Last year, a blockbuster movie gripped South Korea with a dramatization of a painful memory from its authoritarian past, when the assassination of President Park Chung-hee in 1979 led to a military coup and plunged the country into the iron grip of martial law.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shocked the nation in a televised address, declaring martial law and calling in troops to secure the National Assembly building where parliament sits.

In South Korea, President Yoon Suk Yeol briefly declared martial law in a move that sparked widespread backlash. Here's why.