South Korean prosecutors indicted the impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol on insurrection charges over his declaration of martial law, a move that plunged the country into political turmoil.

The rapid response to Yoon’s attempts to subvert the democratic system showed that some lines had been crossed and that South Korea’s people were unwilling to accept it. This had to do with South Korea’s brutal post-war history and its hard-won path to democracy.