President Yoon is so unpopular in South Korea I doubt these boycotts by his supporters will have any impact on sales:
Singer and actor IU promotes New Balance’s apparel in this undated photo. Courtesy of E-Land
Political disputes about President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment over his botched martial law declaration have had unexpected impacts on brands endorsed by IU and other celebrities, who supported protests against him, as well as on companies related to his allies.
On Friday, IU’s agency announced that the singer prepaid for food and hand warmers for her fans participating in a candlelight protest for Yoon’s impeachment near the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul. After the announcement, Yoon’s supporters began to encourage the boycott of companies who hired her as a spokesmodel, sharing the list of brands.
On the list were New Balance, HiteJinro and Woori Bank.
Although her endorsement agreements with water brand Jeju Samdasoo and Domino’s Pizza have already ended, the names of the brands were also on the list shared by pro-Yoon consumers.
It looks like most of President Yoon’s cabinet had no idea about the martial law decree and he called them into a meeting that night just to consolidate them before declaring it:
A brief, five-minute Cabinet meeting took place between 10:17 p.m. and 10:22 p.m. in the presidential reception room, apparently without due process or any official record, according to data from the Ministry of Interior and Safety submitted by the presidential office.
Yoon, who came into the meeting but did not even sit down, abruptly left the meeting. At 10:23 p.m., he began reading his statement — without the presence of Cabinet members or reporters. The live televised address culminated in the declaration of martial law at around 10:28 p.m.
Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Song Mi-Kyung vividly recounted that some of those present at the five-minute Cabinet meeting on Dec. 3 were completely blindsided, leaving them powerless to intervene or stop him from making it public.
“(The president) briefly entered the room and then left. After he left, those who were seated were taken aback and asked, ‘Where did he go?’ At that moment, someone played a broadcast on their phone, and his voice came through. That’s what happened,” Song said during the Dec. 11 plenary session of the Assembly, recalling that the Cabinet meeting never formally concluded — there was no declaration signaling its end.
“It wasn’t even possible to grab hold of him or physically intervene in any way. I am truly sorry for this.”
Another ROK Army senior leader has now been arrested:
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Park An-su, who served as the chief commander during President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived imposition of martial law, was arrested Tuesday, prosecutors said.
Park was arrested with a court-issued warrant on charges of playing a key role in an insurrection and abuse of power.
Park became the fifth key figure who was arrested over Yoon’s Dec. 3 failed bid to impose martial law.
So far, former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, Lt. Gen. Yeo In-hyung, head of the Defense Counterintelligence Command, Lt. Gen. Kwak Jong-keun, head of the Army Special Warfare Command, and Lt. Gen. Lee Jin-woo, head of the Capital Defense Command, have been arrested.
It looks like President Yoon’s days in office are coming to an end very soon now since he is now losign support from within his political party:
The leader of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) on Thursday threw his support behind a parliamentary vote to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed bid to impose martial law, while calling for convening an ethics committee to discuss whether to demand Yoon leave the party.
PPP leader Han Dong-hoon made the call after Yoon defended the Dec. 3 martial law declaration as an act of governance and rejected insurrection charges against him in a public address.
“The president’s duties must be swiftly straightened out and suspended through the impeachment process,” Han told reporters at the National Assembly in western Seoul. “Our party must support impeachment as the party line.”
Han said it has become “more clear” that Yoon is unable to carry out his duties as president, adding that his address came as a surprise.
The main opposition Democratic Party is set to file a new motion to impeach Yoon later in the day, after a parliamentary impeachment vote failed Saturday as the majority of PPP lawmakers boycotted it.
Earlier in the day, Han voiced support for Yoon’s impeachment, calling on lawmakers to vote on the next impeachment motion based on their own “conviction.”
Whether the decree was legal or not, I believe declaring martial law sets a dangerous precedent that a future left wing President could use to get their way as well:
President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday defended his botched martial law declaration as an act of governance and denied insurrection charges facing him, while vowing to fight until the last moment against whether it is impeachment or a martial law probe.
In a televised public address, Yoon said sending troops to the National Assembly during martial law can’t amount to insurrection, while defying calls to step down.
Yoon said he used his presidential power to declare martial law “to protect the nation and normalize state affairs” against the opposition that paralyzed the government, calling it a “highly calibrated political judgment.”
“Whether I am impeached or investigated, I will fairly confront it,” he said.
It seems like the major objective of the martial law decree was to prove election fraud. If fraud was going on it would seem any evidence would have been disposed of long ago. Additionally why wasn’t legal means taken against the National Election Commission instead of attempting a military raid?:
President Yoon Suk Yeol had conducted a legal review of last week’s martial law decree in person while rewriting it, the ex-defense minister, one of the key suspects in the alleged insurrection, said Wednesday.
Former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun was questioned by prosecutors at a detention facility for the first time since his arrest earlier in the day.
During the five-hour questioning, he reportedly testified that President Yoon conducted a legal review of the martial law declaration by himself, and that he and the president co-wrote the final draft, with Yoon editing part of the content.
Additionally, Kim is said to have assigned duties related to martial law to top military officials on Dec. 1 and attempted to access facilities connected to the National Election Commission to secure evidence concerning allegations of election fraud.
I have said this before, but it was foolish of President Yoon to think Soldiers in the modern day ROK Army would want anything to do with being part of a Gwangju Uprising like event. This just shows what a disconnect the elites in the ROK government have with their rank and file Soldiers if they thought they would follow these martial law orders:
The actions of military officers who resisted what they viewed as unconstitutional orders during the chaos of the Dec. 3 martial law declaration are drawing renewed attention, highlighting how many, despite their duty to obey, took a stand against unjust commands.
Rep. Lee Gi-heon of the opposition Democratic Party of Korea said in a press release on Dec. 9 that “on the night of Dec. 3, when President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, there were counterintelligence officers and personnel who resisted the orders in various ways.”
He cited cases brought to his attention. The military counterintelligence command had been designated as a key unit to be deployed to the National Election Commission (NEC) under martial law.
Former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun has said the decision to deploy martial law troops to the National Election Commission was made “to assess the need for investigations into alleged fraud in the general election” in which opposition parties scored landslide wins over the ruling People Power Party.
The soldiers of the key investigative unit exhibited passive behavior before, during, and after their deployment to the NEC.
Kim Dae-woo, the commander of the Counterintelligence Command, is said to have summoned over 100 investigators prior to the declaration of martial law to assign tasks related to entering the commission.
When Major Choi expressed disbelief at the orders, Kim allegedly beat him severely, forced him onto a bus, and sent him to the commission, instructing him to secure the servers.
Despite the coercion, soldiers continued their resistance. Upon arriving at the NEC, they delayed executing the orders, which they believed were illegal, by engaging in trivial activities, such as eating instant noodles at a nearby convenience store.
You can read more at the link, but that must have been quite the site for the convenience store worker to see all these heavily armed Soldiers come in late at night and eat noodles.
You cannot put anything pass the Korean left, so them trying another impeachment scheme is definitely plausible:
The presidential office lambasted the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) on Monday for spreading false rumors about the government allegedly planning to declare martial law.
Presidential spokesperson Jeong Hye-jeon condemned DP leader Lee Jae-myung for raising the allegations during a live broadcast meeting with ruling People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon on Sunday.
“We are appalled that the leader of a major political party would spread fabricated rumors on live television,” Jeong said in a press briefing. “If there is even a shred of evidence, please present it.”
Jeong questioned whether the DP is spreading the rumors as part of a broader propaganda campaign focused on the radical idea of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment, vowing to sternly deal with its attempts to manipulate public opinion with baseless claims.
“Is this part of a buildup to (Yoon’s) impeachment?” Jeong asked, adding that if there is no evidence, the DP should be labeled a “party of fake news.”
You can read more at the link, but what is even stupider about this claim from the opposition party is that if martial law is declared by Yoon, by law the national assembly can overrule it with a majority vote. Currently the opposition party holds the majority of the seats in the national assembly.
Here is the latest on the martial law issue in South Korea:
Kim Eui-kyeom, a spokesman for the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, holds a press briefing at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on July 20, 2018. (Yonhap)
Documents submitted by the defense ministry show the earlier reported proposal from the defense intelligence agency to declare martial law may have been more deliberate than earlier believed, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Friday, apparently implying the military may have actually sought to go ahead with such a plan.
Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said the military maintained and renewed its plans for a martial law every two years, but that the new documents submitted by the ministry showed significant changes and differences from the original plans.
“Usually, the military renews its martial law plans every two years,” the spokesman told a press briefing. “(Cheong Wa Dae) has confirmed the submitted documents are completely different from the existing plans.”
The military documents have been submitted after President Moon Jae-in made a special order for the defense ministry and the military to submit all documents related to the martial law proposal from the Defense Security Command (DSC), which reportedly came in the wake of protest rallies and candlelight vigils in late 2016 that led to the ouster of former President Park Geun-hye on suspicions of corruption.
Kim said the proposal even included plans to inspect and censor news articles.
Also, the DSC suggested the chief of the Army take control of a martial law command, instead of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under conventional military plans.
It also suggested the head of the National Intelligence Service be subject to leadership of the top military commander under its proposed martial law, suggesting military control of the government, as well as the top spy agency.
To the apparent surprise of many, the DSC even stressed a need to arrest and remove then opposition lawmakers who took part in the protest rallies against Park, partly to prevent the parliament from impeaching then-President Park and lifting the martial law, Kim explained. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but remember the martial law plans were updated to prepare for massive riots if President Park was not impeached. From what I have read these plans were for worst case scenarios. If massive riots were to happen that the police could not handle and threatened the stability of the government, was the ROK military expected to just stand by and do nothing?
That is why I would not be surprised if this martial law issue is being sensationalized to create an excuse for the Blue House to replace ROK military leadership they feel are not ideologically friendly to their political goals. Of course this will all be sold as “reforms” and not a purge.
Defense Minister Song Young-moo (C) presides over a hastily convened meeting of top military officers at the ministry in Seoul on July 16, 2018. The meeting came after President Moon Jae-in ordered the military to submit all documents to his office that are related to an alleged proposal by the Defense Security Command, a military intelligence unit, to consider imposing martial law to deal with possible unrest from nationwide protests last year demanding the ouster of then-President Park Geun-hye. (Yonhap)
