Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

apnews.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

641–650 of 739 posts

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

#641

Post by bobthepanda »

ouraf wrote: post #620
bobthepanda wrote: post #604

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SK's last presidential election in 2022 was very, very close (48.5-47.3), the closest in South Korean history. Legislative elections take place at the midpoint between presidential elections, and the opposition kept their majority in 2024, so there was hardly a mandate, if anything the legislative elections indicated a rebuke. Yoon Suk Yeol is the one of the most unpopular democratic heads of state with 19% approval…

Even with his presidency ending, this is insane. In most developed, capitalist countries in the west, anything close to a coup is career suicide, even more so when this comes from the top without the support from media and general population. You don't become the leader of a developed, stable, democratic nation by pulling crazy stunts like that. Is there any other factor to influence or any big group that would benef…

The start of democracy in South Korea was not that long ago in 1988.

I do think he was acting by himself; he’s generally got weird political instincts. Part of how he got walloped in the legislative elections was by remarking that green onions were cheap normally because of his policies, when it turned out the supermarket he was electioneering at was running a 75% off sale on them. https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/political-leeks-...

South Korea has had exactly one president in the modern democratic era who hasn’t been indicted after their term or impeached.

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

#642

Post by smegger001 »

tzs wrote: post #398
anon291 wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If something has to be worse than slavery in order to qualify as an abuse of freedom, then nothing is going to qualify ever. > Anyone who thinks the government asking you sternly to "please stay inside" is an abuse of power American states jailed pastors, fined churches, and charged individuals with violations of 'laws' against things like worshipping together or assembling. > must have fallen asleep in American hist…

COVID wasn't the first epidemic or pandemic that the US has dealt with, and similar measures were taken in many of those.

Ironically the first epidemic lock downs in the country were done by the founding fathers themselves in responset to yellow fever. Back in the 1790s.

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

#643

Post by p3rls »

pessimizer wrote: post #525
always_imposter wrote: post #163

[flagged]

What this guy is pushing is far more in agreement with US administration policy than what the opposition supports. The problem is that the South Korean population doesn't support what either he or the US want. For example, the SK population (and recent presidents) have far more of a peaceful attitude towards the north than is tolerable for the US. As an example, when polled on supporting Ukraine (after the rumors tha…

Hmm, weird. I run one of the larger korean music platforms and interviewing Koreans I'd have said the opposite with regards to the North-- that is, they do not want to reunify and it's the furthest thing from their minds beyond that they hate the draft.

I noticed even the North doesn't seem to be eying reunification seriously either, taking steps to destroy monuments like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arch_of_Reunification earlier this year.

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

#644

Post by shiroiushi »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #611
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is looking stupider by the minute. You can't half ass a coup d'etat.

Yeah, you launch a half-assed coup d'etat, and the next thing you know you get arres-... er, re-elected legitimately.

Only in America.

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

#645

Post by aguaviva »

SuperShibe wrote: post #380
jahdG wrote: post #351

The MPs are being locked out from the National Assembly from overturning this coup: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/12/03/south-kore... For the South Korean population, the proper way to deal with this is a general strike. Do not work unless in absolutely vital sectors. Koreans here say that this is domestic. Hopefully it is and will be over soon. It is odd however that the U.S. government escalates in Uk…

> It is odd however that the U.S. government escalates in Ukraine, there is a new color revolution in Georgia (the country adjacent to Russia), the Syrian rebels launch a major attack and now this. All of this "coincidentally" makes Trump's peace efforts more difficult. Escalating in Ukraine (against Russia), launching a major attack against Assad (a Russian ally) and an upcoming revolution against an (allegedly) pro…

Launching a major attack against Assad (a Russian ally) and an upcoming revolution against an (allegedly) pro-Russian government in Georgia all seem to fit into a pattern.

The only "pattern" between these two at least -- is that you haven't cited any direct, observable reason to believe that US agencies have been behind these events. You know, "evidence" and all that.

But rather simply -- speculation.

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

#646

Post by kbelder »

kjrfghslkdjfl wrote: post #319

Wait I thought HN was not for politics?? Or is it that when the politics isn't US politics, HN readers can be more emotionally detached and treat it as "interesting"?

If martial law was declared in the US, I expect there'd be a story on HN about it.

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

#647

Post by Leherenn »

t-3 wrote: post #562
tokinonagare wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> President Yoon Suk Yeol declared an “emergency martial law,” Tuesday accusing the country’s opposition of controlling the parliament [...] Yoon — whose approval rating has dipped in recent months — Seems like a coup. > Yoon’s conservative People Power Party had been locked in an impasse with the liberal opposition Democratic Party over next year’s budget bill. Yeah, just like in France where the government is expec…

Wasn't a new government elected but never allowed to take power due to Macron refusing to confirm them just a few months ago? Will that change now?

Not exactly.

There was a parliament election, with three blocks each gaining roughly a third of the seats.

The block that won the most seats (but not enough to have a majority) immediately declared they would never compromise/ally with anyone else. Essentially, if they were called on to form a government, they were almost certainly going to be immediately censured.

So Macron, rightly or wrongly depending on who you ask, decided to not call on them since he estimated it was bound to fail and waste time. Instead, he nominated someone from a (now) minor political force because, at least in theory, they were enough people willing to negotiate with them to form a majority. Looks like it didn't work in the end and now France will be stuck because no one is willing to compromise.

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

#650

Post by dmurray »

Rapzid wrote: post #413
cuuupid wrote: post #4

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?

This is absolutely bonkers. South Korea is one of the most advanced countries in the world with a strong democratic track record at this point. They are very proud of the country they built over just a few generations(and really since about 1990); no way they take this sitting down.

Advanced, sure, but the leadership has always been dodgy.

They've had seven leaders since 1993 (before which they really did have a military junta in power). Three of them ended up impeached or jailed for corruption or wrongthink [0], a fourth has just attempted to use the military to crack down on the opposition. This is more like what I expect from Argentina or Brazil than a fully fledged democracy with peaceful transitions of power, say France.

That said, the Economist has it at #22 on its Democracy Index [1], one of the worst "full democracies" but ahead of France #23, USA #29, Brazil #51.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_South_Korea

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist_Democracy_Index

Post reply on HN