The “last bulwark of democracy” is “the people themselves,” MSNBC host Chris Hayes argues after the successful resistance against Yoon Suk Yeol’s attempted power grab
Chris Hayes argued on Tuesday that the successful resistance against South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol’s attempt to seize control of the country via martial law offers lessons for the United States.
The MSNBC host said that the citizen-led outcry, described as a kind of “reverse January 6” by some on social media, is a reminder that “in the end, the last bulwark of democracy: the people themselves, working with and through an elected opposition unafraid to do the right thing.”
In the last 24 hours “citizens of South Korea have taken to the streets to defend democracy against an erratic far-right president who declared martial law,” Hayes began his segment. The protests started after Yoon falsely claimed the country was under threat from North Korea and declared martial law.
After opposition leader Lee Jae-myung called on the public to protest the decree, thousands of people gathered at the parliament, which was by then under guard by the military. Local media documented outbreaks of mild violence between protestors and armed guards, and members of parliament unanimously voted against the decree in the middle of the night.
