By: Phone Min Thant, Staff Writer
Content warning: brief mention of sexual harrassment and suicide.
When I found myself waking up to the news of martial law in South Korea last month, my first thoughts were, “Not the military again.” Videos of armed special forces breaking into the parliament to arrest opposition politicians and tanks rolling into Seoul mirrored the images of past military coups, events still vividly remembered by those who rose up in protest.
This was followed by a stand-off between the police and the military in the former’s failed attempts to arrest the impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol in early January.
South Korea is a liberal democracy and has been since 1987. So, why did the South Korean armed forces take part in such obvious incidents of democratic regression? What are the implications of the military’s (re)involvement in politics for South Korea? Answering these involves understanding that the Republic of Korea Armed Forces retains the legacy of conservatism in a country otherwise progressing democratically.
Through their vague and unchanging rhetoric of deterring communist aggression, South Korea’s Ministry of Defence have majorly avoided democratizing their upper-level management. They continue to influence conservatism through active conscription and have often evaded scrutiny by the country’s judiciary.
The top military personnel are highly politicized. If there is a silver lining in all of the recent political chaos, it is that it brings this issue to light. From defence ministers and security advisors, to the martial law commander, the top men involved in president Yoon’s gambit to cling onto power are military officers personally associated with Yoon.
“Republic of Korea Armed Forces retains the legacy of conservatism in a country otherwise progressing democratically.”
While the top brass is definitely undemocratic, what about the rank and file? The answer lies in mandatory conscription, one of the largest indicators of militarization in the everyday lives of South Korean men. Bullying, abuse, and sexual harassment of conscripts are all normalized within the institution. As a result, conscript suicides remain widespread. With 90% of men having experienced a culture deeply embedded in bullying and abuse, similar patterns in other aspects of South Korean society are hardly shocking.
The conscripts are also victims of the military’s training and education doctrines. Repeatedly emphasizing their mantra of deterring communists, these doctrines instill political biases in conscripts who, in their search for an adversary that best represents “communism” outside of an active war, tend to view left-leaning and liberal political actors with skepticism.
The fact that conscription is limited to men also gives way to conservatism along gendered lines. The popular view among conscripts is that conscription is a “waste of time.” This sentiment, combined with other factors such as job uncertainty due to more women entering the workforce, leads to young men increasingly devaluing challenges faced by South Korean women and opposing feminist efforts.
South Korean politics today is a constant tug-of-war between conservative and liberal politicians, and the former are happy to assist military officers who may be in a tight spot with the legal system. After all, these officers might have to lead the conservatives’ next foray in unconstitutional ventures. The recent investigations into a peacetime death of a Marine corporal is a case in point.
With such an institutional lack of accountability, it is no surprise that the South Korean military has remained the country’s pillar of conservatism even as the country makes its way towards a more equitable and just society.
From mass surveillance and covert election sabotage, to a trigger-happy attitude towards martial law, this conservatism has emboldened the military to act undemocratically during periods of unrest. This was proven once again with the military’s rallying behind Yoon’s unconstitutional power grab. Preventing the military from repeatedly intervening in civilian politics is the key to consolidating democracy in South Korea, but much work needs to be done to achieve this goal.
