Seoul, South Korea
CNN
 — 

Declaring martial law in a stable and boisterous democracy was an audacious gamble – and one that backfired spectacularly for former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.

With Friday’s guilty impeachment verdict from the country’s Constitutional Court, the former prosecutor and conservative firebrand’s political career is likely over, especially because Yoon still faces criminal charges that could land him in prison for life.

Dramatic scenes from South Korea one Tuesday night in December showed military helicopters landing near the National Assembly in the capital Seoul, soldiers breaking through windows to try to prevent lawmakers from gathering, and protesters confronting riot police.

But the declaration was unsuccessful. TV stations and news media continued to report unhindered, people traveled freely and there were no mass arrests. When lawmakers voted to overturn Yoon’s surprise decree, security forces backed away.

In the months since, life in the South Korean capital essentially returned to normal. Businesses and restaurants were busy, streets crowded with residents and the city’s usual throngs of tourists – though large, loud demonstrations for and against Yoon were frequent as the court considered his case.

Despite that return to normalcy, Yoon’s short-lived declaration of martial law felt like an attack to the heart of the country’s democracy. As they peacefully marched through Seoul in December, protesters expressed revulsion at the move, describing Yoon’s actions to CNN as a “betrayal” and “an embarrassment,” demanding his resignation and arrest.

At one rally in the capital shortly after Yoon’s late-night declaration, teacher Kyung-soo said Yoon’s attacks on his opponents – including calling them “communist forces” – were “the behavior of a dictator and clearly clashes with the wishes of the people.”

Two years ago, Yoon was serenading then United States President Joe Biden with a rendition of “American Pie” by Don McLean at a White House state dinner and toasting their “ironclad” relationship.

His extreme decision surprised even the US – which has a decades-old mutual defense treaty with South Korea – with one senior Biden administration official telling CNN they were “seriously concerned by what we are seeing develop.”

As a nation still tries to understand why Yoon chose the extreme option of martial law, many are relieved that the fiasco may well be remembered as when democracy was threatened in South Korea, but ultimately survived.

Who is Yoon, and what was he thinking?

Yoon, a political newcomer, took office in 2022 with the conservative People Power Party, winning the presidential election by a margin of less than 1%.

He had spent almost 30 years as a prosecutor, leading high-profile investigations into corruption scandals that included a graft probe against former President Park Geun-hye that led to her impeachment and landed her in prison.

On the campaign trail, Yoon appealed to the country’s growing anti-feminist movement, and committed to abolishing the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, which he claimed is unfair to men.

And while his predecessor Moon Jae-in favored dialogue with North Korea, Yoon took a tougher stance, promising to bulk up the South’s military, and even hinting he would launch a preemptive strike if he saw signs of a launch against Seoul.

In office, Yoon clashed fiercely with the opposition. Last year, opposition parties overwhelmingly won elections seen as a referendum on Yoon’s rule and took control of the National Assembly.

This left him a lame-duck president prevented from moving forward on legislation to cut taxes and ease business regulations, as his main rivals in the Democratic Party used parliament to impeach key cabinet members and hold up a budget bill.

It was this gridlock that Yoon used to try to justify his fateful decree.

In his speech declaring martial law, he labeled the opposition’s actions “clear anti-state behavior aimed at inciting rebellion” and referenced “threats posed by North Korea’s communist forces,” vowing to “eliminate anti-state elements.”

Former foreign minister Kyung-wha Kang told CNN that the idea of communist sympathizers or anti-state agents scheming to overthrow the government was “completely unrelated to anything I can see happening in the country.”

While Yoon had previously “claimed to advocate for fairness and common sense” as president, “his words and actions reflect a dictator’s,” said Park Sung-min, analyst at Min Consulting in Seoul.

“It seems like a political suicide.”

But Yoon’s eventual decision to rescind the decree showed he was “not a man who’s trying to seize power, or create a second term, or prolong his rule,” said Sydney Seiler, senior adviser for the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“From the ruling party’s perspective, (he’s) trying to get the ball moving. He probably thought he had much more support within the ruling party for his actions than he actually did.”

Designer handbag at center of controversy

Observers say Yoon’s decision to declare martial law may have been more self-serving.

After taking office, he faced plummeting approval ratings over economic issues and a series of scandals involving his wife and political appointments that prompted calls for him to resign.

First Lady Kim Keon Hee was accused in 2023 of accepting a $2,200 Christian Dior bag as a gift – a potential violation of anti-graft laws. A secretly filmed video that surfaced online purported to show Kim receiving a cloud-blue “Lady Dior Pouch” from a Korean-American pastor.

The first lady is no stranger to controversy. Over the past few years, she has apologized for resumé-padding and has faced allegations ranging from academic plagiarism to stock manipulation, which the presidential office has repeatedly denied.

The main opposition Democratic Party accused Yoon of “concealing suspicions” surrounding his wife, and the mounting public backlash even caused a rift between Yoon and senior members of his party.

“Yoon tends to act more on instinct than rationality, embodying a reckless ‘lonely hero’ persona,” said Ahn Byung-jin, professor at the global academy for future civilizations at Kyung Hee University.

“He perceives the current situation as an existential crisis, especially with attempts to impeach members of his cabinet, cut the budget, and push for special investigations against his wife. He believes he is seriously cornered.”

Yoon is now the second president to be ousted by the Constitutional Court – and the shortest-serving elected leader in the nation’s democratic history.

And his legal troubles are not over. In a separate case, Yoon was arrested in January on charges of leading an insurrection, then released in March after a court canceled his arrest warrant – though it did not drop the charges.

Insurrection is one of the few criminal charges a president does not have immunity from – and is punishable by life imprisonment or death, although South Korea has not executed anyone in decades.

The indictment had alleged that Yoon’s imposition of martial law – during which he sent troops to parliament, with commanders testifying they were ordered to “drag out” lawmakers – was an illegal attempt to shut down the National Assembly and arrest politicians and election authorities.

For some South Koreans, such as pastor Kwak Dong-seok, Yoon has worked to address economic issues, and is correct in his claims of “anti-state” forces in the country.

“Martial law is often criticized as excessive, but in some cases, it has been justified as a measure to prevent the establishment of a communist regime,” said Kwak, who organizes regular conservative rallies and political activities.

But others say Yoon’s decision shows how far removed he was from public sentiment.

“Korean democracy started late, but we made it by ourselves and are very proud of it,” said school principal Kim Hyeon. Yoon’s attempt at martial law demonstrates that “the president’s way of thinking doesn’t match our society,” she said.

Many say the botched martial law and subsequent democratic proceedings show that South Korean democracy is alive and well.

“Korean democracy has the awareness and capability to prevent any impulsive actions by a dictator,” said Park from Min Consulting.

CNN’s Brad Lendon, Hanna Park, Eunseo Jeong, Jessie Yeung, Rebecca Wright, Ivan Watson, Nectar Gan, Gawon Bae, Yoonjung Seo, and Antoinette Radford contributed reporting.

CNN
 — 

As the road shook beneath him, Ko Zeyer sped past crumbled buildings, buckled roads and gaping sinkholes toward his hometown of Sagaing, the epicenter of the most powerful earthquake to hit Myanmar in a century.

The journey from Mandalay normally takes 45 minutes by car across the mighty Irrawaddy River, but after the quake hit last Friday, it took him 24 hours to navigate broken bridges and collapsed buildings.

Ko Zeyer found his family safe, but many of his friends had died and much of the town lies in ruins, as local rescuers scramble for resources in a country controlled by a paranoid military junta and plagued by civil war.

All around him, people remain trapped under the rubble, not yet counted among the 3,145 confirmed dead a week after the devastating quake.

“The smell of the dead bodies has overwhelmed the town,” said Ko Zeyar, a social worker, as other residents described the rush to bury bodies in mass graves.

Survivors queue for food and water, and many sleep outside on mats at the mercy of mosquitos and the baking 100° F (37° C) heat as aftershocks continue to rattle the region.

“Almost the entire town lives and sleeps on the road, a platform or football pitch, including myself because it is scary,” said Ko Zeyer. “I don’t sleep inside, but on the doorway so I can easily run,” he told CNN by phone as another aftershock hit Thursday evening.

The immense scale of the disaster has piled a fresh crisis on the impoverished Southeast Asian country, where almost 20 million people were already in need of humanitarian assistance after four years of civil war.

Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing has been fighting a multi-front war against pro-democracy fighters and ethnic armed groups after seizing power in 2021, with credible and widespread reports of atrocities against the people.

Years of war have depleted the local resources and health infrastructure needed to respond effectively to the quake, and observers say a large-scale disaster response from the country’s military government is absent.

“Why hasn’t Min Aung Hlaing sent in all of his military assets for rescue and relief?… We only see civilians digging to into the rubble,” said former United Nations Special Rapporteur for Myanmar Yanghee Lee.

In every direction he looks in Sagaing, volunteer rescue worker Kyaw Min says houses, schools, temples, mosques and shops lie in ruin.

“It looks like a place of death … like the town was bombarded by a nuclear bomb,” said Kyaw Min, who is aligned with the shadow National Unity Government (NUG) and asked to use a pseudonym for his safety in the ongoing war.

The earthquake caused widespread destruction in nearby Mandalay, home to around 1.5 million people, and the military capital Naypyidaw. It was also felt in neighboring Thailand and China.

For days, Kyaw Min and volunteer rescuers have dug through rubble with their bare hands or minimal tools to look for survivors.

“We managed to save as many people as we could with the little equipment we have,” he said. “We retrieved many dead bodies, including those of children and the elderly… bodies without heads or hands or legs – we have suffered such a horrendous experience.”

About 80% of Sagaing town, the regional capital, was damaged in the quake and there is widespread destruction across the surrounding rural townships, according to Kyaw Min.

Roads connecting towns and outlying villages were torn and twisted, slowing rescue and relief efforts, including the delivery of heavy machinery such as excavators and backhoes.

“Rescue missions or aid could not immediately arrive to Sagaing. The bridges connecting Sagaing were badly damaged,” said Ko Zeyer. “That’s why, many lost their lives. It was already too late to save the people when the aid arrived.”

Since the 2021 coup, Sagaing region – a giant arc of arid land studded with the spires of pagodas has become a vast battleground between the military and pro-democracy “People’s Defense Forces,” many aligned with the ousted democratic government.

The junta controls most of the larger towns in the region, while villages are split between support for the military, thought of as “green” territory, or “red,” backers of former civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Those defying the junta have paid a heavy price.

The military regularly sends columns of troops and allied militias on bloody rampages through districts suspected of opposing its rule, where troops raze whole villages, massacre residents and leave.

And its air force launches devastating air strikes on communities.

These did not stop after the earthquake. Volunteers and witnesses contacted by CNN reported hearing or seeing multiple air strikes in different areas of Myanmar in the days immediately following the tremor.

The military on Thursday announced a temporary ceasefire to aid recovery efforts, and said the truce would last until April 22.

The announcement followed several ethnic armed groups and the NUG – an offshoot of lawmakers deposed in the coup – in declaring temporary pauses in fighting.

The junta had initially refused to issue a ceasefire, and the reversal came only after it acknowledged its troops had fired three warning shots near a Chinese Red Cross convoy delivering earthquake aid in Shan state – underscoring the dangers for those delivering disaster aid in a conflict zone.

But reports in local media and from humanitarian teams in southeast Myanmar Thursday suggest the military had already broken the ceasefire.

Myanmar’s military rulers have a long history of blocking foreign help after natural disasters, impeding access to vulnerable communities, and appropriating funds intended for disaster victims.

This time, the junta took the unusual step of quickly asking for foreign aid. International teams, including groups from China, Russia, India, Singapore, Malaysia, and Pakistan, have been assisting with rescue efforts, and in recent days, dramatic videos showing people being pulled out alive after days under rubble have featured mainly Chinese teams alongside local responders.

But residents in Sagaing say such assistance is dwarfed by the scale of the disaster and that some communities, especially in opposition-controlled areas, have not seen international help.

Local volunteers and the NUG have mobilized rescuers, medical teams and supplies to quake-hit communities through their own networks across the country. But the need is too great.

On the idyllic shores of the once popular tourist hot spot Inle Lake, in southern Shan state, the earthquake destroyed hundreds of bamboo houses on stilts occupied by impoverished villagers, according to aid workers.

One aid team who say they were the first major organization to reach the lake on Tuesday found thousands of people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.

“They hadn’t had any visits from government officials. The only other assistance they had received was from community-based groups, other local groups,” said Claire Gibbons, a spokesperson for Partners Relief and Development, an international agency that works with local partners and networks in Myanmar.

Relief efforts to some of these hardest-hit areas have been hindered by damaged roads and military checkpoints on the main highway between the biggest city Yangon, where much of the aid is being flown into and organized, to Mandalay.

Finding people to send into the quake zone is proving difficult too, amid fears that younger people will be arrested and forcibly recruited into the army.

“We have team members from Myanmar that we don’t want to risk their safety by heading them into the earthquake areas,” said Gibbon.

Compounding the challenges are existing junta-imposed restrictions on humanitarian aid to certain areas of the country, nighttime curfews, and a junta requirement that international aid groups seek authorization before delivering supplies.

Meanwhile, the junta has also barred international journalists from entering the country and some foreign aid teams have reportedly faced issues obtaining visas from the military regime.

Some teams who traveled to Sagaing were prevented from delivering their supplies, and in some cases their aid was confiscated, according to Kyaw Min.

Others with ties to groups opposing the junta have been asked to list names of volunteers and supplies before they can enter, a scary proposition for many as the military has designated the resistance groups terrorists.

Independent Myanmar analyst David Mathieson told CNN it was “highly likely they [the military] will try and take advantage of the situation and block, reroute, or limit as much aid going into areas they do not control.”

CNN cannot independently verify the reports and has asked the Myanmar junta for comment.

The earthquake came as international humanitarian agencies are struggling with a lack of funding as governments, most notably the United States, make drastic cuts to their foreign aid budgets.

The US would typically be among the first to respond to a natural disaster of this scale with both physical and monetary support.

But following President Donald Trump’s gutting of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the US response has been minimal, prompting condemnation from American senators and civil society groups.

Rescuers from China – a major ally and arms supplier of the junta – arrived in Yangon hours after the quake struck. And Beijing has pledged 100 million yuan ($13.76 million) worth of relief supplies, according to Chinese state media.

A small USAID team is on the ground in Myanmar, a State Department spokesperson confirmed Thursday, and the Trump administration has authorized an initial $2 million in humanitarian assistance.

Given the military’s history of appropriating and misdirecting international aid, donors and humanitarian agencies have been urged to insist on aid impartiality and work through local civil society organizations, including the National Unity Government and resistance groups, to avoid lining the pockets of the junta.

But an overall lack of aid funding could prove disastrous for the people of Myanmar.

“My real worry is that the international community will not respond in the scale that is needed,” said Richard Horsey, Crisis Group Senior Adviser.

In Sagaing, those focused on helping quake-hit communities say the most urgent needs are for clean water and food, tarpaulins for shelters, mosquito nets to prevent dengue fever, medicine to prevent diseases from drinking contaminated water, cooking utensils, and sanitation kits.

“Seeing many in pain and grief feels really sad,” said Ko Zeyer.

“We don’t even dare to ask how many have died, because the scale of the death is such that almost every family has had a loved one killed.”

Seoul, South Korea
CNN
 — 

South Korea’s highest court has removed embattled President Yoon Suk Yeol from office, ending months of uncertainty and legal wrangling after he briefly declared martial law in December and plunged the nation into political turmoil.

The court’s decision on Friday marks Yoon’s formal dismissal from the presidency after parliament voted to impeach him in December. His removal takes effect immediately, and he must now leave the presidential residence.

The long-running crisis has left a major global economy and key US ally rudderless at a fraught moment in world affairs, especially as US President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda upends decades of foreign policy norms and dismantles the global trading system.

The Constitutional Court’s eight justices unanimously ruled to uphold Yoon’s impeachment.

Moon Hyung-bae, the court’s acting head judge, said Yoon’s martial law decree was unconstitutional as there was no grave national crisis at the time and his reasons for declaring it “cannot be justified.”

The president had violated the formal process of declaring martial law, infringed on lawmakers’ rights, and violated his duty as head of the armed forces by forcing soldiers to confront the public, the judge added.

In a separate criminal trial, Yoon was arrested in January on charges of leading an insurrection, then released in March after a court canceled his arrest warrant – though it did not drop his charges.

The verdict was met with mixed reactions across the South Korean capital.

Yoon’s opponents exploded in celebration and jubilation outside the court, waving flags and dancing to music. Many had been afraid that if he were reinstated, he could declare martial law again. But the mood was more still and somber outside Yoon’s official residence where his conservative supporters had gathered.

The issue has been hugely divisive, with major crowds taking to the streets both for and against Yoon’s removal. Police ramped up security in the capital ahead of the verdict, setting up barriers and checkpoints, and warning against any violence.

It’s a remarkable fall from grace for the former prosecutor-turned-politician, who rose to prominence for his role in the impeachment and imprisonment of another president years ago – only to now meet the same fate.

Under South Korean law, a general election to choose a new president must be held within 60 days of Yoon’s removal.

One potential candidate for the country’s next president is opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, a former lawyer and lawmaker who narrowly lost to Yoon in the 2022 presidential election.

Meanwhile, Yoon is still dogged by other legal proceedings, including his insurrection trial. It’s one of the few criminal charges a president does not have immunity from – and is punishable by life imprisonment or death, although South Korea has not executed anyone in decades.

The indictment had alleged that Yoon’s imposition of martial law – during which he sent troops to parliament, with commanders testifying they were ordered to “drag out” lawmakers – was an illegal attempt to shut down the National Assembly and arrest politicians and election authorities.

Yoon has said his decree was justified by political deadlock and threats from “anti-state forces” sympathetic to North Korea, and was intended as a temporary warning to the liberal opposition. He claimed that he always planned to respect lawmakers’ will if they voted to lift the decree.

In the end, his decree only lasted six hours. Yoon reversed the declaration after lawmakers forced their way into parliament and voted unanimously to block it – beginning four months of political disarray, during which parliament also voted to impeach the prime minister and acting president.

Before taking office in 2022, Yoon was a star prosecutor and a key figure in the sweeping investigation of South Korea’s last impeached president, Park Geun-hye. Park was removed from office in 2017 and sentenced to prison for corruption and abuse of power in 2018.

Yoon is now the second president to be ousted by the Constitutional Court – and the shortest-serving elected leader in the nation’s democratic history.

The swift series of events marks a dramatic decline for Yoon, who was once touted as a key ally by former US President Joe Biden. During a White House state dinner in 2023, Yoon stood as the honored guest and sung Don McLean’s “American Pie” to a delighted audience.

Yoon’s serenade was meant to showcase his easy rapport with Washington, reinforcing Seoul’s strategic ties with the US. His critics, however, saw the moment as an odd distraction from pressing domestic concerns.

Back home, he clashed fiercely with the opposition, who overwhelmingly won midterm elections and used parliament to impeach key cabinet members and hold up legislation. It was this gridlock that Yoon used to try to justify his fateful decree.

This is a developing story and will be updated.