The scenes from Seoul that unfolded in the late hours of December 3, 2024, were deeply disturbing to all Koreans who were still awake that Tuesday night. Scores of armed soldiers poured out of helicopters and onto the lawn of the National Assembly, which they subsequently attempted to breach while legislators mustered inside and sought to nullify a presidential decree—the likes of which had not been issued since the bloody Gwangju Uprising of 1980. By the next morning, President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial law had been voted down and officially rescinded, but the political fallout was only just beginning for the beleaguered South Korean president.