The South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol, has surprisingly declared martial law this Tuesday, with criticism of the opposition, which he has accused of serving the interests of North Korea, and causing shock in a country with a totalitarian past. until the 1980s.
Precisely the last time martial law was declared in South Korea was in 1980, a year after the assassination of dictator Park Chung Heewhich brought with it a wave of protests in May of that year to democratize the country that were widely repressed and left, according to some sources, close to 2,000 dead.
Seven years later, the first direct elections were held in South Korea, considered the closest in history until 2022, when Yoon, of the Popular Power Party, won by a meager 0.7 margin to Lee Jae Myung, the opposition leader who is now asking the population to take to the streets to protest this martial law.
Seven years later, the first direct elections were held, considered the most close until 2022
Before he addressed South Koreans to warn of the “anti-state forces” that seek to bring the country “to ruin,” Yoon, 61, has had to deal with low popularity ratings due to various controversies and scandals, including those involving his wife, Kim Keon He.
The first lady, implicated in a price manipulation plot
The South Korean first lady is implicated in a scheme to manipulate the share prices of a BMW car dealership in South Korea, between 2009 and 2012, and has been accused of accepting, shortly before Yoon’s inauguration, a luxury handbag. from the Dior brand valued at about 2,000 euros.
This scandal has been at the center of the political debate in South Korea over the last year and has been one of the key factors in the overwhelming defeat of the People’s Power Party (PPP) in the elections on April 10.
Since then, Yoon has had difficulties imposing his program in Parliament, as evidenced in some of the reproaches he launched at the opposition during the speech in which he decreed martial law.
The order has come shortly after the main opposition force, the Democratic Party (PD), which has a majority in Parliament, fast-tracked a reduced budget bill and presented impeachment motions against the head of the state audit and various prosecutors.
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