Category: Politics-Korea

I wonder what will happen if the legal system convicts Yoon of treason, but the Constitutional Court does not approve his impeachment?:

Attorney Yoon Gap-geun, legal representative for President Yoon Suk Yeol, speaks during a press conference held near Gangnam Station in Seoul on Saturday.

Attorney Yoon Gap-geun argued that the declaration of martial law by President Yoon could never constitute treason, stating, “Martial law is a constitutional authority granted to the president, and there has never been a case where the exercise of emergency powers by the president was punished as treason. This conclusion is supported by the majority of constitutional scholars.”

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

The CIO is making themselves look ridiculous at this point. Yoon has told them repeatedly that he is exercising his right to remain silent and yet they are playing this hide and seek game with him:

Oh Dong-woon, chief of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, speaks to reporters as he arrives for work at the office in Gwacheon, just south of Seoul, on Jan. 22, 2025. (Yonhap)

Investigators failed Wednesday at their third attempt to forcibly bring in President Yoon Suk Yeol for questioning over his botched martial law bid. (……)

Prosecutors and investigators with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) visited the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, south of Seoul, to question Yoon over his Dec. 3 declaration of martial law, but the president refused all forms of interrogation, including on-site.

“We plan to discuss and decide the next steps in the questioning and procedures,” the CIO said in a notice to the press.

The investigators withdrew after five hours while Yoon met with his legal team.

Yonhap

So basically when the CIO shows up Yoon has meetings with his lawyers or he is attending his impeachment trial or going to the hospital:

Investigators went to the detention center on Monday and Tuesday to forcibly bring him in but withdrew both times after Yoon’s side refused to cooperate.

Under human rights protection regulations, investigators cannot question a suspect without his or her consent after 9 p.m.

Yoon returned to the detention center past that time on Tuesday after attending his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court and stopping at a military hospital to get a health exam.

“It kind of turned out like a game of hide-and-seek,” Oh said when asked if he was aware of Yoon’s plans to visit the hospital. “(The investigators) waited at the detention center because it didn’t seem right from the perspective of human rights to go looking for him at the hospital.”

So why is the CIO continuing to play this hide and seek game with someone exercising their right to remain silent?

I wonder how many other world leaders are making jokes about the political crisis in South Korea as well?:

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has jokingly said “everyone calls me chaotic, but look at South Korea,” a news report said Sunday, in an apparent reference to the political turmoil sparked by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed martial law bid.

His remarks were reported by U.S. broadcaster CBS based on interviews with a dozen people with knowledge of events at Mar-a-Lago in the weeks between Election Day in November and Inauguration Day, set for Monday.

“Trump cracked jokes — ‘everyone calls me chaotic, but look at South Korea,’ he said one day,” according to CBS.

“He said he’d meet with Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ‘if they ever stop impeaching him,'” it said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

At least Yoon was allowed out of jail to finally attend the impeachment trial:

President Yoon Suk Yeol appeared for the first time at his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court on Tuesday, speaking of his long-held belief in “liberal democracy” and asking the bench to consider him favorably.

Yoon arrived at the court in a convoy escorted by the Presidential Security Service from the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, just south of the capital, where he has been held in custody since last Wednesday.

At 2 p.m., he entered the courtroom, dressed in a suit and red tie, and sat waiting for the eight justices to arrive for the third hearing of the trial deliberating his impeachment over his Dec. 3 declaration of martial law.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

If Yoon’s failed martial law attempt achieved anything, it reminded the Korean public of the DPK’s obstructionism, ties to North Korea, and appeasement of China which must be what is causing them to slide in these public opinion surveys:

In this file photo, Kwon Young-se (R, front), chief of the ruling People Power Party’s emergency leadership committee, shakes hands with Lee Jae-myung (L, front), leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, during a memorial service for late former National Assembly Speaker Kim Soo-han at the parliamentary building in Seoul on Jan. 3, 2025. (Yonhap)

 The approval rating for the ruling People Power Party (PPP) surpassed that of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) without a margin of error for the first time in nearly six months, a poll showed Monday.

According to the survey by Realmeter on 1,004 people aged 18 and older conducted last Thursday and Friday, the approval rating for the PPP stood at 46.5 percent, while that of the DP stood at 39 percent. 

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.

The poll also showed that a gap between those who support the PPP for the next administration and a change in administration led by the DP has narrowed down to within the margin of error. 

According to the poll, 48.6 percent supported the PPP for the next administration, up 7.4 percentage points from the previous week.

Yonhap

Wouldn’t it be amazing if the DPK’s parliamentary obstruction that caused the martial law attempt leads to them losing the Presidential election if the Constitutional Court upholds Yoon’s impeachment?

Congresswoman Young Kim was born in Incheon and has a long history in the U.S. House of Representatives being an expert on Korean affairs. She makes a great point on how the DPK’s first impeachment motion was to condemn Yoon for diplomacy atagonizing China, Russia, and North Korea. They ended up having to remove this motion after criticism, but shows who they favoritism towards:

“If the factions behind the impeachment in South Korea continue to steer the current situation, North Korea and China will seize this opportunity to weaken the U.S.-South Korea alliance. I say this based on my over 20 years of experience witnessing the threats posed by North Korea and China in the U.S. House of Representatives.”

In a written interview with The Chosun Ilbo on Jan. 14, Young Kim, a U.S. congresswoman (Republican, California), said, “The forces behind President Yoon Suk-yeol’s impeachment prefer appeasement toward North Korea and accommodation of China, which could lead to a major disaster for the Korean Peninsula and the Indo-Pacific region.” (…….)

In U.S. political circles, there has been growing concern over the phrase “diplomacy antagonizing North Korea, China, and Russia,” which was cited as a reason for impeachment in the first motion proposed by South Korea’s Democratic Party last month. After the first motion was defeated and controversy intensified, the opposition removed this clause from the second motion.

Chosun Ilbo

You can read more at the link.