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World Brief: South Korea’s Night of Political Chaos
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Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at South Korea’s crackdown on opposition parties, new Chinese restrictions on critical mineral exports to the United States, and U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to Angola.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol invoked martial law on Tuesday in a surprise televised announcement, plunging his country into political chaos. “I declare martial law to protect the free Republic of Korea from the threat of North Korean communist forces, to eradicate the despicable pro-North Korean anti-state forces that are plundering the freedom and happiness of our people, and to protect the free constitutional order,” Yoon said during his address.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at South Korea’s crackdown on opposition parties, new Chinese restrictions on critical mineral exports to the United States, and U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to Angola.
By submitting your email, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to receive email correspondence from us. You may opt out at any time.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol invoked martial law on Tuesday in a surprise televised announcement, plunging his country into political chaos. “I declare martial law to protect the free Republic of Korea from the threat of North Korean communist forces, to eradicate the despicable pro-North Korean anti-state forces that are plundering the freedom and happiness of our people, and to protect the free constitutional order,” Yoon said during his address.
This was the first time that Seoul had issued such orders since 1980, when opposition to the orders sparked student-led protests that were violently crushed by government forces in what became known as the deadly Gwangju Uprising.
Yoon did not cite any specific threats from South Korea’s nuclear-armed northern neighbor.
Instead, he accused the liberal opposition Democratic Party of paralyzing the country’s parliament with Pyongyang-sympathetic activities, such as its efforts last week to slash more than 4 trillion won (about $2.8 billion) from next year’s budget proposal, over which the Democratic Party and Yoon’s conservative People Power Party have been locked in an impasse.
The martial law order prohibited all political activities, protests, and slowdowns across the country. Media and publishers were placed under government oversight, with Yoon outlawing any news that could “overthrow the liberal democratic system,” such as the “manipulation of public opinion.” And medical professionals were ordered to return to their posts within 48 hours; thousands of South Korean doctors have been on strike for months over government plans to increase the number of students enrolled at medical schools.
Key members from the opposition and Yoon’s own party were quick to denounce the mandate. This is “illegal and unconstitutional,” opposition leader Lee Jae-myung said. “Tanks, armored personnel carriers, and soldiers with guns and knives will rule the country. The economy of the Republic of Korea will collapse irretrievably.” On Tuesday, the Korean won dropped to its lowest level against the U.S. dollar in two years.
Han Dong-hoon, the leader of Yoon’s People Power Party, also condemned the martial law order, and thousands of South Koreans gathered outside the country’s National Assembly Tuesday evening to protest the mandate. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said Washington was watching the events with “grave concern” but has every hope that the political dispute will be resolved peacefully. The Chinese Embassy in South Korea urged its citizens to exercise caution.
The National Assembly voted late Tuesday to lift the martial law order mere hours after Yoon invoked it. Only 190 out of 300 members attended the emergency session, but all lawmakers present voted to pass the motion. Under South Korean law, Yoon must now accept parliament’s demands “without delay.” Military officials, however, said the order will remain in place until Yoon lifts it himself.
Early Wednesday local time, Yoon announced in a televised address that he would be lifting the martial law order as soon as his cabinet is convened. The question now: What comes next?
“This is the end of Yoon’s presidency. Full stop,” Karl Friedhoff, an Asia studies fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, wrote on BlueSky in response to Yoon’s initial martial law declaration, adding that Yoon’s slim majority in parliament would likely disappear.
Yoon’s popularity has declined in recent months, and Lee is favored to win South Korea’s next presidential election, which is scheduled to be held in 2027. The conservative president has repeatedly dismissed calls for independent investigations into alleged influence-peddling scandals involving his wife and top officials. Yoon has also rebuked opposition efforts to impeach three of his top prosecutors and his chief state auditor for their failure to indict the first lady over alleged stock manipulation, calling the Democratic Party’s actions a vendetta against the prosecutors’ own criminal investigations into Lee.
After the events of the last several hours, Yoon’s political fortunes look even worse. “The crisis is now likely to end with Yoon’s impeachment,” writes FP’s James Palmer.
Trade war escalation. China banned several critical mineral exports to the United States on Tuesday in response to the White House issuing similar restrictions on China’s semiconductor industry the day before. The limits target gallium, germanium, antimony, and superhard materials, which the Chinese Commerce Ministry says have dual-use civilian and military applications that threaten Beijing’s national security. Gallium and germanium are used for semiconductors, and germanium is also used in infrared technology, fiber optic cables, and solar cells. Antimony is used to make bullets and other weaponry.
The order takes effect immediately and comes before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump assumes office next month; he has vowed to impose a 100 percent tariff on BRICS nations that have sought to replace the U.S. dollar in international trade—a proposal that China has helped spearhead. A Biden administration spokesperson said the White House is assessing the new restrictions and will respond with the “necessary steps.”
“All in on Africa.” U.S. President Joe Biden traveled to Angola on Monday for his first presidential trip to sub-Saharan Africa. The three-day visit will largely center on a U.S. railway redevelopment project in the Lobito Corridor that aims to counter growing Chinese investments in the region. During the tour, Biden will also meet with Angolan President João Lourenço and see the National Slavery Museum.
The focus of Biden’s trip is to announce a $3 billion U.S. commitment to the Lobito infrastructure project. The White House hopes that such a contribution will demonstrate how Washington seeks to prioritize the region at a time when Beijing has a strong hold on Africa’s critical mineral mines through its Belt and Road Initiative. “The United States is all in on Africa,” Biden told Lourenço on Tuesday.
Biden initially planned to visit the continent last year after reviving the U.S.-Africa Summit in December 2022. The trip was delayed a second time in October of this year due to the devastation that Hurricane Milton caused to the U.S. East Coast. Prior to Biden’s trip this week, the last sitting U.S. president to visit sub-Saharan Africa was Barack Obama in 2015.
Attacks during a truce. Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon on Monday killed at least 11 people, marking the largest wave of Israeli attacks against Hezbollah since the two sides approved a cease-fire last Tuesday. According to the deal’s agreed-upon language, Israel has the right to react militarily against imminent threats, including by disrupting the establishment of any Hezbollah presence near the Israel-Lebanon border.
The Israeli military said Monday’s airstrikes targeted Hezbollah fighters, infrastructure, and rocket launchers and were conducted in response to Hezbollah firing two projectiles at a disputed Israeli-held territory over the weekend. The Lebanese militant group said it fired on the Israeli position as a “defensive and warning response” to what it referred to as “repeated violations” of the truce deal. Before the Hezbollah operation, Israel had carried out at least four airstrikes and an artillery barrage on southern Lebanon, according to Lebanese state media, including a drone strike that killed at least one person.
U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on Monday that the cease-fire was holding, “largely speaking.” However, a U.S. official told Axios this week that Washington is concerned that Israeli actions could unravel the fragile truce.
A woman who snuck aboard a U.S. Delta Airlines flight to Paris last week may have more trouble getting home than she did departing. Last Tuesday, the stowaway evaded security at New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport despite not having a boarding pass. However, frequent trips to the plane’s restrooms—intended to prevent suspicion that she did not have a seat—alerted a flight attendant of her presence, and she was placed into French custody upon her arrival at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport. Now, local authorities have prevented the stowaway from traveling back to the Big Apple after her “unruly” behavior on a planned return flight on Saturday ended with her being removed from the plane.
Alexandra Sharp is the World Brief writer at Foreign Policy. X: @AlexandraSSharp
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The Russian meat grinder strategy is terribly effective, terribly wasteful, and boundlessly cruel.
Limited strikes could continue even after the truce.
Russian interest in peace is no given, and Europe may not be on board.
Competition with China is based on false premises.
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