“I declare martial law to protect the free Republic of Korea from the threat of North Korean communist forces, to eradicate the despicable pro-North Korean anti-state forces that are plundering the freedom and happiness of our people, and to protect the free constitutional order,” Mr Yoon said.

  • Darth_Reagan [they/them, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    23 days ago

    “The imposition of emergency martial law comes as Mr Yoon’s approval rating dropped to 19% in the latest Gallup poll last week, with many expressing dissatisfaction over his handling of the economy and controversies involving his wife, Kim Keon Hee.”

    Hmm. The leader also seems to come from a party that has a minority in Parliament. So it appears like a very unpopular president, with a minority party in government going authoritarian to do… something?

    • Nax@lemmygrad.ml
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      23 days ago

      I believe that is meant as “anti-SK-state forces” not as forces that want to fight any kind of state, but yes, funny joke

    • Addfwyn@lemmygrad.ml
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      22 days ago

      They are totally free to vote for anyone* they want!

      *As long as they are anti-China, anti-DPRK, and pro-US.

  • 小莱卡@lemmygrad.ml
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    23 days ago

    it has all the buzzwords expected from a US bootlicker. also kind of crazy to talk about freedom when youre literally declaring martial law because people are not in your side lmao

    • Large Bullfrog@lemmygrad.ml
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      23 days ago

      I mean that’s always been the West’s way of doing things, preemptively discredit claims about being a dictatorship and taking away freedom by claiming your doing it to protect freedom. It’s basically the equivalent telling someone “I don’t want to sound offensive, but…”.

    • OrnluWolfjarl@lemmygrad.ml
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      23 days ago

      People in Western states are mostly docile. Occupied Korea has been wracked with strikes and protests for the past 2 years. But probably the biggest reason this martial law was declared is that the opposition parties have been trying to get Yoon and his associates investigated for multiple corruption scandals for the last 2 years. They also hold a parliamentary majority and are blocking everything he tries to do. It’s likely they actually approached something that could incriminate him, or they refused to vote for something they should have, so now Yoon is acting to regain authority over the government (since calling everyone that disagrees with him a communist, spy or traitor, doesn’t really seem to work).

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    23 days ago

    Troops were seen at the parliament building. Apparently the latest is those who reached the building unanimously voted to lift the martial law and troops were seen leaving.

    Just normal occupied Korea things.

    • EuthanatosMurderhobo@lemmygrad.ml
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      23 days ago

      Majority party, which is in opposition to him, was about to impeach members of his cabinet, apparently. And he isn’t very popular with the people. Also, it’s been around a year of talks about impeachment for Yoon Sok Yeol himself.

      Must be commie spies, clearly.