
Martial regulation troops put together to interrupt into the principle corridor of the Nationwide Meeting in Seoul within the early hours of Dec. 4, 2024, hours after President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial regulation. Yonhap
Ryu Hyuk, former inspector basic of the Ministry of Justice, was having what he described as an „exceedingly tranquil day” on the night of Dec. 3, 2024.
After having dinner along with his eldest youngster, he went to mattress at round 10 p.m. However simply 27 minutes later, his youngster woke him as much as announce that President Yoon Suk Yeol had declared martial regulation.
“Martial regulation? This present day?” Ryu thought.
He may hardly imagine what he was seeing as he turned on the TV and checked the information on-line. A couple of minutes later, he was driving to attend an emergency assembly on the justice ministry.
Through the half-hour drive to the Authorities Advanced Gwacheon, Ryu could not cease fascinated about what was unfolding. When he arrived and Justice Minister Park Sung-jae confirmed that the assembly was in regards to the martial regulation declaration, Ryu instantly walked out of the room.
„In following an order born from unlawful martial regulation, I might be no completely different from a guard at Auschwitz’s gasoline chamber, to present an excessive instance,“ he mentioned in a current interview with native media. „I simply didn’t suppose it was proper for me to be there at that assembly.“
The next morning, he tendered his resignation.
This act of defiance mirrors the findings of Emily Caspar’s e-book, „Simply Following Orders.“ Caspar, who attracts on the Milgram experiment and cognitive neuroscience, explores the psychological mechanisms that drive obedience, even when it calls for harming others. Her analysis highlights how the mind’s guilt response diminishes when people act underneath orders, significantly these in middleman positions.

Navy officers increase their palms throughout a particular committee assembly on the Nationwide Meeting in Seoul, Jan. 14, previous to questioning about their function in President Yoon Suk Yeol’s Dec. 3 imposition of martial regulation. Yonhap
Yoon’s martial regulation declaration has led to months of political chaos and an ongoing management vacuum. Within the aftermath, a number of high-ranking army and police officers have been arrested. Lots of them mentioned that they had been merely „following orders“ from their superiors, together with figures like Yeo In-hyung, former chief of the Protection Counterintelligence Command.
However others selected to defy orders from larger up they deemed immoral and illegal.
Some troopers from a key investigative unit of the martial regulation forces refused to enter the Nationwide Election Fee (NEC). As a substitute, they confirmed passive resistance, opting to eat prompt noodles at a close-by comfort retailer regardless of strain to conform. The troopers had been ordered to enter the NEC to safe the principle server containing election data, a transfer they believed to be unlawful.
Caspar’s work emphasizes the significance of understanding the psychological drivers of obedience to interrupt the cycle of violence. By fostering empathy and ethical braveness, each individually and inside organizational constructions, folks can create a society the place people are empowered to query and resist unjust orders, based on Caspar, who teaches at Ghent College in Belgium.
The occasions in Korea function a poignant reminder that true management calls for ethical accountability and the braveness to defy illegal authority, even within the face of immense strain.
Disobedience to authority
Within the e-book, Caspar sheds gentle on what goes on contained in the human mind when obeying horrible instructions.

The quilt of „Simply Following Orders,“ authored by Emilie Caspar / Courtesy of Dongasia Books
Caspar revisits the Milgram experiment and combines it with cognitive neuroscience to look at what occurs contained in the minds of perpetrators once they obey orders that hurt others.
The 1961 research by American psychologist Stanley Milgram confirmed that unusual folks can do horrible issues when ordered by an authority, even when it goes towards their conscience.
In keeping with Caspar’s analysis, the mind exercise related to guilt diminishes when folks perform dangerous actions underneath orders from others. Apparently, these in mid-level positions of authority are typically the least repulsed by merciless actions, reminiscent of violence or slaughter.
A living proof is Yeo, the previous chief of the Protection Counterintelligence Command, who orchestrated operations to deploy army and police forces to the Nationwide Meeting and the Nationwide Election Fee.
Proof means that he was concerned in issuing orders for the rapid arrests of Nationwide Meeting Speaker Woo Gained-shik and key political leaders because the legislative physique was making ready to vote on lifting martial regulation.
Round 685 martial regulation troops stormed the Nationwide Meeting that evening, making an attempt to interrupt into the principle corridor. They smashed home windows and used bodily drive in an try to achieve entry.
“No matter whether or not it’s proper or mistaken, I imagine troopers ought to comply with orders in instances of disaster,” Yeo instructed an inquiry panel of lawmakers. “I used to be following orders as a commanding officer.”
What traits outline an individual who chooses to withstand unreasonable orders?
The e-book means that such people typically have a stronger sense of empathy. They’re extra prone to really feel accountable for the hurt that might end result from following orders and are keen to take higher dangers to stop it.
In a single experiment, contributors had been extra prone to disobey violent instructions once they had been injected with oxytocin and when the frontal cortex — an space related to empathy — was stimulated. Moreover, the extra authoritarian and hierarchical a company was, the upper the speed of defiance amongst its members.
Nevertheless, the neuroscientist cautions towards labeling those that obey orders and commit violence as merely evil or monstrous. She argues that demonizing people on this method can overshadow the political and historic context which will have influenced their involvement in violence.
So as to break the cycle of violence by means of obedience, the writer highlights the necessity to first perceive the mechanisms of obedience and provide you with an intervention plan to encourage empathy and ethical braveness structurally.

A protester holds a placard urging the punishment of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, former Protection Minister Kim Yong-hyun and high-ranking army officers, on the Nationwide Police Company headquarters in central Seoul, Dec. 26. Yonhap