COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) — South Korean President Yoon declared martial law in the country. However, the decision was quickly reversed and now President Yoon faces potential impeachment. A local professor from Columbus State University weighed in on the news.
Dr. Daewoo Lee is an Associate professor at the school of Policy, Justice, and Public Safety at Columbus State University. Lee moved to the United States in 2007 in pursuit of higher education.
Lee says it came as a total shock to face the declaration of martial law from a president and not a dictator.
South Korea became a democratic nation in late 1980 after dictatorship.
“This is actually not the first time South Korean people have experienced martial law,” Lee says. “During the last time they experienced martial law, it was a bad experience, and it was a brutal dictatorship and didn’t go well.”
Lee says because of the "bad memory in history", the term martial law has a negative connotation to South Korean people.
“They are not used to tanks around like metropolitan Seoul," Lee explained. "So, it was a big moment.”
Lee explained the political atmosphere in South Korea that led to the president's decision, however he believes it was the wrong move.
“Decorating martial law is for many people, that’s a directly linked to bad memory like dark history of South Korea and democracy. So that’s that angered many, many people. I think there’s a lot of pointing finger things going on and somebody has to take responsibility, and it has to be President Yoon. “
— Dr. Daewoo Lee, Associate Professor at Columbus State University.
Lee says the recent events in South Korea shows the vulnerability of the country's political situation. He says the domestic turmoil is going to dampen the momentum of the country as their economy and culture are booming.
“There’s a positive side as well as a negative side for South Korean people,” Lee says. “A positive side is the martial law quickly rescinded from the National assembly and people supported it and that proved that even though short amount of South Korean democracy. Democracy itself is fragile, but people in South Korea is very resilient.”
Dr. Lee will be taking CSU students on a study abroad trip to South Korea in the Summer. He says this moment in history will be used to prove the resilience of South Korean democracy.
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