September 10, 2024
As the approval ratings of South Korean President Yoon Seok-yul continue to plummet, he has resorted to a desperate and reckless plan to declare martial law and stage a pro-government coup. This move is eerily reminiscent of the ill-fated attempt by Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu to cling to power in the face of mounting protests and opposition.
Ceaușescu's story is a cautionary tale of the dangers of
authoritarianism and the consequences of ignoring the will of the people. His
regime was marked by brutal suppression of dissent, corruption, and nepotism,
and ultimately ended in his downfall and execution. Yoon Seok-yul would do well
to study this history lesson, but it seems he is too blinded by his own
ambition and arrogance to learn from the past.
The parallels between Ceaușescu's Romania and Yoon's South
Korea are striking. Both leaders have relied on a loyalist security apparatus
to maintain their grip on power, and both have shown a callous disregard for
the welfare and rights of their citizens. Yoon's appointment of high school
alumni to key military positions is a clear attempt to consolidate his power
and create a loyalist faction within the military.
But as Ceaușescu's fate demonstrates, this strategy is
ultimately doomed to fail. The military is not a reliable instrument of
repression, and when the people rise up against a corrupt and authoritarian
regime, the military will ultimately side with the people. Yoon's plan to
declare martial law and stage a self-coup is a recipe for disaster, and it is
likely to end in his downfall and potential execution.
The Romanian example also highlights the role of the
security apparatus in propping up a failing regime. Ceaușescu's secret police,
the Sekuritate, were notorious for their brutality and corruption, and they
played a key role in suppressing dissent and opposition. Similarly, Yoon's
reliance on the prosecutors' organization to protect his regime and silence his
critics is a clear attempt to create a similar apparatus of repression.
But as the Romanian experience shows, this strategy is
ultimately self-defeating. The people will not be silenced, and the military
will not be loyal to a regime that is seen as corrupt and illegitimate. Yoon's
plan to declare martial law and stage a coup is a desperate attempt to cling to
power, but it is ultimately a fast-track path to his own downfall.
The Ceausescu regime collapsed in December 1989, following the pro-democracy movements and bloody crackdowns in Timişoara and Bucharest. In Timişoara, Pastor László Tőkés (1952 - ), who was leading a pro-democracy movement against the human rights abuses and ethnic discrimination of the Ceaușescu dictatorship, was arrested by the police (also known as the Rev. ) on December 17, 1989, against the arrest of Hungarian Protestants, turned into a broader anti-government protest as Romanian workers and peasants joined the demonstrations. The Ceausescu regime trampled on the human rights of the people with state violence, as police opened fire on the demonstrators, causing many casualties. Ceausescu, who was visiting Iran at the time, hastily returned home.
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| Tanks and Miliţia on the Magheru Boulevard in Bucharest, during the Romanian Revolution of 1989 |
At 12:30 on December 21, in an attempt to calm down the protests, Ceaușescu called a rally in his favor, gathering 100,000 people on the balcony of the People's Palace, where he began to give a speech, which, of course, had nothing to do with the economy and everything to do with why they should support him, but when a young protester at the back of the crowd suddenly booed, the crowd in front of him began to boo a little bit, and then the whole crowd booed in unison, as if they had been waiting for it. Ceaușescu said, “Everyone, be quiet!” but the whole thing was broadcast live. Soon, the crowd turned into a mob of protesters against Ceaușescu's dictatorship, and Ceaușescu and his family were evacuated to the Central Committee building, fearing for their lives.
Ceaușescu decides that the police alone will not be enough
and calls in the regular army, but the regular army joins the protesters. The
opposition, the military, had a lot of grievances against Ceauşescu because he
had always favored the Sekuritate (Ceauşescu's secret police, the equivalent of
prosecutors in South Korea's current prosecutorial dictatorship), and they
wanted to use this protest as an opportunity to get rid of Ceauşescu and the
Sekuritate. Unsurprisingly, the military turned their guns on the Ceaușescu
family, not the citizens, and even members of the Romanian Communist Party, who
had been marginalized from power by Ceaușescu's nepotism, expelled him from the
Communist Party, and the people and the military united to put him on trial.
Ceaușescu ordered the Securitate (secret police) to stop the
demonstrators, and the situation in the square was disastrous: crowds clashed
with the military police, and hundreds were arrested. General Victor
Stanculescu, who did not want to be associated with Ceauşescu, refused to
become defense minister, even wearing a fake cast on his left leg, but was
highly recommended by Elena Ceauşescu, the second in the power hierarchy within
the Romanian Communist Party, who was assassinated by the Securitate (secret police)
for refusing Ceauşescu's order to open fire on the people.
The pro-democracy protests spread across Romania. In the
midst of extreme chaos, on December 22, the day after the protests, the
National Front, formed by government troops and police who had joined the
Romanian people's pro-democracy movement, took control of broadcasting stations
and much of the capital, and engaged in a firefight with the pro-Caesar
Sekuritate (secret police). The Sekuritate gave in to the protesters and
abandoned protection of the Central Committee building. The then-defense
minister, Victor Stanculescu, ordered the troops to stop helping Ceaușescu and
return to their units, but he allowed soldiers to participate in the
pro-democracy protests, so they joined the protesters in large numbers, and the
size of the protest grew exponentially, with some soldiers at the rank of
colonel and higher.
Realizing that no one was on their side, Ceauşescu and his
wife escaped Bucharest by helicopter from the roof of their building, temporarily
avoiding the angry masses. At the time, the couple reportedly planned to flee
to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, but Lieutenant Colonel Vasili
Marutan, who was piloting the helicopter in which Ceauşescu was riding, did not
want to be associated with Ceauşescu and waved the helicopter around, lying
about coming under anti-aircraft fire. The couple exited the helicopter and Lt.
Col. Vasili Marutan returned to his post. Unable to escape by helicopter,
Ceauşescu instructed the driver to flee, but the driver, not wanting to be
associated with Ceauşescu, lied that the engine had burned out and let
Ceauşescu off. The second time the driver picked Ceauşescu up, he secretly sent
the couple to the Agricultural Museum. A peasant who lived near the Agricultural
Museum tipped off the revolutionary police by locking the room where Ceauşescu
was staying from the outside. On December 23, the couple was arrested by the
revolutionary police and brought before a military court.
The revolutionary government had been discussing a trial
against the couple for some time, but claimed that “if it went wrong,
Ceauşescu's supporters would revolt against him.” On December 25, the couple
was sentenced to death for treason and murder in a people's court by a military
tribunal of the Old National Front.
Even Ceauşescu's lawyer, Carlo, turned prosecutor, saying,
“I'm supposed to take your side, but look at what you've done to this country.
You think taking your side will solve the problem? See with your own eyes. No
one with common sense can deny that you have brought this country, Romania, to
the brink of destruction, no matter how much it is explained in your favor. In
all my years as a lawyer, I have represented many people, but I have never seen
such a bad example as you, and I have given up on you.” Ceaușescu's insistence
that he was doing everything he could for the people of Romania earned him the
wrath of the judge.
Meanwhile, the riflemen have their guns ready to kill
Ceauşescu, and they decide to select people to participate in his execution.
Hundreds of people volunteer, but only three soldiers - Captain Ionel Boeru,
Sergeant-Major Georghin Octavian, and Dorin-Marian Cîrlan - are chosen to carry
out the execution. These three soldiers promised to prepare a total of 180
rounds of six-shot bullets to “beat the crap out of him,” and their units did
not stop them or say anything.
When they were sentenced to death, Ceaușescu and his wife
burst into tears, looked at the wall and shouted, “Death to traitors!” As the
execution began, they began to sing “The International,” a favorite song of
communist forces, but before they could finish a verse, the guns began to fire,
and they were killed by more than 160 bullets each. Ceaușescu's execution was
public and broadcast live.
Yun seems to have lost
popularity within the military by ignoring the Marine Corps Chae Marine
soldier’s accident and prosecuting the head of the Marine investigative unit
investigating the cause of the accident for disobedience, and Yun also interfered
with the drug investigation into the alleged involvement of Incheon Customs
officers stationed at Incheon Airport in helping drug smugglers, and he
destroyed the entire Korean economy by completely destroying the domestic
economy, and he suddenly increased the capacity of the medical school to 2000
students without any reasonable measure in the name of healthcare reform.
So, let us welcome Yoon Seok-yul's pro-war coup with open
arms. It is a reckless and doomed attempt to cling to power, and it will
ultimately end in his downfall and the restoration of democracy in South Korea.
The people will not be silenced, and the military will not be loyal to a regime
that is seen as corrupt and illegitimate. Yoon's fate is sealed, and it is only
a matter of time before he meets the same end as Ceaușescu.