Young women were a major force behind the months-long protests that helped bring down Yoon in April after his unconstitutional declaration of martial law last December. Waving bright K-pop light sticks that turned the streets into a sea of colorful lights , their presence was so overwhelming that the anti-Yoon protesters became known as the “light stick troops” and their movement the “light stick revolution.”

They took to the streets en masse through last winter, braving icy weather, sitting on freezing pavements through snowy nights to call for the ouster of then-South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol. Politicians praised them as “the hope for the whole nation” who “saved our democracy.”

They took to the streets en masse through last winter, braving icy weather, sitting on freezing pavements through snowy nights to call for the ouster of then-South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol. Politicians praised them as “the hope for the whole nation” who “saved our democracy.”

Young women were a major force behind the months-long protests that helped bring down Yoon in April after his unconstitutional declaration of martial law last December. Waving bright K-pop light sticks that turned the streets into a sea of colorful lights, their presence was so overwhelming that the anti-Yoon protesters became known as the “light stick troops” and their movement the “light stick revolution.”

Yoon had risen to power on an anti-feminist platform in 2022, riding a wave of misogynistic sentiment among young men in South Korea—no surprise, then, that young women were highly motivated to remove him from power. But while Yoon’s brief, shock imposition of martial law triggered an ongoing political crisis, it also put the spotlight on one of South Korea’s biggest political failures. Despite the prominent role played by women in pro-democracy demonstrations, both past and present, the