When the leader of the main opposition party in a stable, advanced democracy hints that the government is planning to introduce martial law, as Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) leader Rep. Lee Jae-myung did this weekend, you would expect Koreans — and the world — to sit up and take notice.

But they didn't. Not a squeak. Nobody ran out to buy extra toilet paper and ramyeon. No foreign head of state called President Yoon Suk Yeol. No foreign ministry issued a travel advisory. Foreign investors didn't panic sell. Foreign schools in Korea didn't check their emergency response manuals.

That is quite startling. A major political leader raises the specter of soldiers on our streets pointing guns at us, and nobody cares. We are indifferent.

Except, that is, for those fellows who spend too much time online when they should be working, and journalists who cover politics and are grateful for something more interesting than usual to write about.

What are we to make of this? It's important, of course, that Generalissimo Yoon doesn't misinterpret the silence and get ideas that he may not have had to put us all under military control. He should also know that the indifference is not because we all think the opposition leader is an idiot. The truth is worse.

For a major economy that is struggling with the world's lowest birth rate and one of the highest suicide rates and wants to unify with a North Korea that is no longer interested, you'd think there'd be some real philosophical oratory and deeply thought-through policy debates in Korea.

But no. The interactions between the ruling and opposition sides in Korea are of such an embarrassingly low quality that it is not worth paying attention to.

But truth be told, we should pay attention. We should be very nervous because it seems to me that the politicians talk in such a way that displays contempt for the institutions of democracy.

Both main parties are guilty, but this time it is coming from the DPK.

When Yoon named Kim Yong-hyun, the head of presidential security, as his choice for minister of national defense, Kim Min-seok, a senior opposition figure, characterized him as a "Cha Ji-cheol-style suppressor of the opposition" and said it was "reasonable" to believe the government thinks there might be a war and that it's necessary to have martial law.

Cha was the security chief of the dictator Park Chung-hee.

Other lawmakers picked up this theme, questioning Kim Yong-hyun during his confirmation hearing at the National Assembly about alleged preparations for martial law.

It is, in theory, possible that someone somewhere in the government is drafting a martial law scenario paper. The thing is, though, that these politicians don't believe their own allegations. If martial law is introduced, they will be as surprised as you and me. The proof of this claim lies in the way they have thrown the idea out.

Consider for a moment the seriousness of what they are saying compared to the frivolity of the way the accusation was delivered.

The last time there was martial law in this country was 44 years ago when a new dictator, Chun Doo-hwan, decided to suppress the parliamentary opposition. Chun made the fatal error of sending special forces to do the police work of controlling campus protests at Seoul National University, where they succeeded, and in Gwangju, where they were driven out by citizens who had erupted in reaction to their thuggish violence.

That rebellion cost over 200 lives and made the military, which until then was seen as less corrupt and more efficient than the civilian establishment, a hated institution. It turned a generation of student activists from being pro-democracy into being pro-communist and even pro-North Korean at a time when the rest of the world was chucking Marxism onto the ash heap of history.

Because of this, Army officers hung their heads in shame for a generation and swore never again to allow themselves to be used in such a way to suppress their own people.

It is likely that the opposition is planning a major effort to bring people out to demand the impeachment of the president. Such is their impatience for power and contempt for elections and the office of the presidency.

But even a million people on the street would not result in martial law. If the political leadership tried it, I would not be surprised if the Army refused.

There is not going to be martial law in this country. Everyone knows that. The people and the politicians know it. If opposition politicians want to be taken seriously, they should address real problems and stop conjuring up fantasy villains.

Michael Breen (mike.breen@insightcomms.com) is the author of "The New Koreans."