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South Korea back to the streets for democracy

6 0
06.01.2025

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s abortive attempt to impose martial law has triggered a very serious constitutional firestorm and presented the US with an extremely complicated challenge. Yoon pathetically claimed he was responding to a growing North Korean threat “within his government”, but it was obvious that his dramatic move was born out of his frustration with the National Assembly.

Having been elected by the slimmest majority ever in 2022 and then for his “ruling” party to suffer a landside loss to the opposition Democratic Party in the National Assembly elections of mid-2024, Yoon had been plunged into a period of limbo for the last three years of his presidency. All this was graphically illustrated by his very active use of the presidential veto on House legislation – and none more so than on its efforts to prosecute corruption charges against his wife. And the House returned fire.

Throughout this period, Yoon’s public opinion rankings had fallen to perilous depths. The immediate public response to his martial law moves was one of wide public outrage – which its rapid withdrawal did nothing to mitigate. Protest groups quickly started to fill the streets around the National Assembly and the crisis moved up a level. After his failed attempt to have the military (organised by his defence minister) block the House discussion of the matter, the DP eventually mustered the requisite votes — including a few from Yoon’s party — to launch impeachment proceedings against the president. Importantly, the three major centrist/conservative Korean dailies were quick to criticise Yoon’s attempts to stall the impeachment process.

As one (Dong-A) set out their views in similar terms to the other two:

“Seven out of 10 South Koreans believe President Yoon Suk-yeol has lost his legitimacy as president following the December 3 declaration of martial law, according to a Dong-A Ilbo New Year survey. The poll found that 70.4% of respondents believe the Constitutional Court should uphold the National Assembly’s impeachment motion against Yoon, almost three times higher than 25.4% who think it should be dismissed. Separately, 70.8% of respondents said Yoon should resign, regardless........

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