Korea's warning to the US

By John Burton

It may surprise those living in Korea that President Yoon Suk Yeol’s self-coup attempt by declaring martial law was a popular topic among comedians on America’s late night television shows. “Korea, stop giving Donald Trump ideas!,” sarcastically declared the anchor on the faux news program, The Daily Show.

That humorous comment underscored that many Americans do see parallels between their own political situation and that in Korea since both Yoon and Trump show authoritarian tendencies. Some fear that Trump might try to do something similar to Yoon’s bid to become dictator. Do the recent events in Korea serve as a warning to what could happen in the U.S.?

Both countries are experiencing polarization between political extremes and both Yoon and Trump were elected by narrow margins. The rhetoric employed by both leaders echo each other. They complain about “fake news” and describe their political opponents as unpatriotic “enemies.”

Both believe they have been the victims of rigged elections, the outcome of the presidential race in 2020 for Trump and the National Assembly elections in April for Yoon. Yoon prioritized the deployment of troops during the night of martial law to the National Election Commission to gather possible evidence of election fraud.

Weeks before he declared martial law, Yoon appointed loyalists to sensitive national security posts, including Kim Yong-hyun, his former chief of the Presidential Security Service, as the new defense minister, and Yeo In-hyung as the chief of the Defense Counterintelligence Command.

This prompted opposition leader Lee Jae-myung to warn in early September that Yoon was preparing to declare martial law, although that was dismissed as political fearmongering. The reality was that Kim and Yeo would play the main roles in carrying out the martial law plan.

Trump is also trying to surround himself with political loyalists in key military and intelligence posts, including Pete Hegseth as Secretary of State, Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence, and Kash Patel as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Hegseth has said he would carry out a purge of “woke” generals, seen as those who might oppose plans by Trump to deploy the military in the U.S. if he invokes the Insurrection Act.

The 19th century U.S. Insurrection Act falls short of martial law in Korea under which the military assumes basic government function. But it does empower the U.S. president to use the military and national guard troops to suppress civil disorder or rebellion and was last used in 1992 to stop the racial violence in Los Angeles, including attacks on Korean shopkeepers. Trump contemplated using the act in 2020 to put down national demonstrations in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by a policeman in Minneapolis.

Does Korea offer lessons to the U.S. on how to prevent a military-backed takeover from happening?

One reason why Yoon’s bid for dictatorial power lasted only six hours is that Koreans still have strong memories of the last time martial law was declared in 1979, which paved the way for the harsh dictatorship of Chun Doo-hwan. Since 1987, Korea has established a robust democracy based on a strong civil society, which made Yoon’s action all the more shocking.

The result was that thousands of Koreans poured onto the streets as soon as martial law was declared at 10.30 on a freezing night. Lawmakers rallied at the National Assembly and immediately voted unanimously to revoke martial law in a dramatic show of unity across the political spectrum. This was aided by the fact that Korea has a strong modern tradition of holding mass protests.

In contrast, most Americans take democracy for granted since its political system has lasted for nearly 250 years. As a result, the reflexes against authoritarian rule have atrophied and many Americans might decide not to resist en masse.

One key early test of resistance is whether the U.S. Senate will confirm Trump’s most controversial cabinet nominees, including Hegseth, Gabbard and Patel. So far the debate appears to be split along partisan lines. Will enough Republicans vote against them if they are convinced that these appointees would support Trump’s invocation of the Insurrection Act?

The American media will also play an important role. While the Korean media universally condemned Yoon’s act, major right-wing media outlets in the U.S., such as Fox News, might be willing to endorse a Trump grab for power.

The coming months will determine whether Americans will show the same resolve as Koreans did in defending their democracy.

John Burton ([email protected]), a former Korea correspondent for the Financial Times, is a Washington-based journalist and consultant.