On 3 December 2024, at 22:27 KST, President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, accusing the Democratic Party of collaborating with North Korean communists and compromising state security. Police vehicles and soldiers blocked the National Assembly, preventing members of parliament from opening a session and repealing the martial law. What they totally underestimated was the collective memory of the Gwangju Massacre and its aftermath. People, along with the press, poured onto the streets and stood up against the armed martial law troops.