Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of martial law in December 2024 caught many commentators by surprise. Journalists around the world labelled it bizarre or irrational and even pondered whether the President was suffering a secret mental illness. But for thousands of South Koreans the picture was immediately clear, with their snap midnight protest in Seoul fending off military rule in a country all too familiar with what that means. This dramatic episode in a drawn out political crisis in one of the world's most developed and modern economies, raises questions about power, class struggle, democracy, and imperialist rivalry in East Asia."