Why South Koreans rallied against martial law: a brief history from the Korean War to President Yoon Suk-yeol

The rapid response to Yoon’s attempts to subvert the democratic system showed that some lines had been crossed and that South Korea’s people were unwilling to accept it. It has to do with South Korea’s post-war history and its hard-won path to becoming a functioning democracy.

Living under colonialism and war

For much of its modern history, the Korean Peninsula has found itself in the middle of a power struggle. Between 1910-1945, it was subjected to brutal colonial rule under the Japanese Empire. Towards the end of the Second World War, the US proposed dividing the Korean peninsula into two occupation zones divided at the 38th parallel: the Soviet Union controlling the North and the US controlling the South.

In the South, the United States appointed and supported the former head of the Korean Provisional Government, Rhee Syngman, as leader. In May 1948, Rhee won the first presidential elections of the newly declared Republic of Korea, but engaged in authoritarian control and repression of opponents.

For the next 12 years, Rhee would rule South Korea as an autocratic leader, till a student uprising in April 1960 would force him to resign. Political instability followed for the next year, when in May 1961, Major-General Park Chung Hee organised and led a military coup. South Korea’s military then had still not shed the legacy of Japanese occupation forces during colonial times, and the legacy of American training received during the Korean War. Corruption and factionalism was common within the Korean army.

A hard-won path to democracy

Park Chung Hee would remain South Korea’s president for 18 years, a period that witnessed the repression of political opposition and personal freedom of South Korea’s citizens, and a muzzling of the press and universities. In December 1972, Park introduced the Yushin Constitution, which dramatically increased presidential powers and created a dictatorship.

In October 1979, Park Chung Hee was assassinated. In December that year, taking advantage of the political vacuum and instability, Chun Doo-Hwan, a brigadier general, orchestrated a military coup that would mark the start of his own military dictatorship in South Korea.

The following year, in May 1980, Chun forced South Korea’s national cabinet to extend martial law to the whole nation. Under martial law, universities were closed, political activities were banned and the press was severely curtailed. Military troops were dispatched by Chun across the country to enforce martial law. Chun’s government justified the imposition of martial law claiming infiltration from North Korea.

Curbs on civil liberties and freedoms

The growing curbs on civil liberties and the military presence in towns and cities resulted in what came to be known as the Gwangju Uprising, a student-led protest against the military government in May 1980. Chun ordered for it to be suppressed, sending military troops with tanks, helicopters and weapons. With the approval of the United States, which had maintained operational control over combined US and Korean forces since the halt of the Korean War, Chun’s government sent the Special Forces to Gwangju. The military committed physical violence against protestors. The brutality of Chun’s government, with the support of the military, incited more people to join the protests. Thousands were wounded and arrested, over a hundred killed and many others declared missing.

In the 1980s, Chun set up the Samchung re-education camp, where thousands of South Koreans were imprisoned for criticising the military government. Many were subjected to hard labour, violence and imprisonment, and several died.

Authoritarian rule under Chun continued in South Korea till 1987, when a young student was tortured to death for protesting. Park Jong-chul was a student at Seoul National University and a South Korean democracy movement activist, whose death by torture, and Chun’s proposal to install Roh Tae-woo, another military general, as his successor, were key factors in sparking the June Democratic Struggle of 1987, which led to the democratisation of South Korea.

Although Roh was Chun’s ally, elections were held in South Korea in 1987, and Roh managed to win largely due to divided votes among opposition candidates. In February 1988, with the appointment of Roh Tae-woo as President of South Korea, the country began moving on the path of becoming a liberal democracy.

Why South Koreans rejected Yoon’s authoritarianism

The CIA handbook of the US government lists South Korea as one with “rapid economic growth” over the years and “a fully functioning modern democracy” as of January 2025. However, some political analysts believe that the country has been witnessing democratic backsliding in certain areas, and has witnessed the rise of authoritarianism under President Yoon Suk-yeol.

However, the memories of the years of dictatorship, and the brutality of martial law are still fresh in the minds of South Korea’s public. It is also why Yoon’s political survivability became uncertain even though he lifted martial law on December 4, a day after imposing it. While Yoon had believed that martial law was the only way to curb political unrest and opposition, it was clear that as a country, South Korea had not forgotten its recent history.

It is why the country’s lawmakers rapidly mobilised and moved to the National Assembly to vote to reject martial law, and why ordinary South Koreans braved the winter cold to come out and hold mass protests. It is perhaps also why the South Korean military did not do much to prevent the protestors and lawmakers from gathering.