South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol, and the excellent news for democracy everybody ignores

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The January 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol produced some extraordinary photos. However for sheer narrative drama, look to the South Koreans.

At the hours of darkness on December 3, 2024, former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol introduced — on stay TV — that he was imposing martial legislation. Over the following a number of hours, 1000's of Korean protesters massed outdoors the nationwide parliament constructing whereas particular forces troops helicoptered onto the garden.

Practically 200 lawmakers barricaded themselves inside to unanimously vote down the martial legislation declaration. In one of the vital well-known photos from the evening, opposition chief and now-President Lee Jae Myung leapt a fence to enter the legislature after police blocked the doorways.

Each the leap — and the vote — succeeded: Yoon was impeached, faraway from workplace and simply final week, sentenced to jail. One Korean professional described the decision as “a uncommon instance of democratic resilience” in an interview with the BBC.

South Korea’s political leaders deserve some credit score for that final result. Although the nation is deeply polarized, leaders in each Yoon’s occasion and the opposition mobilized shortly to finish his tried revolt.

However new analysis by Korean students additionally factors to a different, equally vital story: Odd Korean residents noticed the authoritarian risk as so apparent and so pressing that they too mobilized in opposition to it.

Koreans extremely worth their younger democracy. The nation elected its first president of the fashionable period in 1987, after toppling a army dictatorship. Since then, South Korea has cycled by way of progressive and conservative leaders — and endured repeated corruption scandals. Yoon, a relative political newcomer and former prosecutor basic who helmed the corruption case in opposition to disgraced former President Park Geun-hye, rode a wave of anti-incumbent sentiment to the presidency in 2022.

As soon as in workplace, nonetheless, Yoon struggled to make a mark. He misplaced the 2024 midterms. Tormented by low approval rankings and overtly nostalgic for South Korea’s prior dictatorship, Yoon grew more and more paranoid about Communist infiltration. When he declared martial legislation in December 2024, it was on the pretext of defending the nation from North Korean sympathizers and different “anti-state” forces.

However Korean residents largely (if not completely) rejected this narrative. The nation has an unusually energetic tradition of protest, rooted within the profitable motion to overthrow the army dictatorship. That historical past helps clarify why 1000's mobilized inside minutes to contest Yoon’s declaration.

“The excessive degree of civic consciousness and voluntary participation was important in restoring democratic resilience,” professors Lee Jae-seung and Lee Dae-joong write in a 2025 paper extracting classes from the Korean disaster.

“Whereas a smaller variety of residents might need been simply overpowered by the army, they exhibited no worry of the armed forces and as a substitute actively sought to confront them. Some demonstrated extraordinary braveness by bodily blocking the paths of armoured automobiles with their our bodies,” Lee and Lee proceed. With out them, the students conclude, Yoon might have arrested — and even doubtlessly executed — some lawmakers earlier than parliament might vote to override the martial legislation declaration.

In some ways, this episode challenges standard enthusiastic about democratic resilience. Political scientists and democracy activists sometimes concentrate on structural elements (growth degree, polarization), institutional design (presidential versus parliamentary programs), or uncooked energy politics (what number of seats the manager’s occasion controls) to clarify why authoritarians succeed or fail.

All these items matter — there’s no one-size-fits-all concept of democratic collapse — however how atypical individuals perceive and reply to the risk issues, too. South Korea reveals that when individuals are satisfied that there’s a risk to their political freedoms, they’ll go to extraordinary lengths to defend them.

The actionable recommendation right here is simple: Individuals with political affect and platforms must work to make the authoritarian risk extra apparent to extra individuals. The survival of democracy might rely — to an extent not totally appreciated — on atypical residents’ narratives and perceptions.