Calls grow for South Korea’s president to resign after martial law chaos
There is growing pressure on South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to step down after his aborted attempt to declare martial law, which plunged the country into political uncertainty and sparked a fierce backlash.
• On Wednesday morning, the opposition Democratic Party said it would begin impeachment proceedings against Yoon if he doesn’t step down immediately. His chief of staff and other top officials submitted their resignations while the country’s largest union confederation said members would strike until Yoon quits.
• The president had declared martial law in a surprise late-night address on Tuesday, citing a motion by the Democratic Party, which has a majority in parliament, to impeach top prosecutors and reject a government budget proposal.
https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/martial-law-south-korea-intl/index.html
S. Korean citizens rushed to the Capital building in order to facilitate a vote by the national assembly to end martial law after President Yeol, a right winger, forbid the assembly to meet. His martial law decree having demanded all political activity and unauthorized press coverage immediately cease.
Instead of storming the Capital as trump's mob did in an effort to end the constitutional order of a peaceful transition of power, S. Koreans acted to protect their democracy.
In Brazil, Bolsanaro has been indicted for his attempted coup.
Brazilian police formally accuse former President Bolsonaro and aides of alleged 2022 coup attempt
It seems we could learn a thing or two about how to treat those who threaten our republic.
What happened in S. Korea was a shock to the system. The citizenry there reacted just as one would hope to a sudden threat to the democratic order. They took to the streets demanding martial law be rescinded.
My concern about what is happening here is it's more gradual but no less threatening in the long run. Outrages are becoming normalized. The nominations of Gaetz, Patel, Hegseth, RFK, Gabbard, Bondi, etc., are an affront to the tradition of prez's trying to fill cabinet posts with ideologically aligned, competent nominees motivated by a desire to work in the national interest. Not to be the prez's sock puppets.
Specious comparisons to trump's prosecutions notwithstanding, we stand on the precipice of an incoming admin promising to use every tool at its disposal to unconstitutionally target political opponents and critical media outlets. A softer version of the martial law declared in S. Korea but with the same goal. Marginalize dissent. When does it get to the point when we take to the streets?