Tarensha Liando, Mochamad Alvin Dwiana Qobulsyah

On December 3, 2024, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law. This event immediately shocked both the domestic and international public because it was declared during peacetime. Under Article 77 of the South Korean Constitution, the South Korean president may declare martial law only in times of war, incidents, and other national emergencies. Furthermore, martial law generally serves to meet military needs and maintain peace when normal government functions are deemed inadequate; therefore, Yoon’s peacetime declaration of martial law is unconstitutional  (Won, 2024; Bum, 2024). US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell also responded, calling Yoon’s actions “illegitimate” and “problematic” (Reuters, 2024).

In many nations, martial law can be declared only in response to a state of emergency that threatens the nation, and it must comply with international safeguards to protect human rights (Amnesty International, 2024). Amnesty International’s East Asia researcher, Jang Boram, stated that President Yoon must fully explain the reasons for declaring martial law, as without justification, martial law would be considered a violation of international human rights law (Boram, 2024). This case matters because a short-lived domestic decision sent a long international signal, especially at a pivotal time when South Korea is enjoying the strength of its soft power. 

This article is written based on the undergraduate thesis that monitored five Korean English-language newspapers’ coverage during the 2024 Yoon’s short-lived martial law enactment: Hankyoreh (progressive/liberal), The Korea Times and Korea Herald (moderate), and JoongAng Ilbo and Chosun Ilbo (conservative) (Yi & Jung, 2015; Jin, 2023). Each media ideology has different framing, interests, and perspectives that shape agendas for covering the issue. As Korean English-language media outlets, they act as both domestic media and international narrators. This study will provide insight by asking: “How did South Korean English-language media cover Yoon Suk-yeol’s martial law declaration from 3-14 December 2024, based on agenda-setting theory?”

The Agenda Setting of the 2024 S.Korea Martial Law Coverage: A Framework

This research uses agenda-setting theory introduced by McCombs & Shaw (1972), arguing that in circulated news, editors play a crucial role in shaping political perceptions through mass media. The researcher then uses first- and second-level agenda-setting: according to Wu & Coleman (2009), the first level concerns issue salience, which was examined through coverage volume and main issue themes. The second level later concerns attribute salience, which, in this case, was examined through the actors most quoted or discussed and the affective sentiment of each report. 

Meanwhile, Kim et al.’s (2017) study found that research on agenda-setting has increased over time, so research on traditional agenda-setting theory remains strong in the current media landscape, which helps explain why this theory remains relevant for applying to this case to examine the influence of ideology on the media agenda. These patterns are then compared across progressive, conservative, and moderate outlets. 

Using qualitative media monitoring with structured manual coding, this research collected Korean English-language articles from five outlets using two search terms: “martial law” and “Yoon Suk-yeol.” The dataset included 1,431 articles: 430 from The Korea Herald, 416 from The Korea Times, 337 from JoongAng Ilbo, 183 from Chosun Ilbo, and 65 from Hankyoreh. These articles were then coded for their main actor, issue, and affective sentiment, and the patterns were compared across three ideologies. The unequal number of media outlets in this corpus should be interpreted as patterns rather than as a normalized measure of ideological intensity.

First Level of Agenda Setting: Coverage and Theme Salience 

The first finding concerns visibility. Moderate outlets published 846 articles, conservative outlets published 520 articles, and progressive outlets were the least visible, publishing 65 articles. Moderate outlets made this issue most visible to international readers and provided narration about South Korea’s crisis. However, this is a descriptive total rather than a normalized per-outlet comparison. 

The more important pattern in issue salience was democracy. Although Yoon’s declaration was described as illegal and unlawful, three media outlets emphasized democracy as the most important issue and the one that should be reported most frequently. Impeachment, the economy, and international relations followed. This finding indicates that reporting focused not only on Yoon as an individual, but also on a test of political legitimacy and constitutional procedure. It also shows South Korea’s democratic breakdown and resilience. For international readers, South Korea is presented not only as a democracy under threat but also as a political system capable of constitutional checks. 

Second Level of Agenda-Setting: Attribute Salience

The convergence of democracy does not mean that ideology has fully disappeared. Looking at the second level of agenda-setting, three media outlets highlight different actors. As a newspaper funded by public funds, progressive media prioritizes public/civil society.  Progressive media also covered students attending a candlelight protest calling for Yoon’s resignation (Ah, 2024). 

Consistent with initial expectations of this research, conservative media outlets with strong ties to Korean conglomerates (chaebols) focus more on business officials. Their coverage gave particular attention to market stability, corporate confidence, investment, and the economic consequences of political uncertainty. Moderate outlets focused on President Yoon and institutional actors, emphasizing political responsibility and crisis management. The crisis narrowed ideological distance on the main issue, but still shaped whose perspective was most salient.

None of the Media Normalized the Declaration as a Normal Political Drama.

Of 1,431 articles, 1,100 show negative sentiment (moderate outlets: 649 articles; conservative outlets: 396 articles; progressive outlets: 55 articles), meaning the articles convey messages about political and economic crises, protests, calls for investigations into government officials, and debates between political parties. The media attempted to shape public opinion, portraying Yoon’s martial law as a crucial issue with a significant negative impact on South Korea. Progressive outlets reporting used the most explicit criticism, but the broader pattern is more significant: none of the ideological categories normalized the declaration as a normal political drama.

To conclude, in South Korea, a polarized ideological country, amid the crisis over Yoon Suk-yeol’s martial law declaration, all three media categories partly narrowed their ideological scope in covering the main issue of democracy and the affective negative sentiment. However, ideology still played a major role in actor selection. Conservative outlets emphasized business and economic officials, moderate outlets emphasized institutional actors, and progressive outlets emphasized civil societies. Korean English-language media perform dual international functions. They reported on the breakdown of South Korean democracy as well as on democratic resilience. This means that they presented both institutional failure and the capacity for democratic correction. 

Short Bio:

Tarensha Liando is an International Relations graduate from BINUS University who has an interest in South Korean studies, including history and contemporary issues related to Hallyu diplomacy. She is a Junior Research Fellow in the Student Korean Roundtable within the Center for Business and Diplomatic Studies Korean Peninsula Research Cluster (CBDS-KPRC). She was also a former Korea Foundation Network Indonesia (KFNI) Supporter 2025, operating under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea to promote South Korea through creative content creation on social media. 

Mochamad Alvin Dwiana Qobulsyah is a lecturer, faculty member, and subject content specialist in media and international politics in the Department of International Relations at Bina Nusantara (BINUS) University, Jakarta. At the same institution, he also serves as a lead research fellow at the Korean Peninsula Research Cluster within the Center for Business Diplomacy Studies at BINUS University. He is also an experienced multimedia journalist, most recently serving as founder and managing editor of The Southeast Asia Desk, with prior experience at Metro TV, NET TV, SEA Today, and KBS World in Seoul. He holds an M.A. in International Studies, graduated magna cum laude from Seoul National University, and a B.A. in Political Science from Universitas Indonesia. His research interests include migration, global media, civil society, and Southeast/East Asian area studies.

References

Ah, B. S. (2024, December 13). [Photo essay] Korean students study for tests as they protest for impeachment. Hankyoreh. https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/1172960.html 

Amnesty International. (2024, December 3). South Korea: Martial law must not be used to restrict human rights. Amnesty International. Retrieved June 15, 2025, from https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/12/south-korea-martial-law-must-not-be-used-to-restrict-human-rights/ 

Bum, C. I. (2024, September 4). Democracy under pressure: unpacking fears of martial law in South Korea. The Korea Times. https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2025/02/137_381847.html 

Jin, D. Y. (2023). The Internet and Social Media. In J. Han, R. Pacheco Pardo, & Y. Cho (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of South Korean Politics (pp. 394-407). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192894045.001.0001

Kim, Y., Kim, Y., & Zhou, S. (2017). Theoretical and methodological trends of agenda-setting theory: A thematic analysis of the last four decades of research. Agenda Setting Journal, 1(1), 5-22. https://doi.org/10.1075/asj.1.1.03kim?locatt=mode:legacy 

McCombs, M., & Shaw, D. (1972). THE AGENDA-SETTING FUNCTION OF MASS MEDIA. Public Opinion Quarterly, 36(2), 176–187.

Reporters Without Borders. (n.d.). South Korea. Reporters Without Borders. Retrieved July 17, 2025, from https://rsf.org/en/country/south-korea 

Reuters. (2024, December 15). Reuters. Retrieved from Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/south-korean-president-yoons-political-implosion-martial-law-impeachment-2024-12-15/ 

Won, L. J. (2024, December 3). Korea under emergency martial law — what does it mean? Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved March 21, 2025, from https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-12-03/national/politics/Korea-under-emergency-martial-law–What-does-it-mean/2191877

Wu, H. D., & Coleman, R. (2009). Advancing Agenda-Setting Theory: The Comparative Strength and New Contingent Conditions of the Two Levels of Agenda-Setting Effects. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 86(4), 775–789. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769900908600404  

Yi, J., & Jung, G. (2015). Debating Multicultural Korea: Media Discourse on Migrants and Minorities in South Korea. Migrants, Minorities, and the Media, 41(6), 985– 1013. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2014.100220