Yoon Suk Yeol: South Korea’s Greatest Modern-Day Supervillain

It’s March 2022, and conservative candidate Yoon Suk Yeol has just won the presidential election in South Korea, beating the opposing liberal candidate Lee Jae-Myung by less than a single percentage point. South Korean citizens are divided over their candidates with just as many unhappy about the results as there are happy. Flash forward to December 2024, and President Yoon has declared martial law without any prior warning, receiving severe backlash from his own government officials, the people of South Korea, and even the rest of the world—it’s no understatement to say that Yoon might be the individual who has caused the most harm for South Korea in modern history.

The country has certainly had its history with unfavorable presidencies, including impeached and convicted felon Park Geun-hye who served just two terms ago. However, given the recent turn of events under President Yoon, he might be most deserving of being titled South Korea’s greatest modern-day supervillain. This title isn’t easy to accomplish, considering the nation’s several recent political struggles. However, Yoon proved himself rather deserving throughout his presidency, with the final blow being his announcement of martial law in December 2024. Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule, overruling existing regulations and laws with complete military power, typically announced during times of disaster or warfare. It is often seen as the last resort of an unstable country facing danger and in need of saving the nation through a temporary dictatorship. The most recent example of U.S. martial law implemented by the federal government was in Hawaii during WWII, more than 80 years ago. However, South Korea has frequently used martial law in the past. In fact, the nation’s most recent martial law before Yoon’s occurred in 1980, less than 50 years ago by former President Chun Doo-hwan after the assassination of previous President Park Chung Hee and rumors about North Korean infiltration. Even then, people were against its implementation and over 200 protestors were killed in the bloody aftermath. 

A country should only declare martial law when there are no other alternatives and it is facing existential threats. Overruling the entire civilian government and disregarding all existing laws and regulations is a power that should not be wielded often, especially not under the wrong hands—or in this case, Yoon’s hands. His justification for martial law was that the opposing party, the Democratic People’s Party (D.P.K.), was “pro-North and anti-state and have been destructive with plans to overthrow the country”—claims that have never been proven true. But the truth was, during Yoon’s presidency, his administration failed to pass the bills they wanted because of strong opposition from the D.P.K. who controlled 170 of 300 Assembly seats. By announcing martial law, Yoon could finally disregard the votes of the Assembly and go forth with his bills. However, knowing he would face opposition, Yoon reportedly prevented lawmakers from voting for the removal of martial law—a right they had under the Korean Constitution—and even sent special forces units to forcibly prevent them from gathering. Aside from the internal political discourse, South Korea was not in exceptional distress as political polarization is normal in a civilian government—clearly, martial law was not justified by the reasoning that Yoon proposed.

Even taking martial law out of consideration, South Korea’s leaders have a history of political corruption. Former and first female President Park Geun-hye is infamous for her unlawful actions during the time she was in office from early 2013 to 2017 when her presidency was cut short. Affiliated with pseudo-Christian cult leader Choi Tae-min and his daughter Choi Soon-sil, the president was impeached and sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2018 for power abuse, bribery, and leaking state secrets. Her presidency is particularly notable for the candle-lit protests held by the citizens for days on end outside of the Blue House calling for her impeachment. Now, in 2025, this movement has resurfaced with calls for Yoon’s impeachment instead.

South Korea wasn’t standing on necessarily stable ground even before Yoon’s declaration of martial law, and again, he was to blame. Just days after being elected, Yoon proposed a plan to move the presidential office from the Blue House to the Ministry of National Defense building, an action that would cost taxpayers an unnecessary $41 million while also breaking a tradition of 75 years. He vetoed several bills supporting the lives of nurses, medical students, metal workers, and farmers, which not only made the labor unions, the healthcare industry, and the cost of grain unstable, but also led to affected groups uniformly calling for Yoon to step down. Part of the reason why their voices weren’t heard as loud as they should’ve been was because of Yoon’s media censorship. In 2023, he reportedly raided the homes of multiple journalists and news organizations that criticized him for “spreading fake news.” Furthermore, it wasn’t merely specific groups who disliked Yoon’s policies. He also stated that the Korean government would no longer seek compensation from Japan for its actions during World War II, which infuriated the entire nation given how its relationship with its former colonizer, Japan, is a sensitive topic in South Korean history and isn’t a matter of present reparations but a matter of acknowledging the past and the victims harmed. 

Even on top of all his wrongful actions, when martial law was first declared by the presently-arrested former president Yoon, several consequences followed. The Korean Won declined to 1480 won per dollar in December when it was at around 1370 in just November—a 16-year low since the mortgage crisis in 2009. This unprompted announcement of martial law put South Korea’s position among world powers at stake. Additionally, the vast majority of South Koreans, regardless of their own political standing, strongly opposed Yoon’s martial law. Three-quarters of those surveyed voted that Yoon should be impeached for it, with more than half of the rightist People Power Party (P.P.P.) turning against him and voting for impeachment as well. As a result of their combined protests and will—with lawmakers climbing over their own fence to vote against it—the law was lifted just six hours after it was announced, with several votes from lawmakers from the P.P.P. But the citizens didn’t stop there. They came out into the streets to protest against Yoon and advocated for his impeachment for days on end, refusing to stop until he was successfully impeached from office. South Koreans, regardless of age, political party, and identity, were united like never before in recent years because of a common enemy: Yoon Suk Yeol. 

There seems to be no question that in South Korea’s modern history, former president Yoon Suk Yeol is the figure who caused the most distress to the country. Despite South Korea’s tumultuous history of political corruption, bribery, exploitation, and martial law in previous years through other presidencies, Yoon tops the list. As South Korea successfully demonstrated that even a heavily politically divided nation can come together as one to stop a leader from deteriorating the country, the United States might be the next in line. As former President Donald Trump’s second term starts in early 2025, the nation has become more divided than ever. With constant controversies over his policies, such as Project 2025, his threats to take over Greenland and Canada, and even the banning of TikTok tied with the violation of First Amendment rights, any one of them could be the final blow like Yoon’s martial law. In fact, Yoon earned himself the nickname “Korean Trump” after his martial law declaration, a nickname that speaks volumes in both directions. The story of South Korea may hit rather close to home for American citizens as well.