[Editorial] 1 year after martial law crisis, Korea must vow ‘never again’

Yoon Suk-yeol declares emergency martial regulation throughout an emergency tackle from the presidential workplace in Seoul on the night of Dec. 3, 2024. (Shin So-young/Hankyoreh)

Up to now, frenzied dictators waged “soiled wars” in opposition to their very own public.

Troopers arrested, imprisoned and tortured anybody who may pose even a slight menace to the regime, all with no warrant. They even tortured mother and father in entrance of their very own kids. Folks have been executed with out trials and buried in stadiums; when there was no place left to bury them, their our bodies have been tossed into the ocean.

The massacres perpetrated by dictatorial regimes in South America in the course of the Nineteen Seventies and Eighties got here to be often known as “soiled wars.” This type of brutal suppression of democracy and human rights by dictators passed off not solely in South America but additionally in Africa and Asia. South Korea, for its half, skilled the tragic bloodbath in Gwangju in 1980.

However democracy would develop from there, and that bloody historical past got here to be considered merely a part of the previous. One night time, that agency perception crumbled below surreal circumstances.

At 10:23 pm on Dec. 3, 2024, then-South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol issued an emergency martial regulation declaration that immediately turned the lives of fifty million individuals the wrong way up.

Yoon insisted that this was an “unavoidable measure to protect a free Republic of Korea.” In actuality, it was merely the primary armed coup try to happen in a developed democratic state.

In a while, the notebooks of former Protection Intelligence Command chief Roh Sang-won would affirm a few of the horrific intentions lurking behind Yoon’s eyes when he declared martial regulation. They described a hellish scene of main politicians, media figures, judges, social activists and broadcasting personalities being indiscriminately rounded up and loaded on a ship to be scuttled or blown up.

Over time, the revelations have solely grow to be extra astonishing. Yoon and his cronies tried to encourage a navy assault by North Korea by sending drones into Pyongyang — looking for a conflict that might function a pretext for declaring martial regulation.

A memo drafted by Protection Counterintelligence Command commander Yeo In-hyeong simply earlier than the declaration referred to a hypothetical state of affairs of full-scale conflict. It learn, “Minimal: Safety disaster, Most: Noah’s flood” — in different phrases, scorched earth. 

Individuals in a mass rally on Dec. 14, 2024, outdoors the Nationwide Meeting wave their mild sticks in to the beat of music as they have a good time the impeachment of Yoon Suk-yeol, the previous president. (Kim Younger-won/Hankyoreh)

Because the democratic republic and the general public’s lives have been threatened with extinction, it was the sovereign individuals themselves who rescued them.

Residents raced to the Nationwide Meeting from different components of Seoul and all around the nation to bodily block the armored automobiles and armed troopers. They helped lawmakers break by means of the police cordon and climb over the Nationwide Meeting’s partitions in order that they may vote to raise the martial regulation declaration.

Because the bitter winter chilly raged, individuals of all ages and walks of life crammed the streets with help wands, which led to a Nationwide Meeting vote impeaching Yoon on Dec. 14.

When Yoon was lastly arrested at his official residence on the next Jan. 15, this was supported by farmers who led a tractor protest march to Seoul; round 30,000 members of the general public who gathered in the midst of the night time to assist these blocked at Namtaeryeong move; and members of the so-called “Kisses group” who wrapped themselves in foil blankets to carry out in entrance of the president’s residence amid heavy snows. The winter appeared like a miracle.

When spring got here once more, it ushered in an enormous backlash.

In distinction with the sovereign individuals who weathered the winter by means of their very own sources, members of the facility elite not solely didn’t combat again in opposition to the revolt however actively supported or defended it. As an alternative of taking motion in opposition to a nationwide disaster, they sought to revenue from the chaos.

Performing presidents tried to thwart the restoration of constitutional authorities by refusing to nominate justices to the Constitutional Courtroom. The Folks Energy Occasion (PPP), which had tried to disrupt the votes to raise martial regulation and to question Yoon, started talking out extra loudly in opposition to the impeachment.

However it was Yoon’s preliminary launch on March 8 — when his court docket determined to overturn his detention and the prosecutors deserted their attraction — that delivered one other infuriating shock to the general public on par with a second martial regulation declaration.

This form of factor may be anticipated from the prosecutors, who shared their roots with Yoon’s insurrectionists. However nobody imagined that the courts may function the ringleader’s guard.

Even when the Constitutional Courtroom eliminated Yoon from workplace on April 8, the victory for democracy was not full. When Supreme Courtroom Chief Justice Jo Hee-de reversed and remanded a ruling in opposition to Lee Jae Myung on election regulation violations, this was one other try to undermine the ideas of common sovereignty. In the meantime, former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and the PPP sought to take benefit and preserve the insurrectionists in energy by forcibly switching out the celebration’s presidential candidate.

Supreme Courtroom Chief Justice Jo Hee-de seems earlier than the Nationwide Meeting’s Legislative and Judiciary Committee throughout a parliamentary audit on Oct. 13, 2025. (Kim Younger-won/Hankyoreh)

The revolt try on Dec. 3 of final 12 months laid naked how a lot contempt these people felt for democracy and the way deeply they sought to rule over the sovereign public — not simply the deluded leaders of the revolt themselves, but additionally the facility elite that loved vested pursuits throughout society.

The truth that there was nobody in 2024 who responded as then-Capital Garrison Command commander Jang Tae-wan did when he opposed the insurrectionists on Dec. 12, 1979; the truth that not a single Cupboard minister adamantly opposed the martial regulation declaration; the truth that the members of the PPP proceed performing as devoted henchmen to the insurrectionists; the truth that the police, the prosecutors, and even the judiciary have didn’t ship a decisive authorized blow in opposition to the destruction to the constitutional order — all of those level to the truth of a corrupt system of vested pursuits backing up the revolt try.

What has allowed us to succeed in our present level has been our neighborhood’s tenacious efforts to beat these moments of despair.

The general public overcame the constitutional instability to position a brand new administration in workplace, displaying astonishing resilience within the face of a disaster that almost evaporated a long time’ value of political, financial and cultural belongings instantly. This means of overcoming the revolt try was intently watched by the remainder of the world, the place many expressed amazement on the resilience of South Korean democracy.

Nonetheless, it’s too early to declare a victory for the Structure and democracy. A 12 months’s value of seasons have cycled, bringing us again to the day all of it transpired — however the means of bringing these answerable for the revolt to justice has been gradual.

To this point, there has not been a single conviction for any of the insurrectionists. The general public has been infuriated by Decide Jee Kui-youn’s lackadaisical method to the revolt trial and the repeated dismissals of warrant requests by judges with the Seoul Central District Courtroom. We’ve even seen the insurrectionists’ exultant attorneys overtly insulting the court docket within the revolt trials.

Since its launch final summer time, the particular counsel probing the revolt incident has made strides by having Yoon positioned again below arrest and indicting him on further treason expenses. However the particulars behind his try to impress a conflict haven’t been disclosed in a satisfying manner. Among the key questions stay unanswered in issues such because the direct motive behind Yoon’s revolt try and the function performed by first girl Kim Keon-hee.

Punishment for the revolt is just not one thing that ought to be approached at a token degree. To take action can be to plant seeds for future insurrections.

Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo have been sentenced to life imprisonment and 17 years in jail on expenses of navy rebel and revolt, solely to be launched on particular pardons in December 1997, the identical 12 months that their preliminary sentences have been finalized. The purported purpose of “nationwide unity” was not achieved; the one impact was to undermine the sanctity of our legal guidelines in opposition to treason.

Jang Dong-hyuk, the chief of the Folks Energy Occasion, speaks at a rally denouncing the try to arrest Rep. Choo Kyung-ho outdoors the Seoul Central District Courtroom on Dec. 2, 2025. (Yonhap)

The specter of a coup appeared set to move into historical past perpetually, solely to be resurrected after half a century. We can’t afford to permit any extra of this harmful leniency.

As we observe the remaining particular counsel investigations, we should guarantee that the utmost obligatory measures are taken to totally probe any lingering questions that stay. The trials should not be shrouded in public mistrust the best way they’re at present.

We have to look at each avenue that the Structure permits, together with the potential of a devoted court docket for the revolt case. The duty power on “authorities innovation for constitutional integrity” should carry out its appointed duties of investigating revolt accomplices who’re lurking in official society.
 
The one manner for us to really rid ourselves of the corrosive legacy of the revolt is to carry these accountable to justice with out exception and to overtake the social and political constructions that allowed such a disaster to ensue within the first place. 

After which there may be after all the urgent matter of rectifying the PPP, which continues to reward the revolt and name for Yoon to be returned to the presidency. On Monday, mere days earlier than the anniversary of Yoon’s botched coup, PPP chief Jang Dong-hyuk mentioned there was “nothing that the celebration can reduce off,” refusing to chop ties with these answerable for final 12 months’s disaster. 

The general public wants to indicate the PPP that with out painstaking reflection and a whole overhaul it would by no means have a big function within the legislature, to say nothing of successful the presidency. 

Furthermore, we should break up the authority of the navy, police, prosecutors, judiciary and all different insular establishments of energy which have remained, even after Korea’s democratization, disconnected from the general public, and strengthen democratic checks on their energy in order to return them to their supposed place of serving the sovereign individuals of their nation. There isn’t any time to lose in pursuing these reforms. 

We should additionally enshrine in our establishments the calls for to oppose hate and discrimination in all its kinds that echoed by means of the streets this previous 12 months. 

Whereas the previous 12 months has been a time of triumph for the individuals of Korea, it was additionally a affirmation of the various shortcomings of our democracy. Can we actually relaxation assured that there’ll by no means be one other disaster like that on Dec. 3, 2024? 

Going ahead, we should focus our efforts on answering this query. The title of the Nationwide Fee on the Disappearance of Individuals’ report on the atrocities of the soiled wars was “Nunca Más” — “by no means once more.” The phrase is an expression of their dedication to by no means repeat such horrors. 

It’s an apt title for all the fear and rage, the desperation and jubilation that we’ve skilled this previous 12 months. By no means once more should we repeat the occasions of Dec. 3, 2024. With this resolve, we embark on a brand new 12 months. 

Please direct questions or feedback to [english@hani.co.kr]