{"id":6607,"date":"2025-01-03T21:09:48","date_gmt":"2025-01-03T21:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=6607"},"modified":"2025-01-05T21:12:37","modified_gmt":"2025-01-05T21:12:37","slug":"south-koreas-martial-law-crisis-raises-alarms-in-u-s-as-trump-eyes-similar-powers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=6607","title":{"rendered":"South Korea\u2019s Martial Law Crisis Raises Alarms in U.S. as Trump Eyes Similar Powers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>by\u00a0<span class=\"author vcard\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtoninformer.com\/author\/staceybrown\/\">Stacy M. Brown<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Protests erupted in South Korea\u2019s capital, Seoul, where demonstrators clashed with soldiers and police following President Yoon Suk Yeol\u2019s declaration of martial law. However, Yoon\u2019s government has lifted the martial law he imposed during a tense night of political drama, in which troops surrounded parliament and lawmakers voted to reject military rule.<\/p>\n<p>The controversial order, granted military authorities sweeping powers over governance and sparked widespread opposition and is drawing concerns in the United States, where President-elect Donald Trump has expressed plans to invoke a similar Insurrection Act if reelected.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S., a key ally of South Korea, expressed serious concerns about the developments.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n<div class=\"newspack_global_ad scaip-1 fixed-height\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-caf9af3267-0\">National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett confirmed that Washington was not informed of Yoon\u2019s decision.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cThis crisis threatens not only South Korea\u2019s democracy but also the stability of the alliance structure the U.S. has worked to strengthen in East Asia to counter North Korea and China,\u201d former deputy director of national intelligence Beth Sanner said on CNN.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<h2 id=\"h-martial-law-sparks-political-and-civil-chaos\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Martial Law Sparks Political and Civil Chaos<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Inside South Korea\u2019s National Assembly, lawmakers voted unanimously to revoke Yoon\u2019s martial law declaration, invoking constitutional authority that requires the president to comply with their decision.<\/p>\n<p>In a televised address, Yoon initially defended the move as necessary to \u201cdefend the free Republic of Korea\u201d and claimed it targeted \u201cpro-North Korean anti-state forces.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He accused the opposition Democratic Party of obstructing his policies, including budget approvals and cabinet appointments, to destabilize the country.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n<div class=\"newspack_global_ad scaip-2 fixed-height\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-2bd992b9b0-0\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Protesters demanded an end to martial law outside the Assembly and called for Yoon\u2019s resignation. Chants of \u201cEnd martial law!\u201d filled the air as armed troops withdrew from the parliament building. The crisis marked the first imposition of martial law in South Korea in 1980, when the nation used it during a military dictatorship.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-u-s-concerns-over-executive-power-and-the-insurrection-act\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>U.S. Concerns Over Executive Power and the Insurrection Act<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The South Korean crisis has been reverberating in America, where Trump\u2019s reported plans to invoke the Insurrection Act have reignited debates over executive power. The Insurrection Act, originally enacted in 1792 and last updated in 1874, allows a president to deploy the military domestically in cases of rebellion, civil unrest, or obstruction of federal law.<\/p>\n<p>While the act is intended for extraordinary circumstances, critics argue its vague language creates significant potential for abuse, particularly from a president who has vowed to be a dictator on day one of his new term. One provision empowers the president to use military force or \u201cany other means\u201d to address any \u201cunlawful combination or conspiracy\u201d that interferes with federal law. Legal experts warn that this broad discretion could enable a president to justify military deployments for almost any domestic issue.<\/p>\n<p>Adding to the concern, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the courts cannot review a president\u2019s decision to invoke the act. Congress can only counter such a decision by passing legislation to end the deployment, requiring a two-thirds majority to override a presidential veto.<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) has introduced legislation to reform the act, describing it as a \u201cgiant loophole\u201d in democratic safeguards.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n<div class=\"newspack_global_ad scaip-3 fixed-height\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-dc2e0e383b-0\">\u201cDonald Trump\u2019s plans illuminate his total misunderstanding of the U.S. military\u2019s purpose. It exists to defend the nation, not to serve personal political goals,\u201d Blumenthal said. \u201cUnchecked military authority undermines democracy. Accountability and civilian governance are the cornerstones of freedom and must be protected at all costs.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Source: Published without changes from Washington Informer Newspaper<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by\u00a0Stacy M. Brown Protests erupted in South Korea\u2019s capital, Seoul, where demonstrators clashed with soldiers and police following<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6608,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regular-column"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6607"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6609,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6607\/revisions\/6609"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}