A police officer holds a line on a crosswalk as protesters take part in a demonstration demanding President Yoon Suk Yeol’s resignation outside the National Assembly in Seoul on December 10, 2024. Agence France-Presse
SEOUL — South Korea is in “chaos” after President Yoon Suk Yeol’s brief imposition of martial law, North Korean state media said on Wednesday in its first comments on the political upheaval.
Yoon suspended civilian rule on Tuesday last week and sent special forces and helicopters to parliament before lawmakers forced him to rescind the decree in a country assumed to be a stable democracy.
“The shocking incident of the puppet Yoon Suk Yeol, who is facing impeachment and a governance crisis, suddenly declaring a martial law decree and unhesitatingly wielding the guns and knives of its fascist dictatorship wrought chaos across South Korea,” North Korean state media said in a commentary.
READ: South Korea president clings to power after martial law U-turn
“The international community is sternly watching, with assessments that the martial law incident exposed vulnerabilities in South Korean society,” it added.
“Commentators described Yoon’s abrupt declaration of martial law as a desperate move and that Yoon Suk Yeol’s political life could face an early end.”
In declaring martial law on December 3, Yoon said it would safeguard South Korea “from the threats posed by North Korea’s communist forces and eliminate anti-state elements plundering people’s freedom and happiness”.
Relations between the two Koreas have been at one of their lowest points in years, with the North launching a flurry of ballistic missiles in violation of UN sanctions.
READ: South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol banned from leaving country
It also has been bombarding the South with trash-carrying balloons since May, in what it says is retaliation for anti-Pyongyang propaganda missives sent North by activists.
North Korea has become one of the most vocal and important backers of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine, with Washington and Seoul accusing it of sending more than 10,000 soldiers to help Moscow.
Former defence minister Kim Yong-hyun, who was arrested on Tuesday, has been accused by opposition lawmakers of calling for strikes on sites from which North Korea was launching balloons carrying trash, an order reportedly refused by his subordinates.
He also allegedly ordered drones sent to the North Korean capital of Pyongyang in an apparent attempt to provoke a conflict as a pretext for declaring martial law.
“North Korea seems to have maintained a relatively quiet stance so far,” said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, “given that this situation in the South involves what is considered an unlawful rebellion.”
“North Korea might be cautious about how this could influence their military, particularly as many North Korean troops are currently deployed to Russia,” he told AFP.
Yoon survived an impeachment motion in parliament on Saturday even as tens of thousands of South Koreans braved freezing temperatures outside to demand his ouster.
The opposition plans to bring another motion to impeach Yoon to a vote on Saturday.