Democratic Resilience and Vulnerability in South Korea: Lessons from South Korea’s 2024-2025 Constitutional Crisis

This article examines South Korea’s 2024–2025 constitutional crisis, triggered by President Yoon Suk-yeol’s unconstitutional declaration of martial law on December 3, 2024. The analysis focuses on three key aspects: the role of election fraud conspiracy theories in motivating anti-democratic actions, the dynamics of democratic resistance, and the challenges of maintaining cross-partisan pro-democracy coalitions. The crisis revealed both democratic vulnerabilities and resilience in South Korea’s political system. While initial responses successfully prevented democratic backsliding through rapid mobilization and cross-partisan cooperation, subsequent polarization around election fraud claims complicated democratic recovery. The case offers crucial insights about democratic resilience, particularly highlighting the importance of immediate response to backsliding attempts and the challenge of maintaining broad pro-democracy coalitions against emerging partisan divisions.