OK, fine. But one doesn’t need to look too hard to find instances where soldiers HAVE fired on their countrymen.
Sometimes quite willingly, and sometimes because things got out of hand. But it’s happened plenty often.
The President has withdrawn his declaration of martial law, and the martial law command has been disbanded. (The BBC link below is a live feed, do still has the original headline. )
ETA: Better link:
I am pretty sure the Parliament and public protests had something to do with that… which makes me question the point of the entire gambit if the President could not make it stick. Fatal miscalculation?
Sounds like it. Apparently he’s a former prosecutor, not used to negotiating, and is facing a hostile majority in the parliament.
Prediction in the second article is that there will be a quick impeachment, followed by criminal charges.
ETA: more updates in an Al Jazeera news feed.
Impeachment requires 200 votes in the 300 member Assembly. The main party has 192 seats, and there are rumours the president’s own party may turn against him, pushing the vote to over 200.
I sincerely hope this prediction is true, and that my own prediction in post #18 is also true:
And I am sure the president elect and his team are taking good note of how this is done and what happens next.
Let’s keep that “public protests” part in mind. We might need to learn from their example pretty soon.
Yes, the parliamentarians acted courageously , retaking the Assembly building from the military.
Hmm, politicians showing courage against a president. Interesting precedent.
President Yoon:
“I’ve made a huge mistake.”
Haha! Love it. Maybe Michael will bail him out.
Checks and balances actually working?! That’s a fairy tale in today’s world.
If their legislative body is a “parliament”, how are the President and the majority of Parliament of opposite parties?
Does the National Guard at Kent State count?
That was one of the examples I had in mind.
Election timing mostly.
The President serves a 5 year term without possibility of re-election (elected 2 years ago) and legislative elections are held every 4 years (newly seated this year).
I wouldn’t say ‘opposite’ parties, either. There are a couple bigger parties but there are several active political parties that can and do grow or shrink with the years, some even occasionally spinning off sub-parties that are affiliated but target specific demographics or interests. Outright majority control by a single party can happen but it doesn’t always occur.
In the latest iteration of South Korean government, the President can no longer dissolve the National Assembly by decree and the Assembly can override any Presidential decision. Clearly, between the timing and different parties, this can make things interesting when a President and/or his party suddenly becomes unpopular between respective elections.
There are several countries where the President and Parliament are elected separately and can be of different parties. France has had the same situation at times.
Sadly, what Trump is likely to learn is that he should make sure he has a Big Event (of 9/11 or similar shock and size) to justify the martial law. Apparently in this South Korea case the president merely made vague claims about the opposing party being in sympathy with Communists. That wasn’t enough.
If-or-when Trump does it, he’ll have built up to it via a series of “terrorist” attacks, which could only be dealt with by the imposition of martial law. (Not that I believe Donald himself capable of planning all this out–but he does have pro-autocracy minions who can and would do it.)
This morning at 9:30 I was at my [Korean] dry cleaners and the owner was positively giddy with excitement. I mean he literally could not speak properly, he was so thrilled.
I was tempted to “find” another garment to drop off at 5pm, but decided poking the bear was not a good idea. Especially since he’s a gun toting bear.
He blames Biden for killing the dry cleaning business, so you can imagine the depth of his analysis. Everyone anything to the right of a totalitarian military dictator is “communist sympathizer” to him. He has been dreaming of a return to a military government that would be serious about fighting North Korea and China, and today for a couple of shining hours he could almost taste it.
@Monty is in China now but I believe his wife is Korean.
Oh, quite right. My mistake.
Correct. I am in Beijing. My wife is South Korean. And her younger brother is a police inspector (lieutenant).
South Korean presidents now are limited to a single five-year term. That means they are automatically lame ducks when they enter office. If their party does not have a majority or cannot form a coalition in the single chamber parliament, they’re in for a rought time in office.
Impeachment is done a bit differently than in the US owing to the parliament only having the one chamber. A motion to impeach must have a two-thirds majority, and then the Constitutional Court debates the motion. If they uphold the motion, the president is impeached.
A bit of trivia: President Yoon is the one who moved the presidential office from the Blue House to the Defense Ministry compound next to the United States Army Garrison Yongsan in the Itaeweon area of Yongsan district.