So, South Korea was in the news

Like many of you in the US, I pretty much woke up to a developing news story that the South Korean President (Yoon) had declared martial law and was apparently in the midst of perpetrating his own autogolpe (a fancy name for a self-coup). I honestly don't know the intricacies of South Korean politics, so I'll leave all that for those who have legitimate expertise, but I get the impression that Yoon, who narrowly defeated an incumbent back in 2022 had become deeply unpopular and had led a scandal-plagued presidency. He also had to deal with a Parliament whose majorities were with the opposition, meaning he really was a lame duck. Thankfully for South Korea, Yoon apparently made a half-assed coup attempt that failed within a matter of hours. The members of the South Korean parliament got together, held a vote, and rejected Yoon's martial law declaration, which did force him to back down. What his future holds is hard to say. At minimum, I expect he will be impeached. I get the impression that the guy is a bit more right-wing than the average member of his particular political party and he seemed well-regarded by US politicians due to his hardline stance toward North Korea. 

This was also a moment to see how well alternatives to Twitter (or X as its current owner, Elon Musk, refers to it) would function in a crisis moment such as this one. Up until a few years ago, one could count on live tweets by news agencies and journalists who had made South Korea their beat, along with experts who have made their careers by studying the intricacies of South Korean society and politics. That particular version of Twitter died in the last couple years. Bluesky, which is one Twitter alternative, truly met the moment over the course of the morning and into the afternoon. Before long there were journalists and news agencies offering live posts as the coup and its opposition unfolded, and at least one person with expertise on South Korea offered a "starter pack" which included the main experts and journalists worth following. Bluesky as a platform truly met the moment. As Twitter becomes just another Truth Social, Parler, or Gab, Bluesky has managed to fill the vacuum created. I think Mastodon tries as well, but it's a bit more of a challenge to navigate. So anyway, Bluesky has now become my preferred social media platform for when I wish to be a bit better informed about news events. As an aside, I'll note that I've been easily rebuilding my old Twitter network of academics and political activists and advocates, which is a good thing. If something else goes sideways in South Korea, I'll know where to go for fresh updates. 

I don't know what the future has in store for South Korea. I suspect that many of us have taken it for granted that South Korea had a stable democracy - something that was hard-earned by the way. When I was a teen and into my college years (prior to grad school) South Korea had been run as a military dictatorship, but switched to its current democratic system around the end of the 1980s, and managed its first peaceful transfer of power in the late 1990s. Every democracy has its problems, and I am sure South Korea has its own. It now has a new problem. A self-coup or really any coup attempt that fails is a potential dress rehearsal for a successful coup later. So, my hope is that civil society in South Korea does what it needs to in order to guard their democracy. Complacency is not an option. As an outsider, I now appreciate the fact that South Korea's democracy may be a bit more fragile than I had thought. Then again, I've been finding out the democracies in general are somewhat fragile when we think more globally. South Koreans got lucky today. I am glad for them and glad for those who stood up at a time when they would rather have been sound asleep. 

Update: The Guardian has a good live blog on the events in South Korea. It is worth checking out. It has links to explainers, articles detailing the fallout, and even some info that there were folks sounding the alarm that Yoon would try to attempt a coup. Needless to say, sounding the alarm was the right call even if it was discarded by most South Korean citizens at the time.

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