South Korea

4/1/2025

Overview

In December 2024, embattled South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law plunging the nation into a constitutional crisis.  President Yoon was subsequently impeached and imprisoned, leading many of his supporters to storm the detention facility.  Join Active Minds as we examine the root causes of the crisis in South Korea and what it means for this crucial US ally in Asia.

Key Lecture Points

  • The Koren peninsula has a long history of being invaded and fought over by its neighbors, Japan and China. In 1910 Japan annexed Korea, beginning a brutal colonial period that lasted till the end of WWII. At the end of which, Korea was divided into two occupation zones, one under US authority and the other under Soviet authority. In 1948 the Republic of Korea was established in the South under President Syngman Rhee; thereafter, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was established in the North under Kim Il Sung.
  • In 1950 North Korea, backed by the USSR, invaded South Korea in an attempt to unify the peninsula by force. Under the UN flag, a US-led coalition of 16 countries came to the assistance of South Korea. By July 1953, after 2 million dead and massive destruction, an armistice was signed, ending the fighting at the 38th parallel, at about the same place where it started. From this point, the two countries developed into radically different political and economic systems.
  • In the 1960s the South Korean economy grew rapidly, fueled by exports and rapid industrialization. One of the so-called “Asian Tigers,” South Korea became a hub of global manufacturing in automobile and ship building, electronics and information technology, aided by the dominance of large family-led conglomerates called chaebols, Korean for “money clans.”
  • In 2016 President Park Geun-hye, a conservative and North Korean hardliner, became the central figure in a wide-ranging corruption and cronyism scandal that resulted in her impeachment. The scandal created widespread anger among the people at the state of the economy and the influence wielded by the chaebols.
  • In May 2017 liberal Moon Jae-in was elected president in a landslide election. Throughout his five-year presidency. Moon dealt with Chinese economic retaliation against South Korea for the US installation of THAAD missile launchers on South Korean territory; North Korea’s escalating missile and nuclear tests; an anemic economy; calls for reforms to the chaebol system; a rapidly aging population; low birth rate, and a wealth gap.
  • In 2022, conservative Yoon Suk Yeol was elected president.  In 2024, after his PPP party suffered losses in Assembly elections, President Yoon declared martial law declaring his political opponents “anti-state elements”.  The ensuing impeachment, upheld unanimously by the Constitutional Court in April 2025, led to Yoon’s removal, setting up a snap presidential election on June 3, 2025.

Discussion Questions

  • How has the history of Korea been influenced by its geographic proximity to China and Japan?
  • What are the major themes of Korean history and how do they play out in South Korea today?
  • What are the major issues challenging South Korean leadership?
  • Have you traveled to South Korea? If so, what stood out for you?
  • What do you remember about the Korean War? How did it impact your life?
  • Do you think North and South Korea can ever be reunified? Why or why not?

More to Explore

Books for Further Reading

  • Winchester, Simon. Korea: A Walk Through the Land of Miracles. Prentiss Hall, 1988. 240 pages. This classic book sets the record straight about this enigmatic and elusive land. Fascinating for its vivid presentation of historical and geographic detail, this is that rare book that actually defines a nation and its people.
  • Hong, Euny. Birth of Korean Cool: How One Nation is Conquering the World Through Pop Culture. Picador USA, 2014. 267 pages.  This Korean-American journalist describes how South Korea remade itself into a world pop culture powerhouse as a strategy to become a major world power.
  • Pardo, Ramon Pacheco. Shrimp to Whale: South Korea from the Forgotten War to K-Pop. Oxford University Press, 2022. 280 pages. Born from the ashes of colonialism, partition and a devastating war, back in the 1950s there were real doubts about its survival as an independent state. Yet South Korea did survive and first became known globally for the export of cheap toys, shoes and clothing. Today, South Korea is a boisterous democracy, a vibrant market economy, a tech powerhouse, and home to the coolest of cultures. In just seventy years, this society has grown from a shrimp into a whale.