Only South From Here

As a Korean student at an American boarding school, I heard, “What on Earth is happening in South Korea?” countless times last week. Last Tuesday, President Yoon Seok Yeol shocked the world by declaring martial law for the first time in 43 years, temporary installing the military into power. President Yoon rallied support for the decision by promising to eradicate anti-national, pro-North Korean forces and protect the country’s democracy. However, recent reporting reveals that he attempted a coup, planning to arrest and detain key figures from the opposing party and consolidate his power as President. Hence, President Yoon must be impeached and held accountable for his act of treason against the country without further delay.

President Yoon, of the People Power Party (PPP), has always had fierce opposition from the opposing Democratic Party of Korea. In April, the latter party won 175 out of 300 seats in the Korean Parliament. In response to his party losing parliamentary seats, President Yoon chose the most extreme move on the board: martial law. Falsely labeling the Democratic party as pro-North Korean, Yoon paralyzed the parliament and handed over control of the press to the Martial Law Command Office. Such suppression of freedom of expression is clearly unconstitutional to the Korean constitution—which states “all citizens have freedom of speech and press”—so the President must be held accountable for his actions.

Thankfully, South Korea continued its long tradition of defending its democracy, ending the martial law in a matter of hours. Numerous members of the parliament even jumped fences and evaded the military to vote—but their heroic actions do not justify Yoon staying in office. While the immediate crisis of martial law has been averted, to prevent a second declaration of martial law and additional threats to the nation, it is essential to impeach President Yoon as quickly as possible. 

Yoon almost rivals Trump’s involvement in domestic acts of insurrections: While Trump merely encouraged his supporters to incite an insurrection, Yoon directly planned, led, and declared one. In fact, emerging details make it clear that Yoon began planning an insurrection soon after his party’s crushing defeat in the general election. Notably, The Kyunghyang Press reveals that the commander of the Republic of Korea Army Special Forces confessed that he knew and prepared for the martial law command days before its activation, proving that the command was pre-planned. Further investigations are also beginning to reveal Yoon’s specific plans of using military and police forces to arrest politicians from opposing parties and detain them for questioning. This was not a spontaneous mistake but a deliberately planned insurrection, suggesting that Yoon could attempt such actions again. Therefore, the Korean people must remove his power to do so. 

President Yoon residing anywhere other than prison is a political and economic risk to South Korea. Immediately after the declaration of martial law, the value of the Korean currency plummeted, and despite efforts to normalize the value of the already weak currency, it has yet to recover its value prior to the martial law. Even Israel, a country currently at war, warned their citizens against traveling to Korea after the martial law was imposed—clearly, Korea’s reputation around the globe continues to erode. Countless ministers and crucial government officials were removed from office during martial law, paralyzing the very systems that run the country. Most importantly, no nation takes President Yoon seriously anymore or wants to host a summit with South Korea. Accordingly, Bruce Klingner, the senior research fellow for Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation, expressed worries that “Yoon’s actions will trigger doubts as to the viability of Seoul’s roles and contributions” on the international stage. One of South Korea's long-time Western allies, Sweden, has already canceled their upcoming summit with South Korea. These countries, like the vast majority of Korean citizens, have lost trust in Yoon’s leadership and are waiting for him to get impeached. 

Despite clear reasons to remove Yoon from office, the ruling conservative party’s desire to retain power prevents his impeachment and thrusts both Korea and the world into danger. The PPP has explicitly denied to vote for Yoon’s impeachment, with the worry that the Democratic party leader, Lee Jae-myung will immediately win the succeeding election. By doing so and annulling the parliament vote to impeach Yoon, they are prolonging the period where citizens and the world have to worry about Yoon’s next actions. 

Historically, tyrannic leaders such as Putin and Kim Jong-un have always incited conflicts with outside nations to stabilize internal unrest and direct it to outside nations. With a high likelihood of being impeached or forced to resign, Yoon once again can make radical decisions involving North Korea and risk the national security of numerous nations around East Asia. In fact, Yoon must maintain his power to continue protecting his wife and First Lady, Kim Keon-hee, from being arrested. In a previous incident,Kim had apparently  been involved in stock price manipulation, bribery, and shamanism but was never punished due to the President’s vetoing bills directed to investigate her. In order to salvage both himself and his wife, Yoon can do anything to direct the nation’s attention outward and subsequently inflict international conflict. 

The most dangerous person is always someone who has nothing to lose but everything to gain. With his political future and his family on the line, President Yoon is exactly that person, and he must be impeached and punished for the country’s future.