Seoul searching~I

There were fast-paced developments in the prelude to the eventual impeachment.

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There was an overwhelming opinion across the board that even if President Yoon was quick to withdraw martial law after he realised his folly, he could not avoid treason charges. The Democratic Party's floor leader Park Chan-dae was emphatic when he observed that Yoon could no longer run the country normally and therefore he should step down

In an unexpected turn of political developments in South Korea, President Yoon Suk-yeol invoked emergency martial law on 3 December, the first time since 1979. In a television address, Yoon justified the decree by accusing the opposition party of engaging in "antistate" activities. Yoon further justified his action saying that it was necessary to "eradicate proNorth Korean forces" and safeguard the "constitutional order of freedom".

The anachronistic declaration of martial law, to be withdrawn within six hours, by President Yoon was an incomprehensible shock that stirred up dark memories and painful wounds of state violence. However, South Korean democracy is resilient, and Korean society continues its efforts to properly heal and bid farewell to the darkest periods of its past.

In a peculiar democratic system in South Korea, the President need not have the support of the party he belongs to. In Yoon's case, he was at loggerheads for quite some time with the opposition Democratic Party (DP), which holds a majority in parliament. Such a situation invariably led to frictions with Opposition lawmakers who easily passed bills, only for the President to repeatedly veto them.