Martial law came to South Korea and my friends and I chatted through the night

At 10:23 p.m. on December 3 in Seoul, I was already in bed, alternating between reading a book and watching cooking videos on YouTube. It was then that Yoon Suk Yeol, the president, declared emergency martial law in South Korea, for the first time since 1979.

In an unannounced televised speech, Yoon said the imposition of martial law was aimed at “eradicating pro-North Korean forces and protecting the constitutional order of freedom.”