[Statement] President Yoon Seok Yeol and those responsible should resign immediately for their unconstitutional declaration of emergency martial law that attempted to deprive citizens and refugees of their political space and peace in their daily lives.

President Yoon Seok Yeol and those responsible should resign immediately for their unconstitutional declaration of emergency martial law that attempted to deprive citizens and refugees of their political space and peace in their daily lives.

1. President Yoon Seok Yeol’s attempt to put the country under the martial law on December 3rd 2024 was temporarily thwarted due in part to the National Assembly’s quick response to lift the martial law. Had it not been for the citizens who have participated in the midnight rally and the National Assembly's quick response, the country would have experienced overnight changes that could have transformed the entire sociopolitical landscape of this country and the daily lives of the people living within it. People’s exercise of fundamental rights would have been controlled by the military under the direct supervision of the martial law commander, and political freedom that are supposed to be expressed through various means such as holding an assembly, making a speech, and publications would have been vigorously suppressed through arrests without warrant and military trials. We fully understand the implications of martial law as it was put into effect in South Korea in the past and also in Taiwan for 38 years.

2. For many political refugees who have fled to South Korea in their desperate pursuit of peace, safety, and free political space away from the oppression and persecution in their countries of origin, the midnight declaration of the emergency martial law and the prospects of military rule and soldiers trying to disseize the National Assembly that they again faced must have made their night particularly long. At the same time, warning texts (that are normally sent to people through their mobile phones when the country is expecting any drastic changes such as natural disasters or possibilities of war or internal conflicts within the country) were not sent in any languages those refugees speak, let alone in Korean language, so that the refugees were never fully informed of any news whatsoever regarding the midnight illegal declaration of martial law, which confirmed, once again, that refugees are unfairly discriminated when it comes to having an access to any information including the access to situations that might be considered as a disaster.

3. The unconstitutional declaration of the martial law faced by the citizens in South Korea last night where refugees exist as equal members of the society, and the state of exception to human rights norms that could have led to a departure from the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, is connected with the global trends of military coups, martial law, and political repression in Syria, Myanmar, Egypt, Sudan, and elsewhere around the world, including the deprivation of freedom of political opinion and the unjustified crackdown on human rights activists. Unjustified violations of human rights by state power have no place in South Korea and anywhere else in this world.

4. As a firm advocate for the rights of refugees in South Korea and against any kind of discrimination, the work of Public Interest Law Center APIL (Advocates For Public Interest Law) is mainly centered on promoting diversity and the human rights of marginalized people beyond imagining the 1987 system of democracy. However, we also firmly advocate values, foundations, and spaces for democracy. This is because for South Korea to become a safe haven for refugees fleeing from human rights violations, it should make sure that there is no state violations against refugees and citizens in South Korea and that would mean that there is a need to create such a society and political space, through a movement, where peace in our daily lives is guaranteed.

5. We, the public interest law center APIL (Advocates for Public Interest Law), strongly call upon the legislative and judicial branches of the Korean government to hold President Yoon Seok Yeol and those responsible strictly accountable for their unconstitutional use of state power to deprive South Korean society of peace and constitutional order and refugees and citizens of their political space. We also call upon the Ministry of Justice to take measures in order to make sure that refugees and migrants in South Korea can return to their everyday lives by promptly communicating information to dispel their fears.

December 4th 2024

Public Interest Law Center APIL (Advocates for Public Interest Law)