Young South Koreans, seeing democracy at stake, take to the streets

Yoon's declaration of martial law has given rise to new wave of political activism

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SEOUL - Ms Lee Suyoon, a 20-year-old student, was at home just outside of Seoul on Dec 3, sharing a late-night fried chicken dinner with her mother when her phone started buzzing.

A flurry of messages from her friends alerted her that martial law had been declared in South Korea and soldiers were breaking into the National Assembly.

Ms Lee, who like others her age entered adulthood largely detached from politics, dismissed the notion that there could really be a military dictatorship, and she went to bed.

Everything changed the next day.

As her Yonsei University classmates talked non-stop about what had happened, they shared videos of soldiers clashing with lawmakers, and news articles about military generals testifying before Parliament. After seeing that other campuses were galvanising protesters, she felt compelled to act.

By Dec 7, Ms Lee had persuaded four friends to join her and tens of thousands of others to demand President Yoon Suk Yeol's removal outside the National Assembly, while a vote on an impeachment motion was under way inside.

The martial law declaration has forced her to realise that democracy is important, she said after the protest, and that it is also fragile.

Mr Yoon's attempt to suspend the country's democracy has given rise to a new group of politically active South Koreans. They belong to a generation often criticised for its political apathy - one that has not been exposed to the dark days of military rule before the late 1980s that the country's older generation remembers all too well.

In the past week, the protest crowds have been younger than they often have been in recent years: People in their late teens and 20s joined people their parents' and grandparents' age, all spooked and angered by the President's brazen action.