What Can We Learn From South Korea S 6 Hour Martial Law

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I’m not too familiar with South Korean politics. I do know about the band NewJeans, but only because my daughter once requested a NewJeans box set for her birthday.
I also know about OhmyNews, a South Korean news portal which was founded in the early 2000s and was so influential that it was believed to have swayed the 2002 South Korean presidential election.
It was a case study that I frequently used back then to prove how the internet was going to change the journalism landscape.
Oh, and I also know about that viral Apateu song (spelt APT!) sung by South Korean singer Rose and American singer Bruno Mars. Yes, I am quite hip and happening with what the young ones are tuned into!
However, I have to admit that I find that song so irritating and annoying that my wife and I have banned it from being played in the car. If our kids want to listen to it, they will have to do it on their own and when we aren’t around.
Bruno MarsBut of course, what happened in South Korea early this week caught my attention (as it did the whole world, really!). I’m talking about the six-hour martial law that was declared and then lifted in the land of BlackPink (oh yes, I know that band too!).
Shock declaration
As far as I know, South Korea is a well-developed country and is quite politically stable with a strong democracy. Of course, all this came after many years of authoritarian, and many say brutal and oppressive, military rule in the 1970s and 1980s.
I followed the news closely and started getting myself up to speed with South Korean politics. Basically, President Yoon Suk Yeol (above) declared martial law because he claimed there were anti-state forces that were planning to “paralyse the nation’s essential functions and the constitutional order of free democracy”.
The military took swift action and tried to close the legislative National Assembly but wasn’t fast enough and the parliamentarians voted for martial law to be lifted. After six hours, Yoon announced the lifting of martial law.
Then, the National Assembly scheduled a vote to see if the president should be impeached for his actions. The opposition has a small majority in the assembly but they would need a two-thirds majority in order to impeach the president.
Impeachment proceedings against President Yoon Suk Yeol at the South Korean National AssemblyFor context, South Korea has both presidential and parliamentary elections and although Yoon won in 2022, his party did not win a majority in the assembly.
I think that Malaysia, and any other democratic country, can learn a lot from what happened, and is happening, in South Korea as far as how to practice a proper democracy to govern a country is concerned.
Working as intended
Let’s take a look at some of the more valuable lessons. The first lesson would have to be the importance of the separation of powers between the three government branches - the executive, legislative and judiciary.
A good democracy needs to have a proper separation of powers of its branches in order to have checks and balances.
South Korea proved that this past week because, although according to their law, the president has a right to declare martial law if he sees that there is a threat to public safety in times of war, armed conflict or other similar national emergencies, the National Assembly can vote to lift it if they see fit.
In this instance, the assembly saw fit to lift it immediately and did so.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol apologising on national television for declaring martial lawFor context, Yoon is considered a conservative and had promised to stand for values which included freedom and liberal democracy.
His tune changed after taking office and he started using non-democratic methods like lawsuits, state regulators and criminal investigations to clamp down on freedom.
It wasn’t just the opposition that was unhappy, but so were members of his own party, specifically the leader Han Dong-hoon, who did not agree with the declaration of martial law.
Now, because South Korea has a clear separation of powers between its three branches of government, it means that the president’s power can be kept in check by the other branches.
This separation of power is very important for governance and doesn’t just need to exist among the three main branches, but also in different governmental agencies and organisations such as election commissions, anti-corruption commissions, attorney-general’s chambers, etc.
Secondly, there needs to be elected leaders who have integrity, responsibility and good morals.
The fact that in South Korea, we even see people from Yoon’s own party questioning what they consider dubious decisions and wanting to act against it, shows that individuals have the integrity and responsibility to do the right thing rather than being whipped into following the leader’s stand in whatever issues. So there are no blind followers.
Checks and balances
Of course, the story in South Korea is far from over. Yoon is still in power after yesterday’s impeachment vote failed as the assembly failed to meet a quorum after his party ordered its MPs to leave.
This caused protestors who were already out in the capital of Seoul to voice more anger.
However, the assembly still has another chance to vote for an impeachment on Dec 11. His party’s leader continues to believe that Yoon needs to leave office.
The South Korean National Assembly holding impeachment proceedings against President Yoon Suk YeolSo, we have to wait and see what is the outcome of all of this and hope that democracy and the voice of the people will prevail. But so far, all that is happening points towards how the South Korean government system is larger than any individual. Institutions need to be empowered so that no individual who is in power can abuse their power and authority.
I am also not saying that Malaysia, or any other country, is going to face the same kind of turmoil that South Korea is going through.
Malaysia, for example, isn’t in that bad of a situation where martial law would be enforced. All I am saying is that we can all look at South Korea and learn from and adopt what is good, as well as stay clear of what could be detrimental.
What is true is that in any democratic government, a healthy and integral check and balance system needs to exist. - Mkini
ZAN AZLEE is a writer, documentary filmmaker, journalist and academic. Visit fatbidin.com to view his work.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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