Updated:2024-12-23 06:25 Views:102
Pro-democracy Campaign: Citizens march in Seoul urging lawmakers to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol on December 14, 2024 | Photo: AP Pro-democracy Campaign: Citizens march in Seoul urging lawmakers to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol on December 14, 2024 | Photo: AP The politics that unfolded in South Korea this month was no less dramatic than a K-drama. A botched-up attempt to impose military rule by President Yoon Suk Yeol eventually led to his impeachment last week. After days of political uncertainty, the National Assembly passed a motion to impeach Yoon, with 204 lawmakers voting in favour, 85 againstvvjl, three abstentions and eight invalid votes.
sportsbook slotYoon has been stripped of all presidential powers till a Constitutional Court pronounces its verdict on whether the president was guilty of insurrection and defying the Constitution. The presidential duties have been taken over by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, though he is also under investigation for his role to get military backing for the president. According to the Korean Constitution, the PM takes on the role of acting president while the case is being heard.
The fast-paced drama began on the midnight of December 3-4, when President Yoon announced his decision to impose military rule on fears of “shameless attempts” by pro-North Korean elements (read the opposition) to destabilise the country. The president hoped that the reference to a North Korean hand would frighten the nation, hoping especially that his die-hard ultra Conservative supporters ideologically opposed to Communism, would support him. However, that did not happen, as the president was unable to back his argument with credible evidence.
Following the president’s announcement, lawmakers present in Seoul rushed to the National Assembly to veto the bid. They were able to vote decisively against the president’s move. President Yoon had no option but to rescind the order within four hours. And finally, after a first unsuccessful attempt, the National Assembly approved an impeachment motion against President Yoon on December 14.
The court has 180 days to deliver its ruling. The bench has nine judges, but at the moment there are three vacancies. So the majority of six will decide the fate of President Yoon. There is talk too of the three vacancies being filled before the hearing begins. This will not be the first time that a president is facing impeachment. He will be the third South Korean president to face impeachment—the others were President Roh Moo-hyun in 2002 and President Park Geun-hye in 2016. The Constitutional Court ousted Geun-hye, but reinstated Roh to power. Ironically, Yoon, as the then prosecutor-general, led the legal action to remove President Park in 2017 and succeeded in getting her ousted.
Korea: A Solid DemocracySouth Korea is a thriving democracy, one in which ordinary citizens cherish and value freedom, and are ready to take responsibility when democracy is threatened. This awareness comes from a deep-seated aversion to military rule that South Korea had experienced for decades till the 1980s. Ordinary people have faced bullets to protect their hard-fought rights.
On the night of December 3-4, ordinary citizens rushed to parliament and urged lawmakers to defy the soldiers and vote against martial law.
K-Top Into The New World | Outlook's Next Issue On Korean CultureFor a short while it seemed that the army was backing the president, as soldiers tried to stop members of the National Assembly from entering Parliament.
Yoon’s impeachment is unlikely to end South Korea’s political unrest quickly.At a hearing of a parliamentary defence committee, dozens of generals recalled what happened on that day and testified against Yoon. The Korea Herald quoted Special Warfare Commander Lt. Gen. Kwak Jong-keun, who said he received a call from Yoon, and was told to “break open the door, and drag the lawmakers out”. “They have not reached the quorum yet,” said Kwak, quoting the president.
The commanders deployed in parliament refused to do so, according to Kwak. “They said they could not do that. The (assembly) was off limits. I thought that they were absolutely right. I decided that it was not right for our troops to go in because they would be committing a crime and too many people would get injured if we forced our way in,” he said.
“One of the key lessons is that democracy should not be taken for granted. South Korea has been regarded as a consolidated democracy. Even in such a country, it didn’t even take several hours for this incident to unfold. Fortunately, the citizens and lawmakers were able to take immediate action to prevent the country from further backsliding. It’s a sign of caution not to take democracy for granted. That’s the big takeaway here,” Soosun You, a political scientist, said in a report published in Penn Today.
Yoon’s Failure in GovernanceThe president’s attempt to establish a dictatorship backed by the military speaks volumes for his inaptitude and misgovernance. He began his career as a public prosecutor and was hailed as a rising anti-corruption crusader who vowed to clean up the system. He won the presidential elections of 2022 by a narrow margin. But he took several controversial decisions and antagonised citizens.
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The move to shift the presidential office to a new location at the cost of a whopping $41 million did not amuse taxpayers. In late 2022, his government’s response to a crowd crush during Halloween, which killed 159 young people in Seoul, angered the people.
While mending ties with Japan, Yoon decided not to press Tokyo to pay compensation for the victims of forced labour during Japan’s occupation of Korea. The government would, instead, extend the money to the victims. Koreans, with bitter memories of Japanese occupation, were aghast at Yoon’s concessions.
When Yoon vetoed a bill to limit a company’s ability to sue workers for losses during strikes, the unions were angered. Then there were allegations of corruption against his wife for accepting a Dior handbag as a gift and stock manipulation by her family. To add to the president’s woes, in April’s parliamentary elections, his party’s strength was dramatically reduced. There were frequent stand-offs between opposition lawmakers and the president’s office.
Failure to Gauge Public SentimentIt is surprising that a former chief prosecutor, said to have a brilliant legal brain, failed to gauge the people’s sentiments about military rule. Till June 1987, South Korea was under either a military dictatorship or an authoritarian president. Successive dictatorial rule led to the trampling of fundamental and democratic rights of the people.
K-Kraze: How The Korean Wave Conquered The WorldBut the June uprising of 1987, also called the June Democracy Movement, led to the government agreeing to hold direct presidential elections, and bring in democratic and constitutional reforms. Since then, the military has kept a low profile and has stayed out of government. Up until Yoon tried to do so. The good news is that the military did not comply and there was neither violence nor bloodshed.
According to scholars, democracy’s solid foundation in the country has much to do with traditional Korean culture’s people-first approach. Taejo Wang Kon, the first king of the powerful Goryeo dynasty that ruled Korea long ago, introduced a system by which young, elite officials were given the authority to raise questions even after the king had made significant policy decisions. They took the people-first approach as a key basis for the discussion, and the king could not ignore their suggestion.
What Next?But Yoon’s impeachment is unlikely to end South Korea’s political turmoil quickly. “I will never surrender,” he said after the National Assembly’s vote on impeachment. “I will cherish any reprimand, encouragement and support you show to me, and I will do my best for the country until the end,” he added. At the same time, his supporters held counter-rallies and are likely to continue backing him.
In Photos: The K-Culture Craze Gripping IndiaIf the Constitutional Court finds Yoon guilty, early elections will be called. Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, has emerged as the leading candidate for the presidency.
(This appeared in the print as 'For Seoul’s Soul')vvjl