Dr. Irina Khmelko stands in the South Korean Parliament. Photo courtesy of Dr. Irina Khmelko.
On Dec. 3, 2024, South Korea declared martial law, invoking military power and sending shock waves throughout the global community. The Parliament was surrounded by soldiers who blocked the entrance to the building and tried to prevent legislators from holding a vote to reverse the martial law. Some legislators had to climb through windows to cast their votes.
Six hours later, the presidential decree was unanimously reversed by 190 members of South Korea’s Parliament.
Dr. Irina Khmelko, a UC Foundation Professor in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Department of Political Science and Public Service, spent time this summer in Seoul meeting with the speaker, members of Parliament and policy experts to discuss legislative studies.
“It’s very easy to lose democracy,” she said. “It’s incredibly hard to get it back. It’s not just snapping your fingers and it’s right back. Nobody has a magic wand.
“What the Korean parliament did was truly magical. It’s truly a huge service to the nation in terms of preserving their democracy, in terms of keeping South Korea as a democratic country.”
Brought to Seoul for the World Congress hosted by the International Political Science Association, Khmelko chaired the research committee discussing legislative studies.
“I went there for multiple reasons to present the results of my research, to listen to others, to organize and to run the World Congress of the International Political Science Association,” she said. “At the same time, lead a delegation and work with the parliament because what we do is very significant in terms of practical implications.
“That was an important part of building our network of work with practitioners. Our organization works not only with researchers but also with practitioners, policymakers and international policymakers.”
Khmelko’s research focuses on comparative legislative studies, examining parliaments from across the world, with a specific focus on legislative-executive relations.
“The roles of parliaments are changing around the world,” she explained. “Some are losing power to the executives, some are gaining power and some are staying the same.
“I’m really looking at what’s happening with parliaments around the world. The main thing is: what allows any parliament to stay as an independently elected assembly and not become just some puppet institution for the president of any country.”
According to Khmelko, South Korea provided an excellent case study on legislative power.
“They saw on video cameras governmental forces, military approaching the parliament,” she said. “They were hectically voting, trying to stop it, and they succeeded. They stopped it. They managed to get enough people inside the building, and they literally had to go through the windows, through the basements, through all sorts of different ways to evade the barricades that the government put around. That was really something. That parliament did an amazing thing.”
Dr. Irina Khmelko (sky blue cardigan) sat directly in front of Speaker Woo Won-Shik during a private meeting at the South Korean Parliament. Photo courtesy of Dr. Irina Khmelko.
After attending the World Congress conference, Khmelko and others had the opportunity to visit South Korea’s parliamentary building and meet with the speaker of the National Assembly of South Korea, Woo Won-shik.
During the declaration of martial law, Woo climbed a National Assembly fence to preside over the presidential impeachment vote.
“When you are there in person, it’s much different than just reading the book,” Khmelko said. “I can read, and obviously, I did read about that. I could read the news. I could read academic publications. It’s a totally different experience because it adds so much to the conversation, so much to the story or case study. It allows so much more in terms of the production of the research. It really allows us to produce more ideas.
“That’s literally what I’m trying to figure out. What does it take? What’s the magic formula that allows a parliament or legislature to remain independent? To remain a powerful policy actor? Because what we know for a fact is that any democracy needs an independent parliament.”
One of the main takeaways from her trip was the education level in the country, Khmelko said. She believes this played a factor in the country’s ability to move forward after an extraordinary situation.
“Society in general, you don’t feel a lot of animosity even though clearly it’s a high conflict situation,” she said. “Military coming to the parliament, you cannot come up with a higher degree of conflict. But the attitude allows them to resolve it and move forward as a country.
“It was an eye-opening experience that the country could value knowledge so much and have the ability to process information and understand what happened. That allowed them to move forward. They moved forward as one country, as one South Korea.”
Khmelko said that conferences like this give participants a boost of ideas.
“I was able to literally push my discipline forward not only with my research, but by commenting on the other research and by talking to people,” she explained.
“One of the accomplishments is the organizational side, putting together a highly capable board and leadership. Working with the leadership and other leaders of this organization is another huge accomplishment. Establishing context with the Korean parliament, meeting their speaker, that’s another huge, incredible outcome of that.”
Spending the entire time in Seoul, Khmelko wasn’t able to explore much of the country due to a packed itinerary, but came away with an immense respect for the South Korean people.
“I have lived in many countries on this planet,” she said. “I worked in many countries. I worked with people from all over the world. Koreans absolutely left a lasting impression.”
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Department of Political Science and Public Service
Photo courtesy of Dr. Irina Khmelko.
