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Myanmar’s Military Coup & Democracy Movement

Reporter Seong-won Kim

On February 1st, a military coup occurred in Myanmar. Myanmar’s military which is led by the supreme commander, Min Aung Hleing, protested the result of the election, claiming that the general election last November was illegal.

Myanmar’s National League for Democracy (NLD) which is led by Aung San Suu Kyi won the general election with about 83 percent of the vote in November 8th.

But, immediately after the defeat in the general election, the Myanmar’s military submitted a complaint to the Supreme Court of Myanmar against the Chairman of the Myanmar’s election commission claiming the election was held in a negative manner. However, the Supreme Court of Myanmar dismissed that illegal electoral charge.



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△ Myanmar’s National adviser ‘Aung San Suu Kyi’

So, for the above reasons, Myanmar’s military announced that the government power of Myanmar devolved to Min Aung Hlaing who is the supreme commander of Myanmar’s military after military coup which is occurred in February 1st.

After that, he declared a yearlong state of emergency and blocked calls, telecommunication and the Internet throughout Myanmar. In addition, Myanmar’s military blocked roads leading to Myanmar’s major cities.

After taking such measures, they said they will hold a fair general election next year because the 2020 general election was illegal.




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△ Supreme commander of Myanmar’s military ‘Min Aung Hlaing’

military coup that rarely took place in the 2000s, Governments around the world have criticized the military’s coup and they are pressing Myanmar’s military to release Aung San Suu Kyi as soon as possible.

On February 2nd, the day after coup, the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs of the South Korea issued a statement of expressing concern over the Myanmar’s military coup and demanded the release of detained people.

The U.S government has urged Myanmar’s military to release Aung San Suu Kyi immediately and to follow the democratic procedure. Also, the U.S Department of State announced that they imposed restrictions on aid that has been continuing to impose and declared that they will begin sanctions on the Myanmar in earnest.

 The United Nations(UN) convened an emergency meeting of the security council, and the United Nations Commission on Human Rights adopted a resolution condemning the coup by Myanmar’s military

Myanmar’s people, the biggest victims of the coup, are campaigning for the democracy in Myanmar.

On February 2nd, the day after the coup, protests took place in Yangon region by pounding pots or honking vehicles and on February 4th, protests took place on the streets for the first time since the coup.

As such continuous small and frequent protests across the country, the military’s crackdown has left four people dead and dozens wounded, pushing the anger of people even higher.

Finally, Myanmar’s people staged a general strike on February 22nd, and the largest number of people took part in the demonstration since the emergency.

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△ Protesters who are protesting against to the Myanmar’s military.

As March 7th, two weeks after Myanmar’s people staged a general strike and participated in the protests, at least 63 people died and thousands were injured.

The international community are very concerned about the military’s violent crackdown on the protests.

Vatican City’s Pope Francis called for democratic harmony and the United Nations Commission on Human Rights warned Myanmar’s military’s use of force against to protesters was a violation of international law and could be prosecuted.

But, Myanmar’s military has continued to use force against protesters, regardless of warning of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. The situation in Myanmar, where the military is suppressing protesters for democracy by force, reminds us of the Republic of Korea 31 years ago.

In May of 1980, Gwangju was very similar with the current situation in Myanmar. This is because there was a history of soldiers using violence and firing on citizens who were calling for democratization under the leadership of the former president Doohwan Chun.

Because Koreans experienced such a painful history, they are cheering for Myanmar’s pro-democracy protesters on SNS, and particularly Gwangju citizens decided to come forward to help Myanmar’s democratic protest.

So, they have decided to form a solidarity organization to support Myanmar people in Korea who are struggling in our nation.

We should continue to pay attention to when Myanmar’s democracy return, which is suffering from a crisis now.