National Assembly in Seoul/ gettyimagesbank

President Yoon Suk Yeol greatly undermined South Korea's democracy with his martial law imposition, which led to subsequent political turmoil and conflicts, according to an Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report.

In EIU's "Democracy Index 2024," an annual assessment of various countries' democracy levels, South Korea ranked 32nd out of 167 countries, down from 22nd in 2022.

The country's overall score declined from 8.09 to 7.75 out of a full score of 10, and the drop was the ninth largest among all countries surveyed. The 7.75 points were also the lowest for the country since 2006, when the index started.

The fall in the score put Korea's democracy level in the "flawed democracy" category from the "full democracy" classification, a status it had maintained since 2020. Countries scoring above 8.00 are considered full democracies, while those between 6.00 and 7.99 are categorized as flawed democracies.

EIU attributed the downgrade to political instability linked to Yoon's botched martial law and the resulting political deadlock.

"The president's attempt to impose martial law exposed some of the institutional and behavioral weaknesses of South Korea's political system," the report said. "The deep-rooted acrimony between political parties and an unwillingness to compromise makes the political system more unstable than it might first appear. Finally, the extreme political polarisation that characterizes the country's polity increases the risk of political violence and social unrest."

Yoon declared martial law on Dec. 3, citing the need to eradicate "anti-state forces," referring to the opposition-led National Assembly. However, the Assembly swiftly passed a motion to lift the martial rule through a vote.

About 10 days later, the Assembly impeached the president, and the Constitutional Court has been reviewing whether to uphold the impeachment.

Although the rapid response from the Assembly and the public reaffirmed the nation's commitment to democratic institutions, EIU warned that the crisis underscored the fragility of South Korea's democratic framework.

"The episode served as a reminder of the comparatively short track record (37 years) and relative frailty of democracy in South Korea," the report noted.

According to the report, the global average score in 2024 was 5.17, a record low since the index's inception in 2006. The percentage of the world's population living under full democracies fell to 6.6 percent, down from 12.5 percent a decade ago. Meanwhile, two in five people worldwide now live under authoritarian regimes.

In Asia, no country made the top 10. Taiwan ranked 12th (8.78 points), falling two spots, while Japan remained 16th (8.48 points). China rose three places to 145th (2.11 points) but remained categorized as an authoritarian state.

North Korea ranked 165th, third from last, with an unchanged score of 1.08. Only Myanmar (0.96) and Afghanistan (0.25) ranked lower.