선포Declaration
martial law 계엄령
On the night of December 3, 2024, at 22:22 KST, President Yoon Suk-yeol declared emergency martial law — the first in South Korea since 1980. The decree suspended political activities, placed media under military censorship, and dispatched troops to the National Assembly.
비상계엄을 선포합니다. 모든 정치활동은 금지되며, 언론과 출판은 계엄사령부의 통제를 받습니다.
Constitutional Basis
Article 77 of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea grants the President the power to declare martial law "in time of war, armed conflict or similar national emergency." The declaration transforms civilian governance into military command in a single signature.
대한민국 헌법 제77조: 대통령은 전시·사변 또는 이에 준하는 국가비상사태에 있어서 병력으로써 군사상의 필요에 응하거나 공공의 안녕질서를 유지할 필요가 있을 때에는 법률이 정하는 바에 의하여 계엄을 선포할 수 있다.
제한Restriction
Suspended Freedoms
Under emergency martial law, the following constitutional rights are suspended: freedom of speech and press (Article 21), freedom of assembly and association (Article 21), the right to due process (Article 12), and the warrant requirement for arrest and detention.
제21조: 언론·출판의 자유와 집회·결사의 자유를 제한한다.
제12조: 신체의 자유를 제한하며, 영장 없이 체포·구금할 수 있다.
Historical Precedent
On May 17, 1980, General Chun Doo-hwan extended martial law nationwide — a decree that led directly to the Gwangju Uprising. Universities were closed, the National Assembly dissolved, and thousands detained. The cost: an estimated 606 dead, 3,515 wounded.
1980년 5월 17일, 전두환은 비상계엄을 전국으로 확대했다. 대학은 폐쇄되고, 국회는 해산되었으며, 수천 명이 구금되었다.
The Decree's Reach
A martial law decree (계엄포고령) extends beyond political rights. It empowers the military to control transportation, seize property, impose curfews, censor communications, and try civilians in military courts. Ordinary life becomes a regulated exercise.
계엄포고령 제1호: 모든 정치활동을 금지한다. 제2호: 언론·출판·보도는 계엄사령부의 사전검열을 받아야 한다. 제3호: 옥외집회 및 시위를 금지한다.
저항Resistance
The Assembly's Response
Within hours of the 2024 declaration, 190 members of the National Assembly gathered at the barricaded building and voted unanimously to demand the lifting of martial law. Under Article 77(5) of the Constitution, the President must comply when a majority of the Assembly demands it. The martial law lasted approximately six hours.
국회 재적의원 과반수의 요구가 있을 때에는 대통령은 이를 해제하여야 한다. — 헌법 제77조 제5항
Civilian Resistance
Citizens gathered outside the National Assembly throughout the freezing December night, forming human chains to slow military vehicles. Taxi drivers blockaded roads. Lawyers filed emergency injunctions. The resistance was not one act but thousands of simultaneous refusals to comply.
기억Memory
A Timeline of Declarations
What Remains
Memory is not passive. In Korea, the word 기억 (gi-eok) carries the weight of obligation — to remember is to resist forgetting, and forgetting enables repetition. Each martial law declaration carries the ghosts of its predecessors. The tanks in 2024 drove down roads that remembered 1980.
기억하는 것은 저항하는 것이다. 잊는 것은 반복을 허용하는 것이다.
질문Questions
Unanswered
When does emergency become ordinary?
비상이 일상이 되는 순간은 언제인가?
If rights can be suspended by a single signature, were they ever truly held?
한 사람의 서명으로 중단될 수 있는 권리는 진정으로 가진 것이었는가?
What grows back in a field after the soldiers leave?
군인들이 떠난 뒤, 들판에는 무엇이 다시 자라는가?
The field remains.
들판은 남아 있다.