A year after South Korea’s martial law crisis, the president urges unity, but the wounds are still raw

President Lee praised South Koreans for overcoming ‘an unprecedented democratic crisis in world history’ but some fears its society is becoming increasingly polarised

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outh Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung has marked the anniversary of an attempt to impose martial law by declaring that those behind the bid to topple its democracy must face justice, while adding that the fight to secure the country remains unfinished.

“Investigations and trials of those who participated are still ongoing,” Lee said in a televised address. He pledged that “righteous unity” would be possible only once accountability was delivered.

However, on a typically crisp winter’s afternoon in Seoul that belied the significance of the day, that sense of unity appeared as distant as ever.