On the evening of the 3rd, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol suddenly announced martial law nationwide, banning all political activities, prohibiting public gatherings and other political rights, and even deploying military police to the streets and surrounding the National Assembly. However, shortly afterward, the public took to the streets to protest and demonstrate. After the South Korean National Assembly voted to declare the martial law invalid, Yoon Suk-yeol revoked the martial law within just a few hours. It is said that such a martial law order was the first since the fall of South Korea’s military government in 1987, and the trigger this time was reportedly due to the opposition Democratic Party repeatedly vetoing Yoon Suk-yeol’s government funding budgets and impeaching Yoon Suk-yeol. To understand the reasons behind this event, is it because the class contradictions in South Korea have intensified, and internal conflicts within comprador bourgeoisie have also worsened? Does anyone have any thoughts?
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I feel that it is just Yoon Seok-youl himself, as a member of the bourgeoisie, who, seeing his position insecure, desperately staged a political farce. Firstly, from the current social contradictions in South Korea, the recent large-scale strike is just the Seoul subway strike, with Samsung union negotiations demanding a pay raise, and earlier there was a doctors’ strike. Class contradictions are far from reaching the point where the bourgeoisie needs to establish a military dictatorship to maintain control. Secondly, the United States cannot support this coup because both political camps are pro-American, and the U.S. government is about to change its administration. The policies of the monopolist bourgeoisie are also about to change, making it unlikely to provoke any major international incident.
The rapid failure of the coup can also be considered inevitable; reactionaries always overestimate their strength. The people initially rejected military dictatorship, and although Yoon Seok-youl brought in top military and police officials, he did not gain support from mid- and lower-ranking officers or ordinary soldiers. When Chun Doo-hwan launched his military coup, he bribed many high-ranking and mid- to lower-ranking officers, even receiving money from Moon Jae-in, who was then a基层军官 (junior officer). Yoon Seok-youl cannot compare. The final result was the military blockading the National Assembly, then Lee Jae-myung live-streaming a four-kilometer run and climbing over the wall into the parliament, with opposition MPs directly climbing over the wall to vote and declare the actions unconstitutional, turning the coup into a political joke. The army, nearby, was too lazy to intervene and had no intention to suppress, receiving punches from MPs and the crowd. Times have changed; now with the internet, such conspiracy activities cannot be made public or gain support from most of the bourgeoisie, thus temporarily controlling social life. Yoon Seok-youl even failed to cut off the internet in advance; the opposition directly live-streamed online, expanding social influence. People can quickly organize through social platforms to oppose the coup. The coup will inevitably become a political farce.
Marx, in “The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte,” mentioned: “Hegel once said somewhere that all great events and persons in world history seem to occur twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce.” Chun Doo-hwan’s military coup led to over a decade of dictatorship and the tragedy of the Gwangju Uprising; this time, it is destined to become a farce.
The yellow union in South Korea has now announced a strike until Yoon Suk-yeol steps down, which can be said to have angered the people. The main reason this coup turned into a farce is primarily because the people oppose it; otherwise, these lawmakers wouldn’t even come within a kilometer of the National Assembly, let alone break in.
However, Zhongxiu does not want to point out the essence of this coup. The articles I have seen and most people around me say that Yoon Seok-youl was driven by anger for a loved one. It seems that Zhongxiu can come up with any popular science view to prevent the masses from questioning politics.
A fit of anger over the crown is fake, but the reactionary policies enacted during the coup are what they truly want to implement.
I wonder what the relationship is between this reactionary policy and the sudden anger.
The domestic ‘冲冠一怒’ is actually a conspiracy by the subordinate men, which is just a replica of the historical ‘red face water disaster’ theory, a manifestation of the思想 that slanders women. Translated, it means “This man was originally good, but the woman corrupted him and turned him bad.” This kind of statement is very hateful.
This Yoon Seok-youl matter is not simple and cannot be treated as just a joke. He issued a very strict martial law order to suspend all parliamentary, local council, and party activities, announced intelligence control, and took over public opinion. He appointed a martial law commander and also declared that the army has the right to search all suspicious individuals without a search warrant, which is already quite crazy. The reason why this coup failed is entirely the result of the struggle of the Korean people. Although the lawmakers all climbed over the wall to hold meetings and oppose, the most important thing is that Seoul citizens surrounded the army and the parliament. Without Seoul citizens, these lawmakers would not have been able to enter the parliament at all, and when Seoul citizens gathered together, they drove the army back.
It reminds me of the events during the past economic crisis when the American people crushed the conspiracy of American fascists to come to power.
So it turns out they are all loyal followers of General Yin.
The claim that Yoon Suk-yeol launched a coup “in a fit of rage for a beauty” is truly the most ridiculous statement.
Any topic can be linked to “women” or “sexual desire.” This unique perspective that views the world through a pornographic lens is indeed a characteristic of China’s patriarchal society. Media in other countries would not dare to reveal their vulgar nature in this way.