Coup film 12.12: The Day tops Netflix after South Korea martial law chaos

SEOUL – For many South Koreans, last week’s dramatic events were their first real-life brush with the nation’s history of military dictatorship.

That is why millions turned to a year-old movie on Netflix and a literary classic to try and make sense of the turmoil.

The film 12.12: The Day, which debuted in 2023 to 13 million moviegoers, has been the No. 1 South Korean film on the streaming platform since Dec 3, when President Yoon Suk Yeol stunned the nation by imposing martial law.

The 141-minute blockbuster, which has been on Netflix since May, depicts the events surrounding the Dec 12 coup in 1979.

The Asian country is still dealing with the aftermath of

Mr Yoon’s decision on the evening of Dec 3

, which reignited memories of the movement led by General Chun Doo-hwan that created a dictatorship and culminated in the bloody Gwangju Uprising of 1980. 

In 12.12: The Day, South Korean actor Hwang Jung-min played Chun Doo-kwang, a character based on General Chun.

The movie, along with a 2014 book on the subject by 2024’s Nobel Prize Literature winner Han Kang, introduced an entire generation to the darker aspects of the nation’s history and is credited with helping galvanise South Koreans on the night of Dec 3.

Hundreds poured out onto Seoul’s streets after Mr Yoon’s actions, braving bitterly cold conditions.

The President backtracked within hours

.

Han’s win in October catapulted her Human Acts – which explores how censorship and violence upended whole communities – back onto bestseller lists.

On Dec 6, the 54-year-old said she was shocked to see that martial law happened again four decades later. “Like everyone else on that night, I was deeply shocked,” Han said during a press conference at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm. “It is my wish that violence and coercion will not take place to suppress the press. We should not go back to the past when the press was oppressed by the government.”  

As with the movie, the novel has since dominated trending topics on domestic social media. Since Dec 3, both have become memes on the internet, invoked by users to dissect Mr Yoon’s shock move and the implications for the country.

“Are we living through Spring Of Seoul in real life?” one X user said, referring to the Korean title of 12.12: The Day.

“Thank goodness, we haven’t forgotten this history,” another user said, urging people to revisit the film.

Many in South Korea are now calling for Mr Yoon to be held accountable.

The leader of South Korea’s ruling People Power Party said on Dec 8 that the party will prepare an orderly exit plan for Mr Yoon after he survived an impeachment motion on Dec 7. BLOOMBERG