LETTER FROM THE EDITOR - VOL. 7

KCCNYC Monthly - Dec. 2024
By Eun Byoul Oh

Protesters take part in a rally calling for the impeachment of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol in Seoul on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

“We should write something fun and delightful for December, since it is a holiday season after all.” This is what I said to Sharon, our copy editor, as we were celebrating our November release. 

Well, then on December 3rd, I got a text from Sharon in the morning.  “WTF just happened in South Korea???!?  Martial Law??”

I was conducting a placement test for a new student when I got the text, and it was yet another peaceful morning until then. I turned on the TV to watch the armed forces cracking the windows of the National Assembly to barge into the building.

I was just in utter shock, and my family next to me, watching the scene, were flabbergasted. The images of military dictatorship in the history books were reenacted right in front of our eyes.

Korea's modern history stands in a pool of blood shed by its own people fighting for democracy. The April Revolution, which called the end to Syngman Rhee’s regime; Busan–Masan Uprising, which was a democratic uprising against the martial law declared as part of October Restoration, a self-coup staged by Park Chung Hee regime in 1972, were desperate calls of Korean people for true democracy. However, the night before the dawn of democracy was indeed long, and the  Gwangju Uprising happened in 1980, leaving many people wounded and dead. Then finally the June Democratic Struggle ended Chun Doo Hwan’s dictatorship, even though Chun Doo Hwan’s crony Roh Tae Woo, Chun’s accomplice in the Gwangju Uprising, was freely elected to succeed Chun’s regime.

Soldiers try to enter the National Assembly building in Seoul earlier this week after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law. Photo Credit: Jung Yeon-Je

My family and I were all staring at the TV on December 3rd in disbelief. I was devastated at how one man’s greed for power has led Korea to turn its clock back to the 1960s. I thought of my Great Uncle, who had to flee from Korea 1979 after being kidnapped for xeroxing classified government documents about corruption. He believed that Kim Jae Gyu, the assassin who killed Park Chung Hee, deserved his rights to a fair trial. I thought of my maternal uncle, who protested in the 90s as a student, and I thought about all those activists who I met this June in Gwangju and Seoul. With many faces in my thoughts, I just prayed that the crisis would end without any deaths.

However, in the midst of the devastation, I realized that all the blood and tears of the people that bloomed into Korean democracy were indeed not in vain. People who were watching the declaration of martial law on TV gathered around the National Assembly to block the military from barging in – there were even people who stood in front of military tanks to stop them from approaching. Congressmen were climbing over the fences of the National Assembly to vote to lift the martial law. When the Martial Law declaration was finally lifted, and the would-be “12.3 Self-Coup” was prevented in two hours, owing to people’s courage to go up against injustice and such dictatorial actions that would use violence against its own people. 

The people of Korea firmly asserted and declared that the country would not go back to a dictatorship. 

As one Congressman noted, perhaps it was Korea’s moment in answering Nobel Prize winner Han Kang’s question: “Can the dead save those who are alive?”

The people of Korea have responded to the people who died for the democracy of Korea—we did not forget the lessons which we learned after losing them.

On December 14, the Korean Congress voted to impeach the president, after one failed attempt due to boycott the action by the Presidential Party (People’s Power Party). The passage of the impeachment bill was only possible thanks to mass protests and people’s active participation in urging their Congressmen to vote for the impeachment. Particularly, the constituents in the district of Congressmen from the President’s Party (PPP) used all the creative tactics to persuade their Congressmen to vote for the impeachment.

The impeachment protest was joined by every age group. People sang songs from traditional democracy protest era, such as March for the Beloved, and In the Wilderness, and Into the New World by SNSD,  which has become a protest song in recent years, among other recent K-pop songs. The protests were joined by LGBTQ flags, and SADD (Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination), among other disability rights groups. The light sticks from various idol fandoms filled the streets, shining like stars. 

People in their 20s and 30s remember their friends and family who died in the Sewol Ferry accident and the 2022 Seoul Halloween crowd crush.  This particular generation of people learned to not “stay still” when the government neglects its duty to protect its own people. Despite the regression of democracy overnight, people came together in solidarity and people moved one step forward towards adding ‘inclusion’ and ‘diversity’ to what defines Korea and Korean identity. 

Now the ball is in Korea's constitutional court and the rulings of the impeachment will decide the fate of the country. We are yet to find out the details of 12.3 Self-Coup, and the people of Korea are looking for answers with hope that the political situation will soon stabilize. The People of Korea will keep their vigilant eyes on the court to protect Korea’s democracy, to listen to its own people’s voices. They will continue to protest until we see justice for the people and the restoration of the Korean constitution.

The “two-hour long” martial law declaration will go down in the history books, and will not be over-simplified as just an overnight crisis. The fact that the national army turned their pointed guns to its own people should not be forgotten, and history will remember it as one of the most humiliating and darkest moments of Korean history.

(1)“The Republic of Korea shall be a democratic republic.”

(2)“The sovereignty of the Republic of Korea shall reside in the people, and all state authority shall emanate from the people.”

Article 1 of Chapter 1 General Provisions of the Korean Constitution

Long Live Korean Democracy! 민주주의여 만세!

With peace and love, 

Eun Byoul Oh