martial law declared in South Korea

[goingtohellinahandcart]

Not entirely clear what is going on but the president of South Korea has declared martial law and apparently troops have tried to enter the parliament

Oh no. That is so sad. I always thought South Korea was relatively stable and safe politically.

See above.

Not entirely clear yet.

One of the opposition leaders has said that they will use people power to stop the President.

It depends on whether the military decide to back the President or not still.

My guess at this point, is that a deeply unpopular president mired in scandal needed the military to stop that vote.

It doesn't sound like it's entirely resolved yet but coups tend to need momentum to work. And they need to be fast before others get chance to respond.

It's caught other countries massively off guard. This wasn't anticipated or foreseen as a possibility by anyone from what I'm reading.

We will be very impacted when WW3 starts.

Well, I'd quite like the NHS to be fit for purposes in the meantime.

This thread has some background info

https://bsky.app/profile/kfriedhoff.bsky.social/post/3lcfswksfa22a

This is absolutely not the news I would have dreamed of waking up to. South Korea's Yoon declares emergency martial law. to I have some scattered thoughts to follow.

I hope so. 🤞

Well quite possibly, fingers crossed, by breakfast time the Gregg Wallace story will be the lead on the BBC again and this story will be item 2 or 3 on the news.

There are times when Social Media is too quick for it’s own good and maybe not great at all for those inclined to be anxious.

BBC confirming that the troops are withdrawing from the Parliament.

It is possible and arguably desirable to be interested in both domestic and global politics and to understand and be concerned by the connections between the two and the domestic implications from overseas events.

Indeed.

Imagine being able to read a newspaper and find more than one subject interesting and important.

Imagine being able to use social media and see how important it is to understand some can try and flip a democracy to dictator in minutes. And being interested in how the story develops.

This will now be a period of political instability in South Korea immediately before Trump takes power however it pans out.

If you read social media and have some sort of doomsday end of the world attitude then it's possibly not for you. I mean image actually living in a war zone (and how social media might useful).

It is possible and arguably desirable to be interested in both domestic and global politics and to understand and be concerned by the connections between the two and the domestic implications from overseas events.

Yep. But I want the BBC to focus on issues that directly affect us on a daily basis. So South Korea, Syria et al can be the 3rd item on the news.

When the first is Greggggggg Wallace?

I'm seeing this being reported:
South Korean Military says Martial Law remains in place until the President says otherwise, despite parliaments vote to block it.

It's a source that's reasonable but I'm not seeing on mainstream media as yet.

However this seems to contrast with what's happening on the ground.

It's definitely still at wait and see.

Reporter from Washington Post just confirming the above:
Michelle Yee Hee Lee AT myhlee
Per YTN, the South Korean military is saying the martial law will remain in place until the president says otherwise/officially lifts it.

I think this is one of those situations where it's best to wait for 48 hours for actual news reporters to find out what's going on, rather than getting your news from people on social network A who are reading whatever combination of truth- and troll-based comments make it into their feed on social network B.

I've been following this on Sky & Twitter. It's all at a bit of a pivotal crux just now. Will the president of South Korea back down or push it forward?

The police and the military there are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Obviously a lot remains uncertain but from what it seems the President initiated a coup without telling anyone, even his closest advisors of his plans. Seems to be incredibly badly planned.

I have my account on social media set up to follow news reporter's and broadcaster's who are reliable and reputable.

They are giving stories to the main outlets.

So there is a half way house on this. If you know which sources are good quality you can find out things just as quickly as some of the main outlets.

As I say the reporter I mentioned about actually provides content for being BBC.

The BBC uses mainly freelancers these days rather than directly employing it's own people.

If you understand the difference it helps.

You can also get a fair idea from social media without getting too sucked into trolls.

But then that's all about learning to use a tool effectively and well. Twitter is a great tool but if you don't understand this it's crap.

Excuse my attempt at levity, but 2 people who may, this week, be toast; the president of South Korea, and Gregggggggg Wallace.

This has now been stated on bbc live feed online

As it stands I believe the situation is that parliament have declared martial law invalid and the president is then compelled to rescind it in line with the law.

So technically the military leaders saying martial law remains are correct.

But it also appears they are not enforcing it - if they do they could be held liable and later tried if the president is ousted. So it's a risk.

At this point they appear to be waiting for the president to give further directives - to either carry on and disobey parliament or to officially stand down.

They then will have to make a decision about what action to take. To arrest the president or to arrest the people.

That said if they were going to follow the president they probably wouldn't have withdrawn from the parliamentary building.

However none of this is good. Any major western ally facing this level of destabilisation is a worry. It makes others consider their position and whether this provides an opportunity for them.

My understanding is that it remains in place technically but that the military are currently taking no action, it’s about not setting a precedent of not following the President’s orders. It seems that the constitution says the President must abide by the parliamentary vote but that there are no set timescales.

worrying news

Who is Gregg Wallace?

They are awaiting Yoon

https://bsky.app/profile/jillianstampher.bsky.social/post/3lcg6pyw6bv2a

Four hours after South Korea’s Yoon declared martial law, and more than an hour after the National Assembly voted to nullify it, we are waiting for comment from Yoon. The military says it will enforce the martial law until it hears from him, but troops left the National Assembly. Protests continue.

Members of Yoon’s ruling party are actively getting in front of cameras condemning the president’s actions as protesters call for his arrest.

So the members of the parliament are saying they have to stay in the parliamentary chamber until the cabinet officially lifts martial law.

But it looks like there is no movement by the cabinet to do so.

This potentially is developing into something of a stand off in that way.

How long the law makers are able to stay in the chamber without the president taking action is an open question.

The president effectively may freeze everything.

On which case it may come down to whether anyone is prepared to arrest the president for disobeying parliament and creating this limbo.

Providing they can find him of course.

This would almost leave SK without a functional government in the meantime.