Tag: politics

Here is another interesting article from the Joong Ang Ilbo which explains the perspective a ROK Army brigade commander had on the night of the martial law attempt. He thought his troops were responding to a terrorist attack on the national assembly. Once the situation became more clear what was going on he had his troops retreat:

Brig. Gen. Lee Sang-hyun, head of the 1st Airborne Brigade of Korea’s Special Warfare Command

The 1st Airborne Brigade of Korea’s Special Warfare Command was the unit that was directly dispatched to the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, after President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law Tuesday night. 
  
Two battalions, consisting of about 250 soldiers in total, were deployed to Yeouido at the time. About 210 soldiers entered the parliamentary grounds while the rest entered the main building of the National Assembly. 
  
“The upper commanders told us to take the lawmakers out of the [National Assembly] even if it means breaking the doors or cutting electricity,” said Brigadier General Lee Sang-hyun, commander of the 1st Airborne Brigade, in a phone interview with the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily. “I was shocked.” (…………….)

At first, I thought there had been a terrorist attack. No one knew what was going on even in our intelligence team. Then I remembered that Kwak had ordered me ‘not to distribute live ammunition to the soldiers’ while giving instructions for the deployment. That made me think it might not be a terror situation. (…….)

The battalion commander said National Assembly aides are confronting them, blocking their path by stacking objects. The commander said the 707th Special Mission Group were also alongside them, adding that it seems strange that civilians are blocking their way because if it is a terror attack they would make way for the soldiers to get inside.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but he ultimately had his troops retreat after being told to break down doors and pull lawmakers out of the National Assembly.

The Joong Ang Ilbo has a gun rundown of events that happened the night President Yoon declared martial law. Even the conservative Joong Ang Ilbo believes illegal acts were committed:

Commander Kwak Jong-geun from the Army Special Warfare Command, center, talks during an interview with Democratic Party Rep. Kim Byung-joo, left, streamed on Kim’s YouTube channel on Friday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

It turned out that Yoon made direct calls to the commanders of the Army Special Warfare Command and Capital Defense Command (CDC) to confirm the movements of troops. It was also revealed that former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun ordered the commanders to stand by even before the martial law declaration and deploy the armed forces prior to the issuance, which could also be seen as an attempt to take control of the National Assembly and the National Election Commission, led by a few figures in key roles under Yoon’s authority. 
  
Based on the testimonies of relevant figures at the National Assembly and media interviews, it is highly likely that the top-secret movements by those chosen by the president were carried out with total disregard for the chain of command, even before the decree came into force. In other words, some illegal acts may have been committed. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

Here is why the martial law attempt failed:

Lieutenant Generals Kwak Jong-geun of the Army Special Warfare Command and Lee Jin-woo of the Capital Defense Command stated that they received a standby order from former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun both before and after Yoon’s proclamation of martial law.  
  
They added that Yoon was involved in the process of ordering the movement of troops. This could be an important clue in determining who is responsible for the armed forces deployment as the order bypassed the martial law commander, who has full command in a martial law situation. (………)

“Through a call, I was ordered by Kim to secure the National Assembly facilities and National Election Commission facilities, as well as to mobilize armed forces to control those,” Kwak added in the interview. 
  
The lieutenant general said he was also ordered to pull out lawmakers from the plenary session, but he “did not respond due to the certain illegality.”

The martial law attempt has caused a political crisis in South Korea, but one thing ROK citizens should be proud of is that their military did not go along with this attempt to silence the democratically elected opposition. If Lt. Gen. Kwak obeyed the order and fully sealed off the National Assembly and NEC we might be in a very different Korea right now. Fortunately he did not.

I don’t get what Yoon was thinking declaring martial law knowing full well the Democratic Party who holds a majority in the National Assembly can just vote to end it. We all know the DP is conducting the impeachments in effort to protect their leader Lee Jae-myung from prosecution, but their had to be better response options than martial law:

President Yoon Suk Yeol declared emergency martial law, accusing the nation’s opposition of paralyzing the government with “anti-state activities,” but the National Assembly voted to lift the decree hours later.

“Martial law is aimed at eradicating pro-North Korean forces and to protect the constitutional order of freedom,” Yoon said in an emergency national address televised live in late Tuesday.

It marks the first declaration of emergency martial law in South Korea since 1979.

The surprise announcement came after the opposition Democratic Party (DP) railroaded a downsized budget bill in the parliamentary budget committee, and submitted impeachment motions against a state auditor and the chief prosecutor.

Under the Constitution, the president can declare martial law in response to military needs during times of war, armed conflict, a national emergency, or when public safety and order require it. 

Following the address, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Park An-su, who was named as leader of martial law command, announced a decree banning all political activities, including protests and activities by political parties. 

At at around 1 a.m, Wednesday, the 300-member National Assembly convened a plenary session to demand that Yoon lift martial law, with the resolution approved with 190 members present and 190 votes in favor. 

With the motion’s passage, the martial law declaration is void, according to the parliamentary speaker’s office. (Yonhap)

You can read more the link, but Yoon was already very unpopular and this martial law decree will likely make him even more deeply disliked in Korea.

Lee Jae-myung if he does become the Korean President in the futre he can exchange stories with Trump about he was also convicted of breaking election laws and had an assassination attempt against him:

A rift appears to be forming within the Democratic Party of Korea after a Seoul court sentenced party leader and previous presidential candidate Rep. Lee Jae-myung to a suspended jail term Friday for election law violations.

The Democratic Party has officially denied that Lee’s conviction — which, if confirmed by higher courts, could cost him his legislative seat — would divide the party or necessitate a leadership shake-up.

The party’s secretary-general, Rep. Kim Yun-duck, told reporters Sunday that the party “stands united behind” Lee. “We are not at all considering instating a new party leader,” he said. “There is absolute consensus about that among our party.”

The Democratic Party leader, who was narrowly defeated by President Yoon Suk Yeol in the 2022 election, is still the widely favored pick for the next president, according to recent polls.

If Lee ends up being unseated and loses his shot at running for president, however, the Democratic Party will have no choice but to look for another candidate to run in the next presidential election, now less than three years away.

Beneath the surface, the non-Lee faction is slowly rallying around other liberal figures who served in the last Democratic Party administration under former President Moon Jae-in.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

As I have previously said, the Korean left is trying to make the pollster Myung Tae-kyun into Presidnet Yoon’s Choi Soon-sil:

Prosecutors on Monday requested an arrest warrant for Myung Tae-kyun, a self-proclaimed power broker, over allegations of interfering in candidate nominations in the 2022 parliamentary by-elections through his ties with then presidential candidate Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife. 

They also filed warrants for Kim Young-sun, a former lawmaker of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), and two ex-candidates in the June 2022 local elections, citing risk of destruction of evidence, according to the Changwon District Court.

Myung, who runs a public polling agency, is suspected of receiving approximately 90 million won (US$65,200) from Kim on several occasions between August 2022 and December last year in exchange for his help in getting her nominated on the PPP ticket ahead of the 2022 by-elections.

He is also under suspicion of having secured Kim’s nomination in exchange for conducting customized polls in favor of then PPP presidential candidate Yoon for free. First lady Kim Keon Hee has also been suspected of involvement in the nomination process.

Myung has reportedly refuted the allegations, saying he never promised Kim he would help to get her nominated and that he was not in a position to do so.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this guy is basically a pollster who was paid to generate polls favorable to certain candidates. All the polls that were wrong about the U.S. Presidential election should be a reminder that polls are used to shape public opinion not reflect it.

The election of President Trump is what is likely pushing this arrest warrant now because the Korean left needs to get Yoon impeached so they can get a leftist in power to counter Trump. Remember that former President Park Geun-hye was impeached for abuse of power and that is what the Korean left will try and claim Yoon was doing to get him impeached.

Much of these controversies like handbag-gate were manufactured by his political opponents, but the fact his poll numbers have nosedived below 20% has pretty much forced President Yoon to make this public apology:

President Yoon Suk Yeol offered an apology Thursday for causing concerns to the people and vowed to revamp state affairs amid growing controversies surrounding first lady Kim Keon Hee.

Yoon stood up and bowed his head in apology during a televised address and press conference marking the second half of his term and providing an outline of the future policy direction. (….)

Yoon addressed the concerns over the first lady, who has faced criticism over allegations involving her acceptance of a luxury handbag, stock manipulation and involvement in government affairs.

“She should have conducted herself with greater caution, and the fact that she has caused concern to the public is unquestionably wrong,” he said.

Yoon said Kim should have acted more cautiously and it was wrong for her actions to have caused public concern, noting he appointed a secretary earlier in the day to prepare for the establishment of an office dedicated to supporting the first lady’s work.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but some of these controversies could have been prevented if the First Lady had an office initially to filter some of the nonsense that got here in trouble.

Trump’s election victory has led to much speculation in South Korea that he will return to direct diplomacy with North Korea, target South Korean companies with trariffs, cause turbulence in the US-ROK alliance, and cause a drop in the Korean won. So what do ROK Heads think will happen on the Korean peninsula over the next four years with Donald Trump as President?