South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law in a televised address late Tuesday, claiming that the opposition was engaging in anti-state, pro-North Korea activities.
Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung said the martial law declaration was “unconstitutional” and “goes against the people,” the Yonhap News Agency reported earlier this evening.
Falling Popularity
Since taking office in 2022, Yoon — the leader of the conservative People Power Party (PPP) — has seen his popularity drop from over 50 percent to 19 percent in November, according to Gallup Korea.
That unpopularity has translated into tangible political setbacks. In parliamentary elections this April, the opposition Democratic Party secured a 175-seat majority in the 300-member National Assembly in elections held in April.
The highly contested polls had a turnout of 67 percent — the highest for a parliamentary election in three decades.
Warning Signs
Concerns over Yoon’s authoritarian tendencies have grown over the past year.
As scholars Myunghee Lee and Sungik Yang explained earlier this year, Yoon has attacked his opponents as “communists” and accused the media of producing “fake news.”
The Yonhap News Agency reports that the South Korean army chief Park An-su has been named martial law commander.
South Korea transitioned to democracy in 1987 after the June Democratic Uprising. Conservative politicians in the country tend to have a soft side for the era of authoritarian rule, crediting it for the country’s economic boom.
The 1953 Mutual Defense Treaty forms the basis of a longstanding alliance between South Korea and the United States. There are nearly 30,000 U.S. troops in the country.
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