06/12/2024
COLAP Statement on Martial Law in South Korea
COLAP strongly condemns the South Korean president's declaration of emergency martial law as an anti-democratic,
anti-constitutional military coup
December 5, 2024
Confederation of Lawyers of Asia and the Pacific (COLAP)
[email protected]
President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea (Republic of Korea) issued on December 3, 2024 Martial Law Command Decree No. 1, which includes prohibiting all political activities such as the activities of the National Assembly, local councils, and political associations, rallies, and protests, denying the liberal democratic system, prohibiting any acts that attempt to overthrow, prohibiting fake news, manipulating public opinion, and false incitement, and prohibiting strikes, sabotage, and assembly activities that promote control of the martial law command and social confusion in all media and publications. He claimed it was in the name of defending liberal democracy from the threat of subversion of the Korean system by “anti-state forces” that are secretive inside South Korea, and of protecting the safety of the people.
After the declaration, President Yoon mobilized police and armed martial law forces to block lawmakers from entering the National Assembly and to impede the enactment of a legislative resolution to lift the emergency martial law. Armed martial law forces broke the window of the main building of the National Assembly building and entered the grounds of the National Assembly, and attempted to arrest the ruling party leader, opposition leader, and National Assembly Speaker. In the process, they built barricades and wrestled with opposing congressional aides.
President Yoon's military coup to destroy constitutional order failed in about six hours. As soon as they watched President Yoon's urgent public address to declare an emergency martial law, South Koreans gathered in front of the National Assembly to protest against the police and armed martial law forces blocking lawmakers from entering the Assembly, and fought for the impeachment and arrest of President Yoon, the leader of a military coup. The Associated Press video vividly shows citizens resisting by blocking military vehicles with their bodies.
In the end, many members of the ruling and opposition parties were able to cross the fence to enter the main building of the National Assembly building, and around 1 a.m. on December 4, 2024, a “request for lifting emergency martial law” was submitted to the plenary session of the National Assembly and passed with the approval of all 190 present. Eventually, around 4:30 a.m., President Yoon had no choice but to lift the emergency martial law, which would be recorded as the world's shortest martial law in the Guinness Book of World Records, ended in failure.
The Conference of Lawyers of Asia and the Pacific (COLAP) strongly condemns the declaration of emergency martial law by President Yoon on December 3, 2024, which destroys the constitutional order of South Korea, causes serious violations of the exercise of basic rights of the Korean people, and further threatens peace in the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia.
The martial law command's proclamation banning the activities of the National Assembly of South Korea, and the subsequent blocking of members of the National Assembly from entering the National Assembly building and the entry of armed martial law troops into the National Assembly building, thereby obstructing the National Assembly's exercise of its constitutionally mandated right to demand the lifting of martial law, are acts that destroy the constitutional order of South Korea and should be punished as internal strife and a military coup.
President Yoon 's declaration of emergency martial law was planned by the Yoon regime, which has lost the trust of the Korean people due to prosecutorial dictatorship and his political scandal since the beginning of his term, to avoid the crisis of the regime.
In addition, it is an extension of the anti-North Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) hostile policy based on the ROK-US military alliance and the McCarthyistic human rights oppression by the National Security Act and the public security oppression strategy that has been continuously carried out with the Cold War system of division of the Korean Peninsula; and it is a justification for protecting liberal democracy from the threat of overthrowing the South Korean system by “anti-state forces.” Therefore, as long as the anti-North Korea hostile policy and public security oppression by the National Security Act continue in South Korea, martial law like this can happen again at any time. Furthermore, it can trigger a war in the Korean Peninsula at any time in the future. In this respect, the military coup d'état of the Yoon regime has caused great chaos in South Korea, serious violations of the basic rights of the Korean people, and a great threat to peace on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia.
Therefore, the emergency martial law that destroys the constitutional order, violates democracy, and tramples on the basic rights of the Korean people cannot be dismissed as just a matter of the past military dictatorship without the abolition of the ROK-US military alliance or the ROK-US-Japan military alliance, the abolition of the National Security Law, and the abolition of the public security bomb, which are the strong backbones of the Yoon regime's so-called “anti-state forces.”
We commend the South Korean people who resisted, took to the streets, and stood against fascist and right-wing politics and demand that President Yoon face responsibility for his anti-democratic actions and immediately resign.
Recognizing that President Yoon's military coup is not just a problem for Korea, but a global problem that can adversely affect world peace, we likewise appeal to the international community who respect peace and human rights to join the ranks of those strongly condemning the military coup, and those making sure this does not happen again.
