December 5, 2024

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Koike Akira on December 4, asked by reporters in the Diet building, commented on the protest action by South Korean citizens and parliamentarians against President Yoon Suk-yeol’s declaration of martial law which was issued suddenly late at night on the previous day.

This was the first time that martial law was declared in South Korea since the nation’s democratization in 1987.

Koike noted that soon after the president’s announcement, thousands of South Korean citizens converged on the National Assembly building where the parliament sits and risked their lives to prevent armed soldiers from entering the parliament building. He said that people’s protest helped lawmakers enter the National Assembly and unanimously adopt a resolution to lift martial law. He added, “I’d like to express my heartfelt respect for South Korean citizens’ political activism to defend democracy.”

Koike stressed, “Last night’s political drama proved the power of democracy backed by citizens’ power,” saying that at the root is the 1987 democracy movement that ended the long reign of authoritarian rule in South Korea.