I suppose some think we have a hard road ahead of us with the election of a new (slightly new) president….but there are others that have a rough road ahead….

The whole world seems to be breaking down…..Syria, Georgia and France….more to come I am sure….

Take for instance South Korea…..now here is a drama worthy of a TV series….

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law late Tuesday, vowing to eliminate “anti-state” forces as he struggles against an opposition that he accuses of sympathizing with communist North Korea. Hours later, the South’s parliament voted to lift the declaration, with National Assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik declaring that lawmakers “will protect democracy with the people,” per the AP. Woo called for police and military personnel to withdraw from the Assembly’s grounds.

The president’s surprising move harkened back to an era of authoritarian leaders that the country hasn’t seen since the 1980s, and it was immediately denounced by the opposition and the leader of Yoon’s own conservative party. Following Yoon’s announcement, South Korea’s military proclaimed that parliament and other political gatherings that could cause “social confusion” would be suspended, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. Under South Korean law, martial law can be lifted with a majority vote in the parliament, where the opposition Democratic Party holds a majority.

Soon after the declaration, the National Assembly speaker called on his YouTube channel for all lawmakers to gather at the Assembly building. He urged military and law enforcement personnel to “remain calm and hold their positions.” All 190 lawmakers who participated in the vote supported the lifting of martial law. Television footage showed soldiers who’d been stationed at parliament leaving the site after the vote.

Apparently it was installed to divert attention…..

In one of the most momentous nights in recent South Korean history, President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law and then lifted the decree hours later after lawmakers voted unanimously to reject it. On Tuesday night, Yoon said temporary military rule was being imposed to “crush anti-state forces that have been wreaking havoc,” accusing opposition lawmakers of sympathizing with North Korea. He said he would stop South Korea from “falling into the depths of national ruin.” The move, however, was widely seen as a response to political setbacks, the BBC reports. Last week, Yoon’s approval rating fell below 20%.

• Lame duck. Yoon, who was elected in 2022, has been a “lame duck president” since the opposition Democratic Party regained control of the National Assembly in a landslide election victory in April, the BBC notes. Since then, his government has struggled to pass legislation.
• The last straw? Yoon has been vetoing the opposition’s bills, but before the martial law declaration, he had been in a standoff with lawmakers over a budget bill he was unable to veto, the Washington Post reports. In his martial law declaration, he accused the opposition of cutting “all key budgets essential to the nation’s core functions, such as combating drug crimes and maintaining public security,” creating a “state of public safety chaos.”
• Scandals. Opposition lawmakers said Yoon was declaring martial law to avoid impeachment over his vetos and his blocking of investigations of a series of scandals involving his wife, the Telegraph reports. One scandal involved spy camera footage that showed the first lady accepting a gift of a luxury bag from a pastor.
• Members of his own party were surprised. The leader of Yoon’s People Power Party, Han Dong-hoon, called the declaration “the wrong move” and vowed to “stop it with the people,” the AP reports. Insiders say members of the party were as shocked as the public. “This is the sole decision by the commander in chief,” a source in the presidential office tells the Economist. “It was a huge surprise to most of the staff here, and the cabinet members as well.”
• The decree. The decree Yoon signed Tuesday banned all political activities, as well as “fake news, manipulation of public opinion, and false propaganda,” per the Post. News media, it said would be placed “under martial law control.”
• “Foolhardy and deeply misguided.” “The political momentum was already seeping away from the president, which may be why he decided to act in this way,” John Nilsson-Wright, the head of Cambridge University’s Japan and Koreas program, tells the Guardian. “But it was a foolhardy and deeply misguided decision, and I suspect it will have backfired, if the early indicators are anything to go by.”

After a few hours of tense stand-off the president rescinded the decree…..ess than three hours after Yoon declared martial law late Tuesday, vowing to eliminate “anti-state” forces, parliament voted to lift the declaration, with National Assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik declaring that the martial law was “invalid” and that lawmakers “will protect democracy with the people.” Police and military personnel were seen leaving the Assembly’s grounds after Woo called for their withdrawal. Lee Jae-myung, leader of the liberal Democratic Party, which holds the majority in the 300-seat parliament, said the party’s lawmakers would remain in the Assembly’s main hall until Yoon formally lifted his order. 

Now that the calm has returned the president is given an ultimatum by the people’s reps….

South Korea’s main opposition party on Wednesday urged President Yoon Suk Yeol to resign immediately or face impeachment, hours after Yoon ended short-lived martial law that prompted troops to encircle parliament before lawmakers voted to lift it.

• The declaration was a “grave violation of the constitution. It was a grave act of rebellion and provides perfect grounds for his impeachment,” the Democratic Party said in a statement. “We will not sit idly by and watch President Yoon’s crime of destroying the constitution and trampling on democracy.”
• Impeaching him would require support from two-thirds of the parliament, or 200 of its 300 members, the AP reports. The Democratic Party and other small opposition parties together have 192 seats. But when the parliament rejected Yoon’s martial law declaration in a 190-0 vote, about 10 lawmakers from Yoon’s People Power Party cast ballots supporting the rejection, according to National Assembly officials.

Drama Asian-style.

There is so much happening around the globe and we get crumbs for news…..the MSM is a worthless lump of manure when it comes to actual news.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”