South Korean president declares martial law, parliament votes to lift it

Welp, going 오일팔 518 all over again. A joke of a government.

Can someone ELI5 if this is a huge deal (like declaring martial law would be in the west), or if this is the equivalent of a "government shutdown" when similar budget impasses occur in the US?

Massive deal.

South Korea is a new democracy and sudden impositions of martial law harken back to the 1970s-80s when military rule existed.

Best case, this is a blatant attempt at a self coup d'etat.

Worst case, North Korea actually engaged in war.

This article reeks to high hell of the regime propaganda writing we see about domestic politics:

"Yoon — whose approval rating has dipped in recent months — has struggled to push his agenda against an opposition-controlled parliament since taking office in 2022.

Yoon’s conservative People Power Party had been locked in an impasse with the liberal opposition Democratic Party over next year’s budget bill. He has also been dismissing calls for independent investigations into scandals involving his wife and top officials, drawing quick, strong rebukes from his political rivals."

See the same patterns. You can tell which side they want to paint in a bad light and what do you know it's the conservative side.

Putin relaxing nuclear weapon usage policies and now south korea making anti-democratic moves, 2025 is going to be interesting.

EDIT: Not mentioning Trump is my mistake.