Korean posts misrepresent Trump's Washington takeover as 'declaration of martial law'
"Martial law has been declared in Washington. It is an exclusive presidential authority and an act of governance," reads a Korean-language post shared August 12, 2025 on Threads.
The post includes an image of a military convoy crossing a bridge and a picture showing a group of soldiers riding the metro. A cut-out photo of Trump pointing forward is superimposed over the images.
It surfaced after Trump said he would place the US capital's Metropolitan Police under federal control, which would be backed up by 800 DC National Guardsmen, to curb violent crime in the city of 700,000 (archived link).
In June, Trump similarly deployed National Guard troops and US Marines in Los Angeles -- the first time since 1965 that a US president deployed the National Guard against the wishes of a state governor.
Unlike the 50 states, the District of Columbia operates under a unique relationship with the federal government that limits its autonomy and grants Congress extraordinary control over local matters (archived here and here).
The overwhelmingly Democratic city faces allegations from Republican politicians that it is overrun by crime, plagued by homelessness and financially mismanaged. Data from Washington police, however, show significant drops in violent crime between 2023 and 2024 after a post-pandemic surge (archived link).
The same images spread elsewhere on Facebook and Instagram.
Similar X posts also drew a comparison between Trump's actions and Yoon's, arguing it showed the impeached former South Korean president's martial law declaration did not amount to a crime (archived link).
Yoon plunged South Korea into a political crisis when he sought to subvert civilian rule on December 3, sending troops to parliament in a bid to prevent lawmakers from voting down his declaration of martial law.
Yoon -- who now faces charges of insurrection and abuse of power -- became the country's first sitting president to be arrested in January 2025.
His brief imposition of martial law in South Korea differs from Trump's deployment of military and federal law enforcement to Washington, according to experts in both countries.
"The regular civilian laws are in effect in DC," said John Yoo, a law professor at the University of California-Berkeley (archived link). "In fact, there is no federal statute for declaring martial law in DC, not to mention the United States as a whole."
He added on August 18: "Someone could think that the use of troops in DC is somehow similar to what happened in Korea. But that would be incorrect as a legal matter."
No suspension of civilian rule
There is no established definition of martial law in the United States, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, but it "usually refers to a power that, in an emergency, allows the military to take the place of the civilian government and exercise jurisdiction over civilians in a particular area" (archived link).
An announcement on the White House website, titled "Restoring Law and Order in the District of Columbia", makes no mention of the military taking the place of Washington's civilian government (archived link).
The announcement, signed by Trump, reads: "I must also ensure that all citizens can avail themselves of the right to interact with their elected representatives, and that the Federal Government can properly function, without fear of being subjected to violent, menacing street crime."
The District of Columbia filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's moves to install Drug Enforcement Administration chief Terry Cole as "emergency" police commissioner. District Judge Ana Reyes brokered a deal under which Cole agreed to give directives through the mayor's office (archived link).
Legal experts in South Korea dismissed comparisons between Trump's actions and those of former president Yoon.
Chung Tae-ho, a constitutional law professor at Kyung Hee University, told AFP that "Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of martial law sought to dismantle the democratic constitutional order by mobilising the military" (archived link).
"By contrast, Trump does not appear to have deployed the National Guard to destroy the democratic constitutional order, so the intent itself differs from the outset," he said August 15.
Paik Eun-seok, a professor at Handong International Law School and a US-trained lawyer, told AFP there are "clear differences" between Trump and Yoon's actions (archived link).
"On December 3, the president not only declared martial law but also sought to restrict or seize control of the functions of the National Assembly, the National Election Commission, and the courts, using military forces -- thus constituting a martial law situation," he said August 15.
"While Washington's Metropolitan Police has been placed under federal control, the National Guard has not replaced them, and therefore it can be argued it is not martial law in the usual sense."
Misused visuals
Reverse image searches on Google also show the photos used in the false posts predate the federal takeover of Washington.
The first image of tanks and military vehicles crossing a bridge was taken during a June 14, 2025 parade in Washington to honour the 250th anniversary of the US Army. Trump hosted the event on his 79th birthday, spurring protests across the country accusing him of acting like a dictator (archived link).
"A tank drives past the Lincoln Memorial as other vehicles line up on the Arlington Memorial Bridge during the 250th Anniversary of the U.S. Army Grand Military Parade and Celebration on Saturday June 14, 2025 in Washington, DC," reads the photo's caption on the Getty Images website, which credits The Washington Post (archived link).
The second image of soldiers sitting on a train was taken January 20, 2021 ahead of former US president Joe Biden's inauguration.
"Soldiers with the North Carolina National Guard ride a Metro train that will get them to the station they will guard for the 59th Presidential Inauguration in Washington on Jan. 20, 2021," reads its caption on the National Guard website (archived link).
More than 25,000 National Guard members from across the United States were deployed in the capital before and during the inauguration as part of an unprecedented security response after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6 following a rally denouncing the election results.
AFP has previously debunked other claims related to Yoon's declaration of martial law and the situation in Washington.
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