South Korea’s political chaos is far from over

Had you have taken a direct flight from London to Seoul yesterday afternoon, by the time you would have landed you might have been none the wiser that anything had happened at all. At near midnight South Korean time, President Yoon Suk Yeol imposed martial law across the so-called ‘land of the morning calm’. Only six hours later it was subsequently, and pointedly, revoked. As South Korean citizens continue with their daily lives, the political establishment has once again entered a period of precarity. Yoon has scored a significant own goal; its implications do not end there.

It is no understatement to say that the decision by President Yoon to impose martial law in an unannounced television broadcast late yesterday evening caught the South Korean people and the world unawares. In effect, striking doctors would be recalled to work within 48 hours, and any violators of the decree would have be arrested with immediate effect (an arrest warrant? Forget it.).

Immediately after Yoon’s announcement, the National Assembly building – rotunda and all – became a hub of protest, as police officers and rifled soldiers blocked the entrance.