What South Korea's martial law turmoil means for the economy

A shock declaration of martial law in South Korea was swiftly put down, but it exposed the nation's vulnerable democracy. What happens now?

Martial Law Declared In South Korea
(Image credit: South Korean Presidential Office via Getty Images)

“An abortive coup in South Korea was probably not on anyone’s bingo card for 2024,” says Robyn Mak on Breakingviews. “Enter President Yoon Suk Yeol”, who made the shock decision to declare martial law on 3 December, only to “make an embarrassing U-turn” within six hours after both his own and opposition parties forced their way into parliament to vote against his decree.

The main opposition, the Democratic Party, and five other parties submitted a motion the next day, calling for Yoon’s impeachment. This is the first time a president has used his emergency powers since South Korea’s military dictatorship fell in the late 1980s.

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Emily Hohler
Politics editor

Emily has worked as a journalist for more than thirty years and was formerly Assistant Editor of MoneyWeek, which she helped launch in 2000. Prior to this, she was Deputy Features Editor of The Times and a Commissioning Editor for The Independent on Sunday and The Daily Telegraph. She has written for most of the national newspapers including The Times, the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, The Evening Standard and The Daily Mail, She interviewed celebrities weekly for The Sunday Telegraph and wrote a regular column for The Evening Standard. As Political Editor of MoneyWeek, Emily has covered subjects from Brexit to the Gaza war.

Aside from her writing, Emily trained as Nutritional Therapist following her son's diagnosis with Type 1 diabetes in 2011 and now works as a practitioner for Nature Doc, offering one-to-one consultations and running workshops in Oxfordshire.