The divisive legacy of South Korea's martial law crisis | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the Global News podcast on. YouTube with a deeper look at one of the. stories in the headlines. Hello, I'm. Oliver Conway and today we're joined by. Jake Quan, the BBC soul correspondent to. talk about one of the most dramatic. nights in South Korean history when the. then president declared martial law. And. Jake, take us through what happened on. the 3rd of December 2024 and what led up. to it. >> Well, just to set the scene, I think I. was in my my room just going through my. email. This was around 10:30 p.m. here.

and I started getting notifications on. my phone and my producer, the cameraman, uh, he was messaging me as well to check. my phone. It's never a good sign when. that happens as a as a reporter. And, um, it simply said President Yuniel had. declared martial law. And I remember, you know, turning on the television, uh, watching this live broadcast of the. president kind of declaring solemnly. that anti-state forces have taken over.

the country. It is paralyzed. So, he has. no choice but to declare the martial. law. Now, I think the first thing I had. to do was to Google what is martial law. I mean, the last time South Korea had a. martial law was more than 40 years ago. uh so it was before any of us uh you. know a lot like including me uh were. born and uh I think why president Yuniel. had declared martial law it's not enough. to just look at what he declared that.

day I think you have to kind of go back. a little bit and set the scene for for. Yogi I mean he was in trouble at this. moment he was very very unpopular and he. just botched the last general election. so the parliament. was stacked with his opposition. They. had uh an absolute majority there and he. was unable to pass any of his bills. Uh. he wasn't able to advance his agenda. And what these uh big opposition in the. parliament can do is they can start.

impeaching uh one of his uh his his uh. judges, ministers, uh his uh uh. prosecutors, his appointees. So his. government really was becoming paralyzed. as he was saying and he was truly a lame. a lame duck president. So he really was. looking to change the tide here and he. really reached for the nuclear option. Now this came as a surprise to all of us. including some member of his cabinet.

Apparently, President Yun only consulted. with his uh defense minister before this. thing happened and uh his prime minister. or any other ministers were only told. minutes before he went on air to declare. the martial law. So when I got to the. scene at the National Assembly where the. lawmakers were gathering, I think the. general mood at the scene, I mean there. were hundreds of citizens who were out. there, but the general mood really was.

that this can't be happening. There was. this giant great feeling of incredility. >> Yeah. It took people by surprise, but. his political opponents, even some on. his own side, and as you say, the public. responded pretty quickly to fight it. Certainly, I think South Korean people, most of the people were simply shocked. that this could happen. And despite the. fact that it was at 10:30 p.m. I think a. lot of people. were watching this event. This really, you could immediately tell uh the.

electricity in there knowing that this. is a huge historic moment. And what. happened was the opposition party uh the. Democratic Party of South Korea, they. were sprung into action. A lot of these. people are were student activists who. actively fought for the the democracy. back in the 80s. Uh and they kind of. already knew what had to be done and. they were you know legal experts who. knew that uh the South Korean law uh.

gives power to the parliament to vote. down on martial law and lift this. military rule. At the same time things. were starting to move very quickly. So I. think people really had this feeling. that there is a crisis here that they. need to do something about it. Uh and. later thousands of South Korean citizens. were on the street trying to block the. soldiers. Uh there were even armored. vehicle in front of the national. parliament and people were blocking it. People were blocking the window and. getting on top of the the vehicle. really. uh and even inside the National.

Assembly, the parliament, the regular. citizens have, you know, jumped the. fences uh and helped the lawmakers who. are trying to get there jump the fences. themselves so they could fight the. soldiers who were trying to get into the. main chamber to stop the voting uh in. order to, you know, really keep the. martial law going. And while this is. happening, as I was getting to the. scene, I started getting these. notification uh from the the now. military general who really at this. point has the power over the government.

according to the Yun's martial law start. giving out uh instructions saying that. you know now any kind of political. assembly is banned. You cannot have. political parties anymore. You know. people must uh stop any kind of. political activity. And I think I think. the moment we realized we may be in a. slippery slope to dictatorship. authoritarianism was when I started. getting these notification uh that these. texts and and uh statement that were. being sent out by the military command.

saying that there can be no more. political parties or political. gatherings. Uh there will be censorship. of the media reports. Uh it it truly. felt unreal that this was happening. And. I think there was a famous moment where. the current president EJ Mong at the. time the opposition leader he was live. streaming himself and calling on all the. citizens to gather at the National. Assembly to help their cause and help. and make sure that the the lawmakers can. all gather and vote down this martial. law. >> So at this moment you've got people on.

the streets of Seoul facing off against. the military. How did it end this. standoff? Well, there were special. forces members, you know, fully armed, uh, walking around and getting into the. main chamber and there were for, you. know, for several hours, it really. didn't know which way the history was. going to go. Now, we have been seeing. these updates of more and more lawmakers. gathering. There was a quorum that was. required and then when that number was.

reached, they voted it down. Now that. happened around 4 hours after the the. martial law was originally declared and. now the question was whether the. military was going to comply. I mean it. really can come down to who has the. power. Now we later learned that the. military was giving a very passive. compliance. Uh you know the the the. soldiers who were in the national. assembly they were carrying guns but. those were not loaded. Now we did not. know at this at the time and some of the.

brave you know uh congressional aids. were actually physically pushing off and. barricading the doors and barricading. the hallway to keep these fully armed. soldiers out of the chamber. So there. was a lot of uh bravery h bravery. happening and we were all kind of. waiting to see if president Yuniel was. going to back down and for a moment it. really looked like we weren't sure if he. would back down because if he did back. down it would be a certain death uh not. only as a political actor but if he was.

going to be impeached and prosecuted for. insurrection that charge carries the. minimum penalty of life in prison and. the maximum penalty of death sentence. So it really was a gamble that he could. not back down from. But after a few. hours we heard uh that the military was. pulling out of the National Assembly and. I remember this moment when a big cheer. just went up amongst thousands of people. who were gathered there and people were. screaming we have won. We have won and.

there was really this feeling of. euphoria that swept over the plaza and. so Yun Suky backs down. What happens as. the morning unfolds and in the days. ahead? >> Well, the next step was of course. impeachment of Yun Soiel. Uh he was now. on back foot. Uh it was very obvious. that his opponents were not going to. hold back anything. Uh it almost seems. certain that you know there was enough. lawmakers that would push for his.

impeachment but there were still. holdouts in his own ruling party. I. think a lot of South Korean people. public had gave out a sigh of relief. when he was impeached. And again, of. course, he resisted the the next arrest. warrant for a bit and there was a. standoff. But after a couple tries, he. finally gave himself up and he was sent. to prison and uh soon of course an. insurrection trial uh followed including. a corruption trial and now he's facing.

five different trials. So he's on trial. Who is running South Korea now? Well, after the impeachment of Yuniel, of. course, there were a series of caretaker. uh presidents and then in June, we. finally had a new election. Uh in this. election, of course, the very uh front. runner EJN had won the election in a. landslide, though not as big of a win. that a lot of people have expected or. had hoped. His opponent still won about.

40% of the votes. And although any other. circumstances this would have been a big. win uh for Mr. Lee uh I think a lot of. people were very much concerned that a. candidate who did not fully divorce. himself from the ousted you know Mr. Yun. was able to acrew so many votes. >> and have the divisions that have. continued in South Korea have they been. on display as people mark the one-year. anniversary? Certainly, I mean, today we. saw this this large protest happening in.

front of the the National Assembly and. the bigger one of the two was calling. for less leniency, a more thorough. punishment of those who organized the. martial law and who still adhere to the. former president Yuniel. And there was a. counterprotest, a much smaller one, a. group of people who perhaps do not. support the impeachment of President Yun. or his his prosecution. And there are. some of them who even justify and. believes that the martial law was.

entirely uh entirely correct to do. Now. this is a problem for President EJ Mong. uh he is talk he was talking to the. foreign reporters today this morning and. I was there and he was talking about. national unity and reconciliation but he. is facing about a quarter of the Korean. population according to the latest polls. who do not believe that President Yun. had committed an insurrection uh and. that you know about 10 to 15% of the. South Korean public who believes that.

Mr. Yun's insurrection or the martial. law attempt was entirely justified. So. he has the question for him is what is. he going to do about these people and. how is he going to really reconcile uh. when the gap seems so large and he said. he has the two solution. one, he really. needs to tackle the the what he calls. the coupeta forces, the insurrection. organizers. And he said that they need. to be punished as the Nazi the Nazi. Germany has gotten after the war. Some.

really strong words there. And he also. said that uh the the reason a lot of. people seem to adhere to the you know uh. this pro-une ideology seems to be. because of misinformation or. disinformation. So he said he will. criminalize fake news uh in order to cut. down on their influence. Now, before. that declaration of martial law a year. ago, South Korea was seen as a thriving. democracy, but it has a history with.

dictatorships in the ' 60s, '7s, and. 80s. What's been the legacy of that. declaration of martial law going. forward? >> I think a lot of South Koreans are very. proud of the democratization of South. Korea, which happened in 1987. a lot of. people who are alive around uh remember. joining in in this June what what is. sometimes called a June revolution a. June rebellion uh that brought about. South Korea's democracy and if you think. about it out of the the Asia uh there.

are very few countries who have a full. democracy and thriving one like South. Korea and if you go out on the streets. of Korea of Seoul you will see a protest. on every corner because everyone feels. quite comfortable voicing their. political opinion here now when that. felt threatened. I think a lot of the. the the legacy of the the dictatorship. era is that everyone a lot of people. here remember fighting for that. democracy and upholding that value and. there was a reason very few people.

actually supported the martial at least. on that day and thousands of people. gathered even though it was around. midnight and the lawmakers did not think. twice before coming to the national. assembly and very bravely fought for it. Now of course president uh now the. current president EJong he's saying that. the real challenge here is to keep it. keep the South Korea's democracy safe. and in order to do that he really needs. to pass on this legacy this memory and. this is why he said that he will. designate today the December 3rd as a.

national holiday. So every year it can. be commemorated and next generation and. the next can always remember this day as. the day South Korean people had fought. to keep the democracy in South Korea. Jake Quan, our sole correspondent. Thank. you. If you want more international. stories, check out the Global News. podcast, wherever you get your BBC. podcasts. If you like this episode, then. like and subscribe below. And if there's. anything you want us to cover, put a. message in the comments. But that's it. for now from the Global News podcast on.