The rapid response to Yoon’s martial law decree emerged from democratic practices embedded in society. Whether they can hold firm against rising polarization is another question.
Darcie Draudt-Véjares, PhD [“drought-VEY-harez”] is a fellow for Korean studies in the Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. A political scientist and policy analyst, she publishes regular commentary on South and North Korean domestic politics and foreign policy, Northeast Asian relations, and U.S.-Korea policy.
Dr. Draudt-Véjares currently holds non-resident fellowships at the George Washington University Institute for Korean Studies (GWIKS) and the National Bureau of Asian Research. From 2022-2024, Dr. Draudt-Véjares was a postdoctoral research associate at the Princeton University School of Public and International Affairs and from 2021 to 2022 she was a postdoctoral research fellow at GWIKS at the Elliott School of International Affairs.
She has previously held research positions at the Korea Economic Institute of America, Yonsei University, Pacific Forum, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Research and Training Center in South Korea.
Dr. Draudt-Véjares holds a PhD in Political Science from the Johns Hopkins University, an MA in Korean Studies from the Yonsei University Graduate School of International Studies, and an AB with Honors in Anthropology from Davidson College. She is proficient in Korean and has an intermediate-level knowledge of Spanish and French. Dr. Draudt-Véjares lived in Seoul, South Korea, from 2008 through 2013.
The rapid response to Yoon’s martial law decree emerged from democratic practices embedded in society. Whether they can hold firm against rising polarization is another question.
President Yoon's declaration of martial law shocked the country's solid democratic legacy.
The nationwide strike launched after President Yoon's declaration of martial law will cause disruptions in the production chain from South Korea.
The president’s martial law declaration was swiftly denounced, but the constitutional crisis isn’t over yet.
South Korea’s President Yoon is likely to face an impending impeachment for declaring martial law.
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Officials are right to be alarmed.
The North Korea challenge represents some of the world’s biggest military, technological, and economic struggles today. Yet it receives very little attention from the candidates.
In this period of geopolitical and technological flux, one thing remains clear: the strength of America’s alliances and how it handles undemocratic strongmen will be a critical factor in shaping the international order of the coming decades.
Seoul could act as a crucial link for the current cast of characters, particularly as it seeks to integrate emerging markets.