<
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/04/martial-law-came-to-south-korea-and-my-friends-and-i-doomscrolled-through-the-night>
"At 10.23pm on 3 December in Seoul, I was already in bed, alternating between
reading a book and watching YouTube cooking reels. That was when Yoon Suk Yeol,
the president, declared emergency martial law in South Korea for the first time
since 1979.
In an unannounced televised address, Yoon said the imposition of martial law
was “aimed at eradicating pro-North Korean forces and protecting the
constitutional order of freedom”.
Immediately, my text messages and online chat forums flared up. What the hell
is going on? Is this a joke? Can I keep drinking at the bar tonight? Can my
children go to school tomorrow? What exactly is the emergency? Utter confusion
ensued for the next six hours, until a dramatic sequence of events led to the
end of martial law at 4.30am.
This was my first experience of martial law – if this short-lived circus can
even be called that – something that, until now, I had only read about in
history books. But even in that short time, I was terrified. The experience
woke me up, once again, to the severe, unavoidable reality of Korean division.
And I remembered how it can be exploited by our leaders to justify repression
and control.
Thankfully, this time, Yoon’s antics were curbed. But the martial law fiasco is
a testament to both the instability and resilience of South Korean democracy.
It is a chilling reminder that the collective trauma of the 20th century
dictatorship is not simply history."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
