Crisis to Brink of Impeachment: South Korea’s Isolated President

AFP/APP

Seoul: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has faced numerous crises since taking office, but this week’s declaration of martial law and the deployment of troops and helicopters to parliament marked an unprecedented low.

Although the return to South Korea’s authoritarian past lasted only a few hours, widespread protests forced Yoon to reverse his decision early Wednesday. Public discontent is evident, with polls showing a majority of citizens calling for his resignation.

Lawmakers were set to vote on an impeachment motion Saturday, with uncertainty over whether the opposition-controlled parliament could secure the required two-thirds majority.

Even within Yoon’s ruling People Power Party (PPP), divisions persist. Party leader Han Dong-hoon, who was reportedly targeted for arrest during the martial law declaration, has deemed Yoon’s resignation “inevitable.”

On Saturday, Yoon apologized for causing “anxiety and inconvenience” but resisted calls to step down, instead entrusting the PPP with stabilizing the political situation, including decisions on his term in office.

Born in Dictatorship

Born in Seoul in 1960, Yoon grew up during South Korea’s military rule. A lawyer by training, he rose to prominence as a prosecutor and anti-corruption advocate. Yoon played a key role in the impeachment and conviction of Park Geun-hye, South Korea’s first female president, in 2016, as well as the prosecution of a top aide to her successor, Moon Jae-in, in 2019.

The conservative PPP persuaded Yoon to run for president, and he narrowly defeated Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung in March 2022.

Scandals and Controversies

Yoon’s popularity has been consistently low, particularly among women, due to his pledge to abolish the gender equality ministry.

His administration faced criticism for its handling of a 2022 Halloween crowd crush that killed over 150 people, as well as for food inflation, economic challenges, and alleged constraints on freedom of speech.

Yoon was accused of misusing presidential vetoes, notably against a bill enabling an investigation into alleged stock manipulation by his wife, Kim Keon Hee. Further controversy arose when his wife accepted a $2,000 designer handbag as a gift, which Yoon justified as an act of courtesy. His mother-in-law was imprisoned for forging financial documents, adding to his reputational challenges.

Earlier this year, a petition for Yoon’s impeachment gained significant traction, causing technical disruptions on the parliamentary website.

Political Isolation

As president, Yoon has strengthened ties with the United States and maintained a tough stance on North Korea, earning praise abroad. However, his efforts to restore relations with Japan, South Korea’s former colonial ruler, have been unpopular domestically.

Since losing parliamentary elections to the Democratic Party, Yoon has been politically weakened, with his budget slashed and his authority undercut. The imposition of martial law has been widely condemned as unwarranted, with experts noting the absence of any conditions justifying such a drastic measure.

Yoon’s actions have drawn criticism for reviving memories of South Korea’s authoritarian past. Bruce Klingner of the Heritage Foundation remarked, “Yoon’s action is a damning reversal to decades of South Korean efforts to put its authoritarian past behind it.”