The whole story is this:
South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol suddenly declared a state of martial law across the country and emphasized in a televised speech that the move was aimed at "protecting a free South Korea, resisting the threat of North Korean communist forces, and eliminating anti-national forces from the North (pro-North Korea)."
The full text of the martial law order is as follows:
1. All political activities, including those of the National Assembly, local councils and political parties, political organizations, rallies and demonstrations, are prohibited;
2. Prohibit all acts that deny or attempt to overthrow the free democratic system, and prohibit fake news, manipulation of public opinion and false propaganda;
3. All media and publications must be under the control of the Martial Law Command;
4. Prohibit strikes, work stoppages and assemblies that incite public unrest;
5. All medical personnel who are on strike or have left the medical field, including trainee doctors, must return to work within 48 hours and be loyal to their duties. Anyone who violates this will be punished in accordance with the martial law;
6. Except for anti-state and other subversive forces, innocent ordinary citizens may experience minimal inconvenience in their daily lives as a result of the measures.
You know, the last time South Korea issued martial law was when President Park Chung-hee was assassinated in 1979.
When the martial law order was issued, it was very exciting:
First, Chun Doo-hwan, as a major general at the time, launched the 1212 coup that year, killing other military leaders and taking control of the military power.
Then there was an undercurrent of democracy among the democratic activists, which eventually led to the Gwangju incident in 1980, in which the army massacred protesting citizens.
Then, within a year of declaring martial law, Chun Doo-hwan forced the acting president to resign and became the president of South Korea himself.
However, the martial law issued by the South Korean president himself did not last long:
South Korea's National Assembly held an emergency plenary session in the early morning of the 4th to vote on "lifting the martial law order". 190 members attended the meeting and voted in favor. South Korea's National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-sik then announced that the emergency martial law order was invalid.
It is said that during this martial law order, the army initially obeyed the president's orders to occupy Congress.
However, due to obstruction from the citizens, the army was forced to withdraw from Congress under pressure.
It seems that Yoon Seok-yeol is going to be in trouble~
This coup has caused great harm to users of South Korean crypto exchanges. The price of Bitcoin on Upbit, the largest local exchange in South Korea, plummeted by 50%, once falling to more than 60,000 US dollars:
At the same time, the prices of mainstream offshore exchanges around the world have hardly fluctuated and have remained above 90,000:
This incident once again shows that encryption must be decentralized. Even if it is a local compliant exchange, it will still be implicated when there is political turmoil in the local area.
This time, South Korea is still a developed country after all, and has US troops stationed there.
If it happens in other countries or regions, if the government becomes ruthless, the assets held by the exchange will be confiscated in minutes, right?
Talking about the reasons for the martial law in South Korea, the BBC said:
Yoon Seok-yeol has faced difficulties in governing since taking office in 2022. He is in a minority in the National Assembly and is unable to promote policies. Instead, he has repeatedly vetoed bills led by the opposition.
Recently, the opposition has cut the government's proposed budget and pushed for an impeachment investigation into its cabinet members, including a special investigation into alleged corruption by Yoon Seok-yeol's wife.
Analysts believe that martial law is Yoon Seok-yeol’s “nuclear option” in the face of a political crisis.
