Which South Korean president declared martial law on December 3, 2024, the first such declaration in over 40 years?

On December 3, 2024, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared emergency martial law in a late-night televised address, marking the first such declaration in the nation in over four decades. Citing threats from "North Korean communist forces" and "antistate forces," Yoon claimed the measure was necessary to protect the country and prevent it from "falling into ruin." This unexpected move restricted freedoms of speech, publication, assembly, and association, and aimed to implement special changes to the authority of governments or courts.

The declaration, which was widely seen as an attempted self-coup, was met with immediate and widespread opposition. The National Assembly, despite attempts by martial law troops to prevent them, swiftly convened an emergency session and voted unanimously to lift the martial law just hours after its imposition. This decisive action by lawmakers underscored the strength of South Korea's democratic institutions against an executive overreach.

The fallout for Yoon Suk Yeol was severe. He was impeached by the legislature, suspended from office, and later formally removed by the Constitutional Court. In February 2026, he was convicted of insurrection and sentenced to life imprisonment, becoming the first former South Korean president in the democratic era to receive such a sentence for attempting to seize power. This event stands as a stark reminder of South Korea's transition from an authoritarian past, where martial law was a tool for suppressing dissent, to a robust democracy where such actions are met with firm constitutional and public resistance.