South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday declared martial law, suspended the South Korean legislature and banned elected representatives from accessing the National Assembly building using massive police presence.
And then six hours later he rescinded the order.
President Yoon had declared in a public address to the Korean people that the move was to protect a “liberal South Korea from the threats posed by North Korea’s communist forces and to eliminate anti-state elements.” He said:
“I will restore the country to normalcy by getting rid of anti-state forces as soon as possible.”
But all the members of South Korea’s Parliament voted to reverse Yoon’s edict Tuesday and he then heeded the call.
The action and rhetoric had evoked the days of the country’s military dictatorships; the language and justification was exactly the same.
There had been repeated signals that Yoon could declare martial law because the public momentum to impeach him in South Korea was gaining ground.
Yoon is despised by South Koreans for his abuse of power, his wife’s corruption and his vitiation of South Korea’s sovereignty and economic wellbeing to serve U.S. geopolitical interests.
Particularly triggering and enraging for South Koreans has been his enmeshing of South Korea’s military with that of its former colonizer, Japan, through a formal military alliance designed to wage war against China. This has also entailed engaging in radical historical revisionism and erasure to facilitate this extraordinary coalition.
Last week 100,000 citizens protested in the streets demanding his immediate resignation — something that received absolutely zero coverage in Western media. There was still little mention of this in current mainstream Western coverage as a factor for the short-lived declaration of martial law.
Yoon does not want to lose power, but more importantly the U.S. cannot allow Yoon to lose power: He is essential to shore up alliances, agreements, and an Asian force posture to wage war against China.
Hellbound and Down 