While South Korea’s economic, technological, and cultural prowess is very sophisticated, its political leaders are still immature and democratic institutions continue to be weak. That said, the South Korean public’s democracy spirit is indomitable and has overcome all setbacks so far. In the most recent episode, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol declared emergency martial law in the country on 3 December 2024. The people responded by gathering at the National Assembly, and Yoon’s move was nullified within hours through a rejection of martial law by the National Assembly. This was indeed a close escape for South Korea from being ensnared in another authoritarian era in its political history. Yoon tried to mobilise the military, police, and other governmental agencies to implement his illegal act but it failed due to his own incompetence, insufficient support from the military and police, the National Assembly’s swift action, and more than anything else, active vigil and resistance from the Korean people.

On 5 December, six opposition parties led by the Democratic Party—who have 192 members in the 300-member National Assembly—brought an impeachment motion against Yoon. Yoon’s own party, the ruling People’s Power Party (PPP), decided to abstain from voting, which led to insufficient votes in favour of the motion. Even though Yoon has been able to avoid impeachment this time, in all probability, he either has to resign or is going to be impeached in the coming days.

The PPP is concerned largely with how to minimise the impact of anti-Yoon sentiment on the party’s future electoral prospects. PPP leaders in the National Assembly are trying to hand Yoon a long rope, but reigning him in is going to be increasingly difficult.  Further, Yoon is adamant that he has done no wrong. He appears to be suggesting that martial law would have sent a message of warning to the opposition as their criticism of Yoon was apparently preventing him from running the country smoothly. The opposition’s acts included asking for an official probe into his wife’s corruption charges, trying to remove his allies in the prosecutor's office, and cutting budget allocations. None of these so-called ‘criticisms’ justify Yoon’s extreme decision to declare martial law, and no one will trust his claim that he just wanted to scare the opposition and wasn’t in fact intending to actually impose martial law.

Yoon appears to be a stubborn leader who is paranoid about the normal course of democratic politics. Yes, the opposition tried to contest, frustrate, and even harass Yoon after having won a big majority in the National Assembly this year but these are all part of how a democracy functions. Any political leader has to deal with them tactfully rather than branding them as anti-national or supporters of North Korea.

Ultimately, a lot of this boils down to the fact that Yoon has no past political experience. He was a prosecutor who then became the PPP’s presidential candidate in 2022, and this was only because he reportedly “clashed” with President Moon Jae-in when he was serving as prosecutor general. The past two and half years have unfortunately highlighted his insecurity, recklessness, and lack of political and diplomatic experience. These limitations make him unqualified for the position he holds—a position he reached by sheer chance. His style of leadership; corruption charges against his wife; and his foreign policy moves—such as involving South Korea in great power politics by attending the NATO Summits; visiting Ukraine; and issuing a bold statement on the Taiwan issue—made him unpopular with the Korean public.

Instead of acknowledging these errors and attempting to fix them, Yoon feels that the opposition is to be blamed for his limitations. The ruling PPP suffered a setback in the National Assembly elections, with opposition parties winning 192 out of 300 seats. Subsequently, any decision Yoon took was aggressively challenged, which would have contributed to mounting frustration. His martial law announcement must be seen in this context.

Despite the events of the past few days, Yoon doesn’t seem to want to resign and is hopeful that even if an impeachment motion is passed, he may have another 3-4 months as president as the matter would then be deliberated in the Constitutional Court of South Korea. He might also be expecting the impeachment motion to fail in the Constitutional Court as the three parliament-nominated seats are vacant, and the remaining six judges have to have consensus on his removal.

Notwithstanding Yoon’s fate, these developments are regrettable demonstrations of South Korea’s weak democratic institutions. This will impact the country’s economic and cultural diplomacy in the coming years. His continuation as president will prolong instability by fuelling concerns about future decisions that would adversely impact the country and its public.

Dr. Sandip Kumar Mishra is Professor, Centre for East Asian Studies, SIS, JNU, & Distinguished Fellow, IPCS.