The events that triggered the ouster of South Korea’s president paralyzed state affairs—while delivering an intelligence windfall to the country’s archnemesis.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then D.W. Pine, Time’s creative director of 26 years who recently published his thousandth cover, certainly has a lot to say.

The country’s Constitutional Court formally ended the presidency of Yoon Suk Yeol for declaring martial law, ending months of ...