The National Assembly Research Service (NARS), headed by President Lee Kwan-Hu, held the Joint Academic Conference Marking the First Anniversary of the Lifting of the December 3 Martial Law on Wednesday, December 3, 2025, at Seminar Rooms 1 and 2 of the National Assembly Members’ Office Building.

The conference was jointly organized by the National Assembly Research Service, the National Assembly Secretariat, the Korean Public Law Association, and the Korean Political Science Association under the theme “Democracy, the National Assembly, and the Constitution.” It was convened to comprehensively assess the current state of Korean democracy and to discuss future directions for its development, marking one year since the lifting of the December 3 martial law.

The conference consisted of two sessions. The first session, titled “Constitutional Crisis and the Rebound of Korean Democracy,” was jointly planned by NARS and the Korean Political Science Association and was chaired by Professor Kazuya Yuko of Keio University, former President of the International Political Science Association (IPSA).

The second session, titled “Constitutional Amendment and Legislative Alternatives for the Protection of Democratic Constitutionalism,” was led by the National Assembly Legislation Office in cooperation with the Korean Public Law Association and was chaired by Professor Emeritus Kim Sun-Taek of Korea University.

The first session opened with a keynote address by Woo Won-shik, Speaker of the National Assembly. Speaker Woo described the constitutional crisis of the past year as a “stress test” for Korean democracy and presented three key tasks for the future: easing political polarization, establishing politics centered on people’s livelihoods, and advancing substantive discussions on constitutional revision. He emphasized that the recovery of democracy requires politics to regain its proper function.

In his welcoming remarks, Lee Kwan-Hu, President of the National Assembly Research Service, recalled his firsthand experience of the martial law situation at the National Assembly shortly after assuming office. He stressed the importance of critically reflecting on why and how martial law could occur within a democratic system, noting that democracy becomes vulnerable when politics deteriorates and power is pursued as an end in itself.

The conference also featured analyses by leading international scholars. Professor Aurel Croissant of Heidelberg University delivered a presentation titled “The December 3 Martial Law and the Resilience of Korean Democracy,” analyzing how long-accumulated democratic erosion weakened institutional safeguards and proposing reform tasks to strengthen democratic resilience.

Professor Stephan Haggard of the University of California, San Diego, participated online and presented “Democratic Backsliding and Resilience: Lessons from Korea.” He noted that the declaration of martial law in a consolidated democracy was particularly shocking, as it did not follow conventional patterns of democratic backsliding, and analyzed the interaction between political polarization and leaders’ misjudgments as a key factor in the crisis.

The conference provided a meaningful opportunity for domestic and international scholars in political science and constitutional law to assess the current state of Korean democracy and to explore institutional measures for strengthening the constitutional order.