidentes" of South America, but with worse weather and uglier women.
Quote from: Valmy on April 04, 2025, 10:31:03 AMQuote from: HisMajestyBOB on April 04, 2025, 08:44:41 AMQuote from: Josquius on April 04, 2025, 05:25:46 AMSaw a bit of this on the TV news. Why on earth do the crooks supporters all have American flags :unsure:
These people are nuts
https://www.reddit.com/r/Living_in_Korea/comments/1gn7l2q/why_do_people_display_us_flags_at_protest/
They want their corrupt authoritarian president returned to power. What represents that better today than the American flag?
Yep. We represent corrupt authoritarian nationalist strongmen.
Hey, at least you're still number one in something :console:
Quote from: HVC on April 04, 2025, 10:46:53 AMQuote from: Valmy on April 04, 2025, 10:31:03 AMYep. We represent corrupt authoritarian nationalist strongmen.
Hey, at least you're still number one in something :console:
I don't know. Xi and Modi seem to be doing a better job at it. Even Erdogan, arguably.
Exit Polls are out
Democrats 51.7
People Power 39.3
New Reform Party 7.7
https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10501670
Lee is currently up a million votes with 45% of the vote counted
https://m-en.yna.co.kr/index
Lee won by over eight points, 49.42% to 41.15%. Kim Moon-su, the conservative candidate has conceded.
https://en.yna.co.kr/
However Laura Loomer and some other MAGA moonbats are crying fraud over it.
https://bsky.app/profile/benjaminaengel.bsky.social/post/3lqqlkpdvjc2w
Why? They should be happy. Ukraine won't get more help.
Quote from: Grey Fox on June 03, 2025, 08:53:10 PMWhy? They should be happy. Ukraine won't get more help.
The liberal candidate is pro Russia?
I did enjoy the Korean coverage animation on their news programs :D
Quote from: Grey Fox on June 03, 2025, 08:53:10 PMWhy? They should be happy. Ukraine won't get more help.
Just because he is a leftist. Well really a centrist but that is far enough leftist to make him a dangerous communist to people like them.
Quote from: Grey Fox on June 03, 2025, 08:53:10 PMWhy? They should be happy. Ukraine won't get more help.
Is that the case? The non-coup person is not in favour of supporting Ukraine?
Quote from: Jacob on June 04, 2025, 01:38:16 PMQuote from: Grey Fox on June 03, 2025, 08:53:10 PMWhy? They should be happy. Ukraine won't get more help.
Is that the case? The non-coup person is not in favour of supporting Ukraine?
I would see Lee is a staunch pacific that will lead a Presidency turned inward. Finding SK's place in the new Trumpist world will be more important to them than allow Ukraine to arm itself from SKorean sources.
Tim should know more.
Quote from: Grey Fox on June 04, 2025, 01:50:56 PMQuote from: Jacob on June 04, 2025, 01:38:16 PMQuote from: Grey Fox on June 03, 2025, 08:53:10 PMWhy? They should be happy. Ukraine won't get more help.
Is that the case? The non-coup person is not in favour of supporting Ukraine?
I would see Lee is a staunch pacific that will lead a Presidency turned inward. Finding SK's place in the new Trumpist world will be more important to them than allow Ukraine to arm itself from SKorean sources.
Tim should know more.
People are not happy with the North's involvement with Russia, but ultimately, if their men are getting killed over there, they probably won't start something over here is the idea, I think