Emergency martial law declared for the first time in 45 years

[Anchor]

The martial law that young people have only seen in textbooks or history books has actually been declared for the first time in 45 years.

The last time emergency martial law was declared was during the October 26 incident in 1979, following the death of former President Park Chung-hee.

Reporter Kim Gun-woo has the details.

[Report]

It has been 45 years since emergency martial law was declared in South Korea, the last being in 1979.

The emergency martial law measures at that time were implemented immediately after the death of President Park Chung-hee during the '10.26 incident'.

This martial law was expanded nationwide on May 17, 1980, by the so-called new military regime led by Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo.

[Lee Kyu-hyun/Former Minister of Culture and Public Information/1980: "It has been judged that the entire nation is under a state of emergency, so as of 24:00 on May 17, 1980…."]

Subsequently, protests and demonstrations condemning the new military regime erupted across the country, leading to the Gwangju Democratization Movement on May 18, 1980.

The emergency martial law at that time was maintained until January 24 of the following year, 1981.

Since then, there has been no declaration of martial law in South Korea.

Martial law, which involves mobilizing the military to maintain social order, has been declared a total of 16 times since the establishment of the government in 1948.

Martial law is divided into security martial law and emergency martial law, and President Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of emergency martial law is the 12th instance.

This declaration of emergency martial law by President Yoon is also the first since the democratization movement in 1987.

It is assessed that the significant strengthening of the conditions for declaring martial law and post-control in the current constitution after the democratization movement is a major factor.

KBS News, Kim Gun-woo.