South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol faces impeachment after opposition parties in the country’s National Assembly introduced a motion to force him from office for his shocking declaration of martial law. The conservative Yoon made his announcement in a televised briefing Tuesday evening, accusing the liberal opposition of undermining the state and possibly colluding with North Korea. Thousands of Koreans massed at the parliament to oppose the move as lawmakers rushed inside to vote unanimously to overturn Yoon’s declaration, which he rescinded just hours later. Yoon’s ouster is now all but certain, either through impeachment or his resignation, and he also faces possible treason charges.
“We would never imagine — some of us, the younger ones — that we would have martial law called during our lifetimes,” says organizer Dae-Han Song from Seoul. He describes how “a lot of ordinary people came out” to oppose the power grab.
We also speak with longtime peace activist Christine Ahn, recently banned from entering South Korea by Yoon’s government. She says the “living memory” of life under dictatorship, which lasted into the 1980s, clearly inspired many ordinary citizens to fight back. “They will not tolerate that,” says Ahn. “It’s an extraordinary example of what Americans must learn from South Korea.”
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