Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦Feb 5, 2025

Remember the coup attempt in South Korea two months ago?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_South_Korean_martial_law_crisis

It started with late night declaration of martial law. Proceeded to military being actually deployed.

People came out into the streets in the middle of the night and physically refused to follow directions by military personnel enforcing the martial law.

Policymakers voted to end the martial law, inside the National Assembly building that was being stormed by the military.

Coup ended within 6h.

2024 South Korean martial law crisis - Wikipedia

Show threadMichał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦Feb 5, 2025

There are so many elements here that I feel people miss – or refuse to understand – about coups.

For example, none of what the South Korean president did was legal. But that alone would not have stopped the coup.

If people just waited, twiddled their thumbs, and thoughtfully commented how "this is illegal", the coup could have probably succeeded.

Show threadMichał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦Feb 5, 2025

Another thing: as far as I understand the National Assembly did not *technically* have the power to lift the (illegally declared, but still) martial law.

They voted to do so anyway. They *asserted* their power.

And then based on that vote told the military to return to barracks. And that worked!

Show threadRiley S. FaelanFeb 5, 2025
@rysiek How do you reckon? They have the power to make laws.
Show threadMichał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦Feb 5, 2025

@riley as far as I understand, *technically* the power to declare and to end martial law in South Korea lies with the president – but of course certain conditions have to be met.

These conditions have not been met, so the coup declaration was not legal, but that doesn't make the technicality itself not be a thing.

I might be widely off the mark here, of course. Would love someone to correct me if I am!

Show threadRiley S. FaelanFeb 5, 2025
@rysiek Ah, but who gets to populate the meaning of martial law, define the proper procedure for president to declare martial law, and establish the criteria by which an invalidly declared martial law can easily determined to be invalid?
Show threadRiley S. FaelanFeb 5, 2025
@rysiek In Common Law legal system, this sort of things are often called "inherent powers". If constitution does not explicitly say that a constitutional agency, such as a legislature, can do X, but it puts to the agency duties that it can't perform without having the power to do X, then doing X is an inherent power of the agency. It might not assert it outside these other duties under normal state of affairs, but logicking about such edge cases can be useful to figure out one's way of an emergency — like a rogue president.
Show threadcaranea
@riley @rysiek
Just to throw in that Korea does not use common law, but civil law.
Feb 5, 2025 at 4:50pmTusky