South Korea’s bizarre martial law drama

Written by: Aarthi Ramnath, Raghav Bikhchandani & Yash Budhwar

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South Korea’s bizarre martial law drama

Over the space of 24 hours, South Korean president Yook Suk Yeol suddenly imposed martial law—and then the Parliament lifted it. Wtf happened and why?

Let’s start with Yoon: Known as the Korean Donald Trump, the rightwing leader won the 2022 presidential election by a slim margin. He advocates extreme policies—such as abolishing the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and advocating a 120-hour work week. He has been constantly battling the Opposition—and his popularity ratings are abysmal—17%.

The trigger: This summer, Yoon became a lame duck president—when the liberals won a majority in the Parliament:

His government since then has not been able to pass the bills they wanted and have been reduced instead to vetoing bills passed by the liberal opposition… Then this week, the opposition proposed slashing a major government budget bill — which cannot be vetoed. At the same time, the opposition also moved to impeach cabinet members and several top prosecutors.

An angry and cornered Yoon suddenly announced the imposition of martial law—for the first time in nearly 50 years.

Martial law begins: At 10:50 pm on Tuesday, Yoon claimed martial law was necessary to "crush anti-state forces that have been wreaking havoc.” Soon enough troops were storming the parliament building. The military also issued “a decree banning protests and activity by parliament and political groups, and putting the media under government control.” The scene looked like this:

Martial law ends: Opposition leaders scrambled into action—calling on citizens to gather outside the Parliament. The MPs themselves climbed over barricades and gates to enter the building. You can see Lee Jae-myung—opposition leader and chief of the South Korean Democratic Party—livestreaming himself in action below:

Finally, at 1 am on Wednesday, the parliament—with 190 of its 300 members present—voted down the declaration of martial law. Yoon has mercifully accepted the U-turn.

The fallout: South Korea’s reputation as a thriving Asian democracy has taken a dent. It isn’t clear what happens to Yoon—though protesters want him arrested. And you thought Kim Jong Un was crazy. BBC News has the best overview of the chaotic events. The Nightly offers great context for Yoon’s order.

The impending collapse of the French government

Political thappad #1: France went to the polls in July to elect a new parliament—which is separate from the presidential one. The result: a political thappad to President Emannuel Macron—whose centrist alliance came second. The Left parties emerged as the unlikely winners coalition—with 182 of the 577 seats.

Political thappad #2: As per French law, the prime minister is chosen by the President when there is a hung Parliament—usually from the single largest party. But it is no secret that Macron and the head of the biggest Left party—Jean-Luc Mélenchon—loathe one another. So he refused to nominate the Left’s candidate of choice—37-year-old Lucie Castets—and instead picked 73-year-old Michel Barnier—who belongs to a right-wing party. Haw, mean.

What happened now: Barnier’s government is on the brink of collapse—and will face a no-confidence vote on Wednesday. The reason:

Barnier said his priority was to bring down France’s budget deficit and get the country’s finances in order. To do so, he proposed a budget with €60 billion in combined tax hikes and spending cuts. Barnier attempted to pass part of the French budget using a constitutional backdoor that allowed him to enact legislation without a vote.

What’s next: Remember this is a hung Parliament—so no one alliance (left, right or centre) has the majority votes to oust Barnier. But there is every indication that the Left and Right will gang up against him. If they succeed, Barnier will have to resign—handing over the reins to a lame duck caretaker government. The bigger problem: The budget will be in limbo, as well. This Big Story has deets of the election result. (New York Times)

Tamil film industry’s war on movie reviews

Tamil film producers have filed a High Court petition seeking a ban on online movie reviews—for the first three days of the film’s release. The reason: the flood of negative reviews on social media—known as “review bombing”—hurts a movie’s box office earnings. They also want to rein in YouTube channels that share reactions from audience members coming out of screenings on day one.

What the court said: The judge flat out refused to ban the audience reaction vids—saying they can often be positive. But he has asked the union and state government for their view on banning online reviews for the first three days of release.

The bigger picture: The film industry—be it Bollywood, Tollywood or Kollywood—has become increasingly hostile to movie reviews. Tamil actor Jyothika has called them “multiple group propagandas.” Producers of Kannada film ‘Martin’ issued copyright strikes—i.e. reports to YouTube to have videos taken down—selectively against YouTubers who slammed the film. Producers of Mammootty’s film ‘Turbo’ did the same earlier this year. In Mumbai, KJo’s Dharma Productions did not hold advance viewings for critics for ‘Jigra’. (The Hindu, Hollywood Reporter India)

Moving on to the Oscars: It’s Christmas time and 2025 Oscar campaigns are in full swing—including the push to get ‘Laapata Ladies’ on the nominations list. Producer Aamir Khan is going all out—with the help of Oscar-winning film director Alfonso Cuarón—who will hold a screening of the film for Academy members. Variety has lots more on the PR campaign.

Meanwhile in New York: ‘All We Imagine as Light’ won the Best International Film award at the New York Film Critics’ Circle—and got the highest honour in the International Film category at the Gotham Awards. Reminder: The Indian government passed over Payal Kapadia’s film to choose ‘Laapata Ladies’—co-produced by Jio Studios. Just saying. (Hollywood Reporter)

Cricket enters sportswashing super league

The context: Countries with terrible human rights records—like Saudi Arabia—are accused of ‘sportswashing’. As in, they host big sporting events to create positive PR—and improve their global reputation. The most famous examples: The Saudis hosting F1 tournaments, creating LIV Golf to take on the PGA etc. We did two fantastic Big Stories about sportswashing exploits. This one explains the controversies surrounding the 2022 FIFA World Cup, while this one looks at the maha-yudh between Professional Golfers’ Association and the Saudi funded LIV golf.

What happened now: Cricket has now joined tennis, football etc in the sportswashing league. Say hello to the Guyanese Global Super League—an invitation-only, five-team T20 competition which kicked off on November 26. It will end this Friday—and none of the participants are superstars: Hampshire, Lahore Qalandars, Rangpur Riders, Victoria, and hosts Guyana Amazon Warriors.

The small mercy is that the tournament isn’t about fudging human rights abuses. The main goal, instead, is to throw around Guyana’s oil money:

The wider context that explains the GSL's existence is that Guyana is in the midst of an oil boom. Nine years ago, the US-based ExxonMobil discovered oil off the north coast, with reserves now estimated at the equivalent of 11 billion barrels; now, the International Monetary Fund ranks Guyana as the fastest-growing economy in the world - by far. The upshot is a tournament designed to reflect the country's ambition.

Some are calling the tournament “potemkin cricket”—aimed purely at gaining global visibility: “And so this is how Liam Dawson ends up run out without sliding in his bat, in a narrow defeat by Lahore Qalandars, in a largely deserted stadium, in a tournament literally nobody asked for.” The Guardian has a scathing takedown of the tournament. ESPNCricinfo has more on the league.

what caught our eye

business & tech

Pat Gelsinger abruptly stepped down as Intel CEO on Sunday, ending his nearly four-year tenure as the company struggles to compete in AI chipmaking.
Meanwhile, AI search engine Perplexity will help its paying customers in the US “navigate retail websites”.
According to a new report, India experiences the most mobile malware attacks in the world—up from third place last year—and surpassing the United States and Canada.
In a first for any slum redevelopment project in India, Dharavi is using drones and remote sensing technology to map its 620 acres.
An Apple employee is suing the company claiming that it stalks its employees off duty.
In response to Washington's latest crackdown on China's chip sector, Beijing has banned exports of minerals such as gallium and germanium to the US. FYI: Gallium and germanium are used in semiconductors.

sports & entertainment

Alex Consani—best known for walking for Chanel, Stella McCartney and Victoria’s Secret—has become the first transgender woman to win Model of the Year.
Good news for Hip Hop fans—a Hanumankind X A$AP Rocky collab song is in the making, produced by Kalmi.
Pushpa 2 has broken records by selling over 1 million tickets on BookMyShow, surpassing KGF 2 and Baahubali 2 ahead of its December 5 release.
At least 56 people died in a stampede at a football match in Guinea, following a contentious refereeing decision.

as for the rest

Vietnamese property tycoon Truong My Lan lost her appeal against the death penalty for embezzling $12 billion from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB). Her only way out: paying back most of the funds.
Zelenskyy suggested a ceasefire could be achieved if Ukraine's territory under its control is included in NATO.
The News Minute has a must-read—featuring reports and data from independent weather bloggers—unpacking how cyclone Fengal brought record rainfall to north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
The Print has an alarming story on a 50% increase in tiger deaths in 2023.
No lawyer wants to represent the Bangladeshi priest Chinmoy Krishna Das in court. His trial has been postponed to January.
Taste the world’s most expensive Michelin-starred restaurants of 2024.

Six things to see

One: On Monday, the Akal Takht—the highest religious body of Sikhs—ordered the removal of Sukhbir Singh Badal as president of Shiromani Akali Dal—for supporting convicted cult leader As part of his punishment, Badal was ordered to perform guard duty at the Golden Temple—surrounded by his own Z-Plus security guards! As you can see in this clip, the scene was very ‘only in India’. Indian Express even filed a ground report lol!

Two: Moving on to ‘only in Trump’s America’... Cheryl Hines shared a promo vid for her candles from a bathroom—with her naked husband Robert F Kennedy Jr soaping himself in the background. Yup, that’s the guy nominated to be the next Health Secretary. (Vanity Fair)

Three: LEGO has introduced a college-going character named Ryan—who wears a sunflower lanyard—“a symbol which provides a discreet way of sharing that you have a hidden disability voluntarily.” Ryan is part of a £90 Lego Friends playset. (The Guardian)

Four: Those orcas—always up to something! This time, they’re making fashion news for wearing dead salmon as hats—in the Puget Sound area in Washington. Even more amusing: This fashion trend is ‘retro’. Orcas were seen doing the exact same thing in the 1980s. (Science Alert)

Five: The last king of Scotland ran into the MLA of Wasseypur at Delhi airport yesterday. Actor Tigmanshu Dhulia posted a photo of himself with Forest Whittaker!

Six: Fans of Manoj Bajpayee, rejoice! He is back as a crime journalist investigating a 2G spectrum scam in the upcoming movie ‘Despatch’—directed by Kanu Behl. It has already premiered at the MAMI Film Festival and IFFI and will drop on Zee5 on December 13. (The Hindu)