K-ent Events Cancelled a Day After the South Korean President Declares and then Lifts Martial Law
It was a wild Tuesday evening this week in South Korea, as President Yoon Suk Yeol went on TV to unilaterally impose martial law on the country, claiming national security reasons as his opposition he asserts was trying to destabilize the country and also colluding with North Korea. Everyone not President Yoon collectively lost their shit and went to protest as the legislature voted unilaterally to lift martial law. The whole thing went down in mere hours with military called as well before President Yoon agreed to lift martial law and now the opposition is trying to impeach him for that and a whole host of offenses including corruption which he was being investigated for prior to the martial law debacle. Anyways, no news on any deaths or injuries and it seems life is back to normal in South Korea. But in an abundance of caution, all Wednesday scheduled promo, press, or performance events have been cancelled including for Gong Yoo, Seo Hyun Jin, Kim Soo Hyun, and others for their various activities.
It’s so dramatic. I can’t believe a President went ahead with imposing martial law without gathering enough political support. It feels like a last ditch effort with how badly his plans were executed.
I moved to SK 3 months ago, and when this news went down, I was putting my kid to bed. I have huge respect for the SK citizens who reacted and gathered so quickly to protest in front of their parliament despite the cold harsh weather and the present of the army and police there. I think the last dictatorship that SK citizen endured was in the 80s, so not long ago. Hence many gerenations here do not take this life with comfort and freedom for grant. I follow the news that night, and so some clips in X that some lawmaker members had to jump over the fence to get inside the parliament to vote against the martial law. I’m so thankful enough lawmakers were able to come in to vote down this (190-0, I believe). Can’t imagine how chaotic it would be if the prez got his way.
Thank you for your comment..
Very unwise for the prez to make such a move even his intention was to curb left-leaning and pro-N. Korea/China influence inside the parliament.
Just to correct,his wife was the one being investigated. Having a corrupt presidential family has really become the norm in Korea. They should start doing their homework before the election, not after.
I read about his wife’s scandals in BBC… Months later he declare Martial Law. I wonder how do SK really feel about this couple?
This news and the fact that almost all of south korean president met bad ending make me think whether fengshui really exist. This is just conspiracy theory, but south korean flag is based on taiji, but if you look at it, out of 8 elements they removed 4, making it unbalanced and ominous. And the half of circles don’t have small circle inside them can be connected to how korea got split up. Anyway they would be interesting plot for movies
Didn’t this President refuse to live in the Blue House due to fengshui beliefs? But he still got hit anyway. IMO it’s rather due to how corrupted their politics are, barely anyone is truly clean.
America should learn from this. LOL Definitely not as big of a shit show compared to America. We over here murdering health care CEO’s this morning because citizens couldn’t get better healthcare.
S.Korea is protecting their democracy, this is something to applaud.
@neen I must say, I am not particularly sorry for the CEO of a predatory ‘healthcare’ company that refused insurance claims of the sick and dying at 2x the rate of other insurance companies, according to reports
if guns absolutely must be carried freely in America then I rather they be used on such parasite CEOs than on schoolchildren.
You’re disgusting for this comment. He’s someone’s son, husband, and father. You’re promoting violence and insinuating that killing someone is OK, due to them being in CEO roles.
I work in healthcare, this news didn’t come as a shock but killing someone to get what you want isn’t justice. The murderer just made it worse for a lot of people actually. You think these healthcare insurance companies will back down? They have the best lawyers paid for, by your money. Keep reading the news, if you have healthcare in America, your benefits are going to get worse. Maybe the citizens of America should get more educated on how their own insurance works. A lot of them are clueless and then commit this type of act, ruining it for a lot of people. Fighting with guns don’t win anything, its fighting with knowledge that will go further.
@Trish “he’s someone’s son, husband and father” yeah so were Pol Pot and the military dictators of South Korea lol go shed tears for them too if you like
this CEO’s wealth came from his active policy of refusing service to customers who had paid his company for that service leading to their deaths of people, AND he lobbied against universal healthcare for Americans. His professional actions show he was a horrible person with no morals who caused enormous harm to people and his death in this context is poetic justice. Unless you think wealth and ‘CEO position’ is an indicator of his character?
and yeah if America loves its guns so much, I maintain I would rather they be used on predatory CEOs who caused the death of who knows how many people for money, than the usual targets of gun killings i.e. children.
@Royal We, you appear overbearing and your argument is malicious, morally wrong. It’s not justified to kill a human being outside legal conviction, let alone what the media reported is not verified by any experts and very controversial. It’s ok to protest per your belief. But killing a person who managed a company that you believe had denied insurance claims inappropriately? That’s outrageous.
@Royal We, I’m not that passionate getting into a debate about US healthcare system since it has a lot of complicated issues that can’t be even summarized in 10 webpages, not to mention this is an entertainment blog. Nonetheless, I can’t help refuting misinformation you mainly got from the media that has been less professional to produce bogus reports for the past decade.
My boss was once interviewed by “prestigious” Washington Post. Later he complained to me he’s disturbed by what and how the reporter quoted from him in the published “news” after the interview; the news obviously passed wrong information from our professional perspectives. A lot of younger journalists nowadays lack professional and credible training as their veteran journalists had decades ago. There is a lot of misinformation from the main media. I always read it with a grain of salt, whichever the source is, either from the West or from Asia. I’m not getting nitty-gritty about health insurance that’s part of my professional expertise. But Congress has been investigating several allegations against these insurance companies in the news. People should wait to judge, not being so gullible and manipulated by the media.
@Royal We It’s quite ironic that you’re preaching about how unmoral the United Healthcare CEO supposed actions are, while at the same time applauding the death of a human being. Your extremist take on how his death is poetic justice because he’s a CEO of a for profit company is alarming.
@Trish No one here is “applauding the death of a human”. They are saying that if guns must be absolutely used, it is better for it to be on corrupt CEOs instead of kids. What part of that is unclear? As for the “CEO” just leading a profiteering company, the person you are responding to already explained why the company is corrupt. Research and educate yourself on all the insurance claims wrongly denied. Far more people die on rejected insurance claims than they do on gun shots. Since you’re so worried about a corrupt CEO being a “father, son, husband”, I’m sure you’d have a lot of care for people dying due to his business practices. Since they are also someone’s father, son, husband.
You, and probably half the internet and commenters of REddit.
Folks are quite sick of CEOS, whose main concern is churning profits for the board, for the shareholders.
I am not in US, but across the border in Canada.
American redditer was commenting that since her Doctor and MRI / Scan? was in the same building, insurance rejected her billing for 2nd service.
What is the logic? If someeone was ill, had cancer or whatever serious ailment – convenience is key, for comfort and well being. Feeling nauseuous for example. Why should they have to go to a different provider, in another building,for billing purposes?
@Millie, there is quite a few dubious points in your argument too. Give me the evidence and statistics that how there are fewer gunshot victims than those who died as a result of claim denial. I laugh and dismiss all this type of BS without seeing evidential proof myself. A lot of Americans also benefit from the current insurance system. Without insurance coverage, they wouldn’t have been able to treat very serious illness. Not all insurance claims were denied. When you argued that there were A LOT of people died from undertreatment because their claims got denied, you got to give me proof and serious numbers, not just sensational stories of individuals some media sold.
As I said, US congress and DOJ are both investigating these allegations reported by certain media. The US government has taken it very seriously. But before investigation is done, just calm yourself now and judge later.
Anyhow, normal and mentally healthy people wouldn’t choose to kill another human being to revenge in any circumstance, let alone the most recent update from law enforce revealed that this tragedy was well planned ahead. Killing outside justice is morally wrong and shouldn’t be excused. But you and @Royal We are excusing the killer. How twisted!
Royal We and Millie comments are very very lame. Murderers not deciding “Who I will kill today – a child, or the CEO?” basing on their mood. This is completely different motivations of different type of people, or psychos.
You using schoolchildren to excuse your approval of someone’s murder. This is not how it works. Kids have nothing to do with that killer and his motivation to kill that person. If you approving someone’s murder, say it honestly and show who you are, don’t hide cowardly behind lame excuse about the kids.
I am so glad for free healthcare in UK…it has its flaws too but it is accessible for all..But I am unsure if it can last forever…
UK’s healthcare system has financial issues like Canadian system that’s very common to all the socialist states because of heavy subsidies from governments. There are pros and cons. One payer healthcare system has flaws too just like free-market healthcare system in the US. My past work dealt with healthcare financial risk management and had read numerous studies of various healthcare systems in a lot of developed countries. As I said, I take news with a pinch of salt since a lot of the media reports exaggerate to boost up readership.
@millie Under no circumstances should it be OK for “if guns absolutely have to be used” to kill anyone on the streets be like how this incident unfolded. I don’t understand the logic of “I’d rather guns be used on this CEO than schoolchildren.” It’s not like there is someone putting a gun to the killer’s head and telling him he has to pick killing the CEO or killing schoolchildren, with no other options. I work in healthcare and have delt with insurance denial, so I’m very well aware of how the system works. Murdering someone because he’s the CEO of an insurance company doesn’t justify the actions of the murderer. What kind of lawless society the world will turn into if people think it’s OK to murder other people due to how corporations conduct business? Recognizing the wrongdoing of insurance companiesand not endorsing murder can be mutually exclusive.
Respect to the South Korean citizens and lawmakers for pushing back so strongly against this (I saw the footage of Lee Jae Myung climbing a fence to get into the parliament building to vote against martial law, 190/190 against), they were NOT having it, it looks clownlike and idiotic now but for those six hours they must have been really scared.
Also all those people in their 50s and 60s protesting would have been students in the dictatorship era, it’s not that far in the past for them.
When they have large-scale protests or mass whatever in Seoul, it’s a pretty SCARY experience.
Just my Senior mother and I were there this 2024 trip.
Caught up in Gwangha-mun recently in March 1 2024 – we were totally unaware it was March 1 National Independence Day – from Japan.
Family has been to Korea over 203x for various reasons or free paid KAL layovers, and peacefully walked the entire Gwanghamun to know the 360 degree difference. People wall to wall and busloads upon busloads of them arriving (including Seniors!)
Surges of people in subway stations at Seoul and Gwanghamun stations and pockets all around.
Even our chivalrous cab driver, when asked to detour like 4 blocks away. got mad and came down to argue with police/ guards
Yeah sure such a martial law enforcement is very unwise. Fortunately SK is a democracy, citizens can protest, and the parliament can vote to revoke martial law. Think about N. Korean and China where martial law has de facto been taking place since the regimes were established. Tell me otherwise! LOL. There has been a lot of influence from China and North Korea inside SK political circles, media, and academia as well, very similar to the US nowadays. The SK prez is against that influence. He’s unwise to take a wrong approach but still better than gradually converting the country into a communist system. LOL.
🙄 This President isn’t communist, he’s authoritarian. And he’s claiming the opposition lawmakers are in cahoots with China and NK without any concrete proof.
I don’t know how you can think it’s “better than” converting into “communist system” when his actions IS authoritarian or even totalitarian already.
How is he totalitarian given that the martial law was quickly lifted and just short lived for a few hours after their parliament voted against it? LOL. It wouldn’t have happened if he were totalitarian cos he would have been just like bandit Xi in China to force passing whatever he wanted to do using military power. Or, the protests in SK could have been turned into 8964 Tiananmen massacre. Always LOL at your BS but it’s not funny this time. This unrest in SK is a stark contrast with authoritarian communists like N. Korea and China. Only communist stooges would defend communist system that would put citizens under martial law every day LOL. Once again, you are not shy of positioning yourself as a communist lackey. I have already expected this reaction from you. LOL
Lol as expected, you are putting false labels on me again just like President Yoon claiming the opposition lawmakers work for NK and China without any proof. No wonder you are defending him, birds of a feather.
The proof you are a CCP lackey is self-evident, can’t be less obvious than demon-obsessed CCP being authoritarian itself. LOL. You’re not aware you’ve never been absent from excusing CCP whenever people criticized the egregious regime, right? Old pinkie! LOL.
I only pointed out that Yoon isn’t communist and that he’s making claims without any proof in my previous comment. But you immediately jumped to claim I am defending CCP or communism. It goes to show you’re an incompetent looney like Yoon, couldn’t bring out any sound reason to defend your arguments so you go around claiming people are pro-China (CCP lackey) or pro-NK.
LOL. @Lilith is one most prominent mouthpiece for CCP and communists throughout the entire internet cos you’ve never been absent from exchanges once the word “CCP” or “communist” popped up. The word alone must get on your nerves. LOL.
My logic is simple and clear: The worst regime ever on earth and in the human history is communism, worse than any authoritarians.
But your dimwit and twisted belief can’t comprehend this simple truth since your adrenalin was already up just seeing the word “CCP” or “communist.” LOL.
I don’t mind suggesting you again and over again: Move to China and you’ll be happily awarded a patriotic medal from CCP by being a loyal defender of their ideology based upon your consistent reaction bootlicking the regime. LMAO.
We all know you’re a brainwashed US shill who always bring up CCP even on un-related articles. I have never supported communism but of course your extremist mindset thinks that anyone who criticise US must support CCP. LOL. And I can’t believe you would think communism is the worst in human history when people get abused and literally starved to death in absolute monarchies.
@Lilith, see who was over-reactive in the first place in this thread? YOU obviously! Stop shifting focus to the US as you’ve done so always. Here, we were talking about SK’s martial law that absolutely has nothing to do with American politics in any time of American history. But everyone knows in a communist country like NK and China, citizens are living under Daily martial law. LOL. Don’t deny it. But you’re not gonna change cos nobody can ever criticize your beloved CCP with the ideology you worship. See how you got worked up when communism was mentioned! LOL.
Lmao. *Shifts focus to China and NK* then turn around and tell people to “Stop shifting focus to the US”. Also jumping at every opportunity to mention China first then turn around and claim other people are “worked up” over China. LOL. Double standards at its finest.
I was speechless when french tv relayed the news and even if i’m not korean, i feel proud that citizens gathered peacefully to fight for democracy, i do admire south koreans for what they achieve in the last decades . Actually, in my country we are going through a political , social, …crisis but i’m happy i’m living there .
I am happy to be in UK too…not the calmest, safest, ‘strikeless’ etc… I have a voice here and my vote matters.
Yep, even it’s actually chaotic in France , we still have a lot of privilèges that others don’t have . And after 6 years Notre Dame rises from the ashes . Hope that Ukraine will also one day have the same fate .
South Koreans also have their voices there. Otherwise, the martial law wouldn’t be short-lived for about 6 hours only LOL. How this event evolved just proved democracy works in that country. Keep in mind that SK is a young democracy like most of East Asian democratic systems. Those young democracies are fragile that need to undergo numerous tests in order to be as mature as western democracies. Also remember UK is considered the oldest democracy in the West. So it’s not comparable here talking about SK vs. UK.
I think SK, both sides of citizens and parliament including the current ruling party as whole, has been doing great jobs demonstrating how democracy works. This can’t never happen in authentic authoritarian countries like N. Korea, Iran, and China without going through bloodshed.
I don’t understand why drama fans react so dramatically as if we were watching a thriller unfold. LOL.
@HL, to be more precise, I corrected what I said about UK’s democracy slightly. UK isn’t the oldest democracy on earth. But there was antient Greek Athens which was considered the first democracy in human’s history of civilization but unfortunately succumbed to the military power of Sparta. Nonetheless, UK’s parliament system had great impacts on other democracies including the US.
@Somebody, not comparing UK with SK, cannot be compared. SK gain full independence later.
@cahill, I’m glad you’ve been feeling peace and calm as a French citizens. But I have to be honest with you. From outsiders’ perspectives, France is not doing better than SK due to unceasing political unrests and protests in the society. Likewise in Taiwan, citizens there just have their daily business going as usual while all the media around the world made a big fuss about PLA’s military exercises encircling the island nonstop. LOL.
@Somebody, I said France is facing a crisis, compared to 20 years ago we lost privileges but we still have enough . Healthcare system , 35 hours work per week, 5 weeks of paid time off, better retirement conditions , …but i can’t deny that we are beginning to lose all that and becoming more as other europeans countries . And to be honest , French news just mentioned what happened in South Korea . Nothing more, nothing less.The same for Taiwan, i’m aware because i’m interested in theses countries but french citizens are self centered and don’t give a damn for Taiwan , South Korea , they only are focused with their our own situation ( no Prime minister, no government, strikes because of the Mercosur and industries closures , Trump’s election and the great reopening of Notre Dame … Until the day that they will realize that what happens in the world will later have an impact in their daily lives . That’s all . I like my country but i’m not naive .
The problem in the U.S. healthcare system is multifold. Some of it is due to insurance companies, some of it is due to hospital and facility organizations and some of it is due to pharmaceutical companies. Last but not all, some of it is due to the high price of R&D in general.
It doesn’t seem that clear to most countries, but the U.S. spends a LOT of money on R&D for tertiary care – treatments once patients become sick, rather than primary care (preventative) and secondary care (specialist care). Why? Because this sector usually makes the most money, but also because we can afford it. When the U.S. finds solutions, we sell these wholesale for cheap to other countries as a token of goodwill and because other countries can’t afford what we pay. So U.S. citizens are saddled with the cost on both ends – cost to find treatment and cost of the treatment.
Not only that, but R&D for medications also cost a lot of money. There are numerous trials that are expensive and takes years to complete. Pharma companies have to recoup that loss by selling at a high price point to patients/insurance and we eat the cost – again these are sold to other countries for pennies on the dollar and are cheap to produce in other countries. Hence why medication is so expensive in the U.S.
Now onto medical organizations and facilities that charge an arm and a leg to insurance to make money. This is where things get thorny, too. Hospitals have to charge high prices to recoup losses in other sectors of their care, for example, pts with low income and can’t pay full price. And those without insurance and can’t pay anything. Plus on top of that, they constantly have to pay for lawsuits. They have to price high because they expect insurance and the gov’t to step in to negotiate prices. For example, they charge pts $500 for coming in to take a swab at the Emergency Dept. When insurance kicks in, they have already negotiated a price with the hospital/medical provider that this kind of procedure would be priced at $300 and the patient will eat the X% of whatever their policy is with the insurance. Insurance’s job is to set and negotiate the highest discount available for a set of medical procedures.
Insurances that UHC gets a disbursement of money from the govt and their shareholders/policyholders to ensure the best possible pricing given what they received. In exchange, when there’s any profit, they can use that money towards better compensation towards their patients, e.g. you get a heart monitor for free, etc. They can also use that money towards entrepreneurial pursuits, hiring more people, acquiring more insurance companies, buying up hospital facilities.
Their job is to get the most bang for the buck for the patient. The issue that comes along, though, is they’re a middleman. Instead of having free market where the individual hospital sets the price, and the patient paying a set price and negotiating themselves, the govt steps in and lets insurance do that job. If their job is done well, they get to keep the profit. If done poorly, their market share and reimbursement rates fall, eventually leading to insolvency. Obviously this leads to insurance cherry picking what they’ll cover and how much money they’ll cover. And as a result, the patient with poor insurance coverage will get denied a lot of procedures.
There is some movement towards making hospitals disclose their prices now before the patients gets the procedure, but even then, most patients don’t have the time or patience to look up and ask every facility.
In my opinion, if the middleman doesn’t exist, then it’s possible providers will have to cut down costs because the average patient won’t be able to afford their prices. Their costs are artificially inflated, because they expect them to be bargained against. On the other hand, like most companies that try to make money, they will charge higher prices no matter what, because they want to make profit.
So we have 3 things kind of working against the U.S. consumer – high R&D, high facility costs, and high insurance costs. Unlike other countries where their health insurance is heavily subsidized, which is also becoming insolvent as their older populations utilize more services and increasing costs, the U.S. does subsidize some sectors of the healthcare market, e.g. Medicare and Medicaid, because these folks are the most vulnerable and can’t afford costs on their own. But the rest of the population is SOL and have to deal with it on their own. But these other countries don’t have to deal with high R&D costs – the U.S. has something like 40% of the R&D market share in the world. That’s a LOT for one country. And the rest of the world benefits.
We pay the most and get the least in terms of quality of care. In exchange, we have more bargaining power because our medical treatments are #1, but only the rich or those with good insurance can afford it. The rest is stuck.
Runaway costs from bio/pharma/hospital/providers/insurance companies have eaten into the prices U.S. citizens have to pay. And we get no say in it.
@Coralie, this is very enlightening. I wish can copy and paste…
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