On December 3, Han Dong-Hoon was listening to the radio while driving home from dinner in Seoul when he heard a breaking news update: President Yoon Suk-Yeol was getting ready to give an emergency speech.
One of the president’s closest allies at the time was Han, who led Yoon’s People Power Party (PPP). However, that was Han’s first indication that Yoon was going to take an extraordinary step.
In a self-declared attempt to eradicate “anti-state forces” and North Korea sympathizers, the president proclaimed martial law at midnight, plunging the nation into a political whirlpool.
“When I first heard the news of martial law, I thought, ‘We must stop it, because if it isn’t lifted that very night, a bloodbath might occur,'” Han told the Korean.
