13-01-2024: Late at night on December 3 last year, ROK (Republic of Korea or “South Korea”) President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law in a TV broadcast. It was met with immediate rejection by thousands of Koreans who converged on the capital in an attempt to prevent it going ahead. Opposition politicians also raced to the parliament to quickly pass a motion rescinding the martial law declaration. Barely six hours later, Yoon was forced to reverse his declaration. There have been more than a dozen declarations of martial law since the founding of the ROK in 1948, the last one being in 1979 following the assassination of former President Park Chung Hee.[1] The memories of thousands being killed during previous periods of martial law was a huge driving factor towards the brave efforts of up to a million Koreans to mobilise immediately to defeat the effective coup attempt. They were successful, but the geopolitical triggers for further turbulence remain in play.
Arrest attempt
A court has approved a warrant for Yoon’s arrest, and he may be the first sitting president to be detained as part of investigations into allegations he masterminded insurrection by trying to impose martial law. Insurrection is one of the few criminal charges from which an ROK President does not have immunity.[2] The conservative President was impeached by parliament while a court decides whether to reinstate or remove him. On January 3, criminal investigators were blocked from arresting him by the presidential security service and military troops in a six-hour stand-off.[3] The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) is pushing for Yoon Suk Yeol and his conservative People Power Party (PPP) to be replaced by the ROK’s other major party, the Democratic Party (DPK). While the KCTU took a leading role in the anti-martial law demonstrations, it should be as wary of the DPK as KCTU leaders have been arrested and imprisoned under the DPK just as under the PPP.[4]
While supporters of Yoon have mobilised in his defence, they have numbered in the thousands while anti-martial law demonstrators number in the hundreds of thousands. Telling the whole story about who Yoon’s supporters are is the fact that they have been waving both the ROK and the USA (United States of America) national flags.[5] The ROK is more or less a US military bulwark against the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea or “North Korea”) and its giant neighbour the People’s Republic of China (PRC). As is customary, the pro-US supporters of Yoon blame anti-martial law protestors for working with the DPRK to undermine the ROK. Meanwhile, the highest command of the ROK military is the Combined Forces Command and the US government holds wartime operational command over it, overseeing the Army, Navy and Air Force.[6] It is inconceivable that the US state was not up to its neck in the declaration of martial law by Yoon and its associated machinations. And in fact, the US government has more or less confirmed that it was by its actions on January 6. On that day, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken flew into Seoul to meet with Acting President Choi Sang Mok. Blinken refused to criticise the actions of Yoon Suk Yeol in declaring martial law, merely mentioning “differences” while talking up US/ROK/Japan cooperation.[7] The attempted insurrection was doubtless contrived by Washington, with another manoeuvre aimed at installing a military dictatorship over a “democratic” one.
Target Russia, DPRK, PRC
This form of US backed regime change is patently not only about the ROK but is more likely to be one response to the Russia-DPRK pact which Russian President Vladimir Putin and his DPRK counterpart Kim Jong Un signed in June last year. The Russia-DPRK Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership has provisions for both sides to provide the other with immediate military assistance using all available means if either side is in a state of war.[8] Even if not stated openly, this is a straightforward military alliance, and one of major concern for Washington. Both Russia and the DPRK are nuclear armed states, and its alliance together with strong Russia-PRC bonds makes a US attack on all three even more difficult. Given the vast potential consequences, it is in the vial interest of working people to defend the Russia-DPRK pact and the strategic alliance of both nations with the PRC as a crucial deterrent against a desperate and war crazed US-led imperialism.
“Democracy” in the ROK hangs by a thread in these circumstances, and while the Western corporate media routinely denounce “totalitarianism” in the DPRK, the reality is that working people enjoy more democratic rights on the northern half of the Korean peninsula than the southern half. The constitution of the DPRK guarantees all citizens universal employment, housing, health care and even holidays – provided at no cost.[9] This is done while taxes in the DPRK were abolished in 1974.[10] Despite these undeniable gains, the DPRK remains a bureaucratically deformed workers’ state, where political discourse is restricted by a cult of leadership which surpasses many other historical examples. Nevertheless, its sheer bravery in defying the ever-present threat of US imperialist war for 76 years is remarkable and is a testament to the immense courage and tenacity of its people.
By almost every metric, capitalism in the US and Europe is falling further and further behind the ongoing achievements of the socialistic PRC. In science, engineering, manufacturing, computing, high-end technology, infrastructure building and much more, the PRC is demonstrating the clear benefits of an economy which does not run primarily on the basis of private profit. The Western economies that do are mired in a recession from which they can barely see a way out. Their only answer is to set off a series of conflicts in which millions of innocent lives may well be extinguished.
The US ruling class is preparing a cataclysmic war on the PRC, with the ROK as a military staging post. This horrendous scenario must be avoided at all costs, but a military solution on its own is not a resolution. What is required is a proletarian political revolution in the PRC and the DPRK, combined with a socialist revolution in the ROK. This massive upheaval needs to be combined with revolutions in the US itself and its Western allies, through the establishment of workers’ governments. Internationally linked Marxist vanguard parties will be critical in providing leadership for these historic tasks.
Workers League
E: workersleague@protonmail.com
[1] www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/decree-defeat-inside-south-koreas-failed-martial-law-attempt-2024-12-04/ (08-01-2024)
[2] www.thejakartapost.com/world/2025/01/02/yoon-facing-unprecedented-arrest-over-martial-law-vows-to-fight-until-end.html (08-01-2024)
[3] www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/south-korea-protesters-rally-for-against-yoon-arrest-as-deadline-looms (08-01-2024)
[4] www.iclfi.org/spartacist/en/2024-korea (08-01-2024)
[5] www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2025/01/05/2003829664 (08-01-2024)
[6] www.bolky.jinbo.net/index.php?mid=board_ArAZ48&document_srl=17114 (08-01-2024)
[7] www.korea.net/NewsFocus/policies/view?articleId=264535 (08-01-2024)
[8] www.redfireonline.com/2024/07/01/russia-dprk-pact-strengthens-the-defence-of-eurasia/ (08-01-2024)
[9] www.manoa.hawaii.edu/koreanstudies/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/DPRK-Constitution-2019-EN.pdf (08-01-2024)
[10] www.exploredprk.com/news/dprk-country-free-of-taxes/ (08-01-2024)
Image: Koreans protest outside the National Assembly in Seoul calling for the impeachment of Yoon Suk Yeol over his attempted installation of martial law. http://www.kpbs.org
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