The extraordinary events have shaken the democratic foundations of the nation of 51 million people.
On Tuesday night, invoking the spectre of North Korean communists trying to destroy the country, South Korea’s right-wing leader, President Yoon Suk Yeol, hit the break-glass option typically reserved for the most extreme emergencies.
But the country’s democratic present is deeply rooted in its own authoritarian past, one that Yoon tapped into with his surprise declaration. Martial law has been imposed 16 times by South Korea’s authoritarian leaders since World War II. “Even if martial law is lifted, he cannot avoid treason charges,” Democratic Party MP Park Chan-dae said in a statement.
Kim has also been accused of being involved in a 63.6 billion won stock price manipulation case, over which prosecutors ultimately declined to indict her.
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