By Alejandro Iturbe
Last Tuesday, the president of South Korea, Yoon Suk-yeol, announced on television that he had declared martial law, thus suspending the activities of parliament and all “constitutional guarantees.” This included the prohibition of political activities and the suspension of habeas corpus (which implies the power of arbitrary detention by the government), as well as the elimination of freedom of the press, since the mass media were placed under “military subordination.”
To ensure the implementation of these measures, police forces surrounded the parliament building and began patrolling the streets of Seoul with the support of elite corps of the armed forces. The closure of the parliament was a coup (or self-coup) that, if consolidated, would have installed a dictatorial regime in the country based on the armed and repressive forces.
However, far from consolidating its power, Yoon’s self-coup quickly began to collapse. First of all, the majority of the South Korean bourgeoisie was against the self-coup. For this reason, it was rejected by both the Democratic Party (the main opposition force that is dominant in parliament) and the leadership of the People’s Power Party, to which the president himself belongs. In this context, the deputies tried to enter the parliament to vote for the rejection of martial law.
Secondly, U.S. imperialism, to which South Korea is closely connected, did not support it either. The administration of Joe Biden, at the end of his presidency, “redoubled diplomatic contacts with Seoul […] to get it to withdraw martial law”[1]. However, Donald Trump, who will assume the presidency in January 2025, remained silent.
In this context, the key element of the process was the arrival on the scene of the mass movement. Thousands of people took to the streets in Seoul, surrounded the parliament, and managed to bring in the deputies who, in an emergency session, voted against the implementation of martial law by a large majority[2]. On the same day, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (the most important in the country) called for an “indefinite general strike” against the declaration of martial law and “until Yoon Suk-yeol resigns”[3].
Faced with this situation, Yoon withdrew the declaration of martial law, the elite corps of the armed forces withdrew from the streets, and the police “normalized” their activities in Seoul. In the overall balance of the process, it is very clear that it was the workers and masses who defeated Yoon’s self-coup. We salute this victory, which leaves very valuable lessons on how to act in response to the situation that is occuring in South Korea.
A desperate attempt
To justify his action, Yoon used almost delirious arguments: the National Assembly, with its opposition majority, had become a “den of criminals” working in the service of the “North Korean communists. “Therefore, he declared martial law to “protect liberal South Korea from the threat of communist forces”[4].
But the reality behind this fantasy was quite different. Yoon was elected president in 2022, narrowly defeating the Democratic Party candidate. However, his government quickly weakened because of the deteriorating economic and social situation. Faced with this incipient crisis, he tried to implement measures that attacked the working class, such as increasing the work week from 52 to 69 hours. In response, there were a huge mobilizations, especially by the working youth, which defeated the project and forced Yoon to withdraw it. This was compounded by the outbreak of numerous cases of corruption among government ministers (a very common occurrence in South Korea). In this context, the parliamentary elections left the government with a total minority in the National Assembly.
This allowed the opposition to reject Yoon’s budget bill and open numerous parliamentary proceedings against his ministers. The government was very weak: a recent poll showed that it had only a 19% approval rating. The situation was heading toward the inevitable defeat of his party in the 2027 presidential election and his “no pain, no glory” exit from South Korean bourgeois politics.
In this context, Yoon launched a self-coup to ensure that he remained in power. Contradictorily, the failure of this attempt will hasten his departure: the majority of the population wants him out, and the National Assembly has already begun impeachment proceedings against him [5].
A bit of history
In an article published in 2023, we presented a summary of the history of South Korea since its constitution in 1945[6]. It is necessary to review this history in order to understand the current situation.
South Korea was founded after the defeat of Japanese imperialism in World War II. For several decades, Japan had occupied and annexed the entire territory of the Korean peninsula. The north of the country was dominated by the military forces of the former Soviet Union together with Korean resistance forces, and a government headed by Kim Il-sung was installed there. Meanwhile, another government was established in the south, backed by numerous U.S. troops. Both countries declared themselves independent and claimed the right to rule the entire peninsula.
The creation of South Korea had to do with the policy of U.S. imperialism to “isolate” the Chinese revolution of 1949 and check its expansion in the Asia-Pacific region. With the same objective, it created South Vietnam and supported the dictatorial capitalist regime of Chiang Kai-shek installed in Taiwan. Both new countries were part of its “struggle against communism.”
In this context, the Korean War (1950-1953)[7] took place between the North and the South. This war ended in a “stalemate”, expressed in an armistice. A formal peace treaty was never signed. This means that technically both countries are still at war. Since then, the border between the two has been one of the most militarized in the world, and there are constant tensions there.
Because of its origin, we characterize South Korea as a semi-colony of U.S. imperialism, given the economic, political, and military pacts that subordinate it to the United States. But it is a privileged semi-colony because it has been allowed significant industrial development. This development has profoundly changed the social structure of the country, creating a super-exploited working class that is very numerous and concentrated.
The great beneficiary of this “privilege” has been the South Korean bourgeoisie, which has developed international-level companies in high value-added sectors. These are the “chaebols” and include Samsung, Hyundai, Led, LG and Kia. It also invests heavily abroad, in China and other smaller countries such as Vietnam and Thailand.
The 1987 Revolution
South Korean political regimes and governments thus express the combination of both elements. On the one hand, they are agents of semi-colonial subordination to U.S. imperialism, but on the other hand, they are also the regime of the chaebols. For several decades, this was obviously expressed in the existence of a dictatorial political regime with presidents of military origin and harsh internal repression. But in 1987, a great wave of mobilizations (called the June Movement or Democratic Uprising) forced a change in the 1948 constitution, reducing the powers of the presidency and introducing a great expansion of democratic freedoms.
The revolutionary action of the masses won a great democratic triumph by overthrowing a dictatorship and establishing a bourgeois democratic regime (called the Sixth Republic). Therefore, the political history of South Korea is divided into a pre-1987 period and a post-1987 period. This was reflected in the reaction of the workers and masses to Yoon’s coup attempt.
The deep contradictions
But this great democratic triumph did not change the semi-colonial capitalist character of the South Korean state. For this reason, the new political regime that emerged in 1987 continued to serve to maintain this character in main two aspects: subordination to U.S. imperialism and the domination of the chaebols. This dynamic creates a deep contradiction between it and the workers and masses, generating permanent discontent, mobilizations, and struggles.
The people are increasingly tired of what military subordination to U.S. imperialism means to fight the “communist threat from the North.” They want to put an end to the two-year obligatory military service, which interrupts their studies and life projects in a hyper-competitive society. Young people believe less and less in the reasons given for keeping it. In an interview in 2023, young students expressed that they “have never considered North Korea as an enemy, and that “they have always considered North and South Koreans as one people” and “hope the two countries can unite one day”[8].
There were also large mobilizations to prevent the installation of the large U.S. military base at Camp Humphreys, which delayed its construction and inauguration for many years[9]. There have also been mobilizations against the construction of a second airport on Jeju Island in the south of the country, which would be used by U.S. Air Force planes.
The struggle against the chaebols was also expressed in various ways. One was the mobilizations against the extension of the working day. Another was the very intense strike by Samsung workers who fought for wage increases and against the persecution of the trade union by the company[10]. And it has also been expressed in the struggle against the corruption in government and other institutions, which is the way these large economic groups now operate over them. For example, in 2016, “hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Seoul to demand the resignation of President Park Geun-hye… who was accused of allowing a businesswoman friend [linked to Samsung] to access private government documents without proper authorization”[11]. Park was eventually impeached in 2017.
The current situation and outlook
As we have said, the workers and masses achieved a triumph by defeating Yoon’s self-coup and defending the bourgeois democratic regime installed after the 1987 revolution. This is an important fact that will undoubtedly influence the dynamics of the situation.
Within this framework, the Korean bourgeoisie, especially the Democratic Party, succeeded in putting the process on the road to the National Assembly and an institutional solution: Yoon’s impeachment will certainly remove him from office. From there, new presidential elections will be called, which will almost certainly be won by a candidate of the Democratic Party.
This bourgeois party, recently formed (2014), is aware that the political regime is standing on a “pressure cooker” that is accumulating steam. In order to avoid an explosion, it proposes to “lower tensions” with North Korea, to reduce military service, and to allocate part of the cost of the military expenses generated by this to “social policies”. What it is not prepared to do is to end the semi-colonial subordination to U.S. imperialism or touch the power of the chaebols.
It is very likely that the workers and masses will accept this institutional way out and vote for the Democratic Party. It will be a new chapter in their experience with the regime (now with a new “actor” in the government).
We call on the South Korean workers and masses not to trust the institutional way out or the Democratic Party. The way to end the semi-colonial subordination of the country to U.S. imperialism and the harsh conditions of exploitation to which the chaebols subject them is to maintain and strengthen the mobilizations and struggles that have developed in recent years.
Sources:
[1] https://www.abc.es/internacional/crisis-corea-sur-pillo-sorpresa-administracion-biden-20241203213425-nt.html?ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abc.es%2Finternacional%2Fcrisis-corea-sur-pillo-sorpresa-administracion-biden-20241203213425-nt.html
[2] 🚨 URGENT – CRISIS IN SOUTH KOREA: President Declares MARTIAL LAW
[3] South Korea’s main labor union calls for “general strike” until president resigns – THE NATION
[4] Crisis in South Korea: The president has declared martial law and is accused of a self-coup.
[5] The opposition wants to remove the president after the chaos caused by his declaration of martial law – LA NACION
[6] South Korea: Great triumph of the working youth – International Workers League
[7] 70 years after the end of the Korean War – International Workers’ League
[8] South Korean youth fed up with military service – SWI swissinfo.ch
[9] Police and protesters clash over new US base in South Korea – Cooperativa.cl
[10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5hwOmfj7-I
[11] See https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-internacional-37962254 and
South Korea: Samsung offices raided in connection with presidential political scandal – BBC News World
