By Sebin Choi and Eduardo Baptista
SEOUL (Reuters) – When President Yun Suk Yeol declared martial law, the first in South Korea since the 1980s, 70-year-old Lee Chul-woo was reminded of his youth, much of it a right-wing military dictatorship. spent in opposition to .
The swift rejection and failure of Yun’s move stems in part from a painful history that millions of South Koreans can still vividly remember. There have been more than a dozen instances of martial law being declared since South Korea was established as a republic in 1948.
Lee, a supporter of the main opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung, who has been protesting calls for Yun’s impeachment for the past few days, said he participated in pro-democracy student protests in the 1980s. And he was beaten and arrested by soldiers, an experience that still gives him cold sweats and nightmares.
“When (Yun’s) martial law failed, I felt some relief. Whenever I hear ‘martial law,’ I think of the old days, the oppression of human rights,” Lee said.
Hundreds of people are estimated to have died or gone missing when the South Korean military violently suppressed an uprising in Gwangju in May 1980, after General Chun Doo-hwan installed a military dictatorship and declared martial law the same month. started in response to
The event, seen by some as a precursor to the transition to democracy in 1987, has since become a poignant reminder of the country’s path to becoming a liberal democracy.
Lee, a retired teacher, recalled how soldiers in Seoul entered the grounds of the university where he was studying with machine guns and tanks during the Gwangju Massacre.
When troops were sent to the National Assembly on Tuesday night to carry out Yoon’s orders, Lee said he thought about the death toll in Gwangju and how he was grateful that this time the troops “were not as ignorant as they were in Gwangju. “.
Echoes of the authoritarian past
In an unscheduled late-night televised address on Tuesday, Yun said the military would “protect South Korea from the threat of North Korean communist forces” and “eliminate the abominable North Korean anti-state forces that are robbing freedom.” The law was necessary and the happiness of our people.”
The branding of his critics and opponents as North Korean or communist sympathizers echoes the language used by South Korean governments before 1987 to justify crackdowns on dissident voters, alienating voters like Lee who were right-wing authoritarian governments. were victims under
“When I look at this guy now, his mentality is from the 60s and 70s, Yoon Suk Yeol can’t escape that era,” Lee said.
While Lee hopes younger Koreans will take his place in the protests, he said he will protect the National Assembly with his body if martial law is declared again.
“Now that I’m over 70, I’ve lived enough, right? Young people shouldn’t make sacrifices, people like us have to make sacrifices,” he said.
