Far-Right Turn after the December 3 Martial Law : Street Politics, Cultural Resources, and Affective Energies

This paper investigates how the surge of far-right radicalization in South Korea, particularly following the Martial Law declaration on December 3, became possible by analyzing the cultural-political characteristics of far-right rallies and protests. Despite the inherently weak hegemony of far-right cultural politics―marked by sectarianism, violence, and anti-cultural tendencies―the far-right gained rapid traction. This paper argues that the driving forces behind this shift were the reactionary elite political class, distortions in the media environment, and the affective forces of the Protestant right, including conspiracy theories and hate-based emotions. Addressing this phenomenon requires not only legal and institutional reform, but also cultural transformation and the expansion of democratic values.