ANALYSIS/South Korea's martial law gambit has no place in Taiwan: Scholars

Taipei, Dec. 7 (CNA) "I am sincerely sorry and apologize to the people who must have been very shocked," South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said as he bowed in a televised speech Saturday morning, hours ahead of a planned impeachment vote in parliament.

The vote comes in response to Yoon's declaration of martial law on the night of Dec. 3, accusing the main opposition party, which has a majority in parliament, of sympathizing with North Korea and engaging in anti-state activities.

That declaration was lifted by Yoon six hours later, after the 190 Korean lawmakers out of 300 members who were able to make it into the National Assembly building voted unanimously to overturn the measure.

Given that Taiwan and South Korea share a democratic trajectory, with both transitioning to democracy from martial law in the 1980s, and currently have divided governments, CNA interviewed scholars to look at the causes of the incident and possible implications for Taiwan.

Public rebuke

Hong I-jin, a South Korean-Italian associate professor with National Taiwan University's Graduate Institute of National Development, attributed Yoon's move to the pressure he was facing and praised the strong response from Koreans.

Yoon seemed desperate because of the opposition he was facing from majority Democratic Party lawmakers due to South Korea's economic difficulties and corruption allegations involving Yoon's wife, driving his public approval rating below 20 percent, Hong said.

That his declaration backfired reflected in part how deeply democratic values have become ingrained in the country, she argued, even among younger Koreans.

Though South Korea's younger generation did not experience firsthand the last time martial law was declared in the country in 1980 -- which triggered an uprising and violent crackdown -- they have learned about it from their parents.

That group, combined with other elements of society already invested in the country's democratic transition, meant that "citizens, parliamentarians, and even the military understand how significant [democracy] is in recent Korean history," Hong said.

Hong described Yoon's decree as "a huge slap in the face to all Koreans and a trigger of the trauma experienced in their recent history," explaining the immediate public and legislative responses and the military's reluctance to act.

Referring to martial law as a "non-acceptable solution" in any normally functioning, healthy democracy, Hong said "Taiwanese politicians should consider this Korean precedent as an example of what NOT to do."

For democracy's sake?

Yet surprisingly, shortly after Yoon's declaration, the legislative caucus of Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) issued a post on social media platform Threads that seemed sympathetic to Yoon's move, saying it was made "to protect the free constitutional system."

The post also compared Yoon's situation to the DPP's challenges in passing a budget or other bills in Taiwan's Legislative Yuan, in which the DPP currently has 51 of 113 seats.

The message was quickly removed, and replaced with another statement by the DPP legislative caucus recounting the Kuomintang's (KMT) martial law era from 1949 to 1987 and the DPP's establishment against such a backdrop, saying it "by no means intends to support martial law."

Chen Fang-yu (陳方隅), an assistant professor of political science at Soochow University, was critical of the attitude revealed by the original post.

"An opposition party will inevitably resist the ruling party, and the latter must win not with force but through adherence to democratic rules," Chen noted.

Similarly, Lin Jia-he (林佳和), an associate professor in National Chengchi University's College of Law, described martial law as "an emergency order with the gravest consequences," and argued it should only be invoked in the face of external invasion.

"A minority government is common in history and should resolve issues with opposition parties through democratic processes," Lin said.

He stressed that the normal functioning of the governments of South Korea and Taiwan provide no justification for declaring martial law.

Should Taiwan face another declaration of martial law, Chen warned it could devastate the nation's democracy and its standing in global democratic rankings.

In a non-war scenario, Chen predicted large-scale protests in Taiwan, similar to those seen in South Korea.

"Opposition to martial law has become a consensus in Taiwanese society. The public has the agency and energy to prevent the government from abusing its power," Chen said.

He described the DPP's deleted post as an "obvious mistake" caused by insufficient vetting, but was more critical of the DPP's subsequent post, which he said showed no intention of apologizing.

"In terms of dealing with the give-and-take of politics and the overall democratic system, the DPP's heavyweights seem to lack a moral compass, and that has damaged the party's image," Chen said.

On Friday, President Lai Ching-te (賴清德), who also chairs the DPP, asserted his attitude toward the martial law, saying that "democracy has become Taiwanese people's DNA" and that "the authoritarian mistake in the past cannot be repeated."

"Democratic Taiwan cannot and will not go back the way it has come," Lai stressed.

Related rules

In terms of the mechanisms for imposing martial law in the two countries, Lin said Taiwan and South Korea have similar constitutional provisions on the issue, though there are some key differences.

According to Lin, a South Korean president's martial law declaration does not require the National Assembly's agreement, and its lifting requires a formal announcement by the president to take effect, even if the assembly votes to terminate it.

In Taiwan, however, the president can declare martial law but it has to be submitted to the Legislature within 10 days according to Article 2 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China (Taiwan's official name), or within one month as stipulated by Article 1 of the Martial Law.

Lin said South Korea's recent case serves as a reminder of democracy's vulnerabilities, but he said granting the president martial law powers was still necessary in case of war.

"Such vulnerabilities always exist... but that does not mean a president's power in this matter should be unlimited," he said. "We must defend democracy by ensuring parliament functions normally for proper checks and balances, as South Korea demonstrated this time."