Brazilian Carlos Gorito, 38, has lived in South Korea since 2008 and is well aware of the Asian country’s history of political instability. He says he was shocked, however, by the sudden application this Tuesday (3) of martial law, a measure by the president to muzzle the opposition using the Army and which at no point was considered in public debates, by analysts. or opponents, according to him.
“I was at home, having a meeting. When I finished, I opened the news and was shocked. I’ve been through moments of political instability here during the protests of 2016 and 17, but we didn’t have martial law for more than 40 years,” he tells Folha. “My wife woke up crying, saying it was a tragedy.”
Gorito is a businessman and presents programs on television. Shortly after applying the measure, around 10:30 pm local time, he says he received a flood of messages from colleagues and employees. They all expressed concern. One of his acquaintances even asked if it was necessary to stock up on food, for example. Others, whether there would be office hours the next day.
Having been in the South American country for more than a decade, however, the Brazilian already considers himself hardened to South Korean politics. He lives in central Seoul, near the former presidential palace, and says the streets have remained quiet. He soon realized that President Yoon Suk Yeol was isolated.
The Brazilian draws parallels with the massive protests that took place in South Korea in 2016 and 2017. At the time, millions of people took to the streets in support and rejection of then-president Park Geun-hye, accused of involvement in a corruption scheme that ended removed and subject of impeachment.
She is the daughter of military dictator Park Chung-hee, who ruled the country between 1961 and 1979, one of the most controversial names in South Korean politics. Accused of torturing and imprisoning opponents, he is also considered the father of the country’s high economic growth in the 1960s and 1970s.
“Her political core was directly linked to those who controlled Korea for several years. This inheritance generated much more tension. And the protests were gradual, people felt how far they could go,” he says. “Today it was sudden, more radical and took everyone by surprise. It also ended up sounding artificial.”
Unpopular, the current president, Yoon, has also been the target of protests. For Brazilians, the martial law applied by the right-wing leader, whose trajectory is compared to that of today’s senator Sergio Moro (União Brasil-PR), seems like a desperate measure.
Yoon announced the decree on network TV. About two hours after the Army mobilization, which suspended civil liberties and invaded the National Assembly building, opposition deputies led a legislative reaction.
Later, with a unanimous vote by 190 parliamentarians, none of them from the government, the opposition overturned the decree, as allowed by the country’s Constitution. Yoon gave in and suspended the measure. According to him, the Martial Law Command retreated.
The martial law decree, provided for in Korean law in case of war, internal upheaval or natural catastrophe, handed executive powers to the armed forces under Yoon. Such a measure had not been mentioned in the Asian country since the 1979 coup d’état, one of several in its history, and during the repression of protests the following year.
