Yoon Suk Yeol

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Yoon Suk Yeol (윤석열), or Yoon Suk-yeol (1960–) is a South Korean politician and was the 13th President of South Korea, in power from May 10, 2022 to December 14, 2024. Prior to his presidency, he also served as the Prosecutor General of South Korea between 2019 and 2021. Yoon is often described as the Korean Trump or "K-Trump" by media.[1]

On December 3, 2024, Yoon declared emergency martial law under the pretext of safeguarding a "free Repubilc of Korea" (자유대한민국)[note 1] from the supposedly North Korean-sympathizing opposition. This self-coup attempt failed only a few hours after Yoon's declaration.[2] As a result of this, Yoon was impeached on December 14, 2024.[3]

## Contents

* 1 Social issues
* 1.1 Anti-feminism
* 1.2 Anti-LGBT bigotry
* 2 State nationalism
* 3 "Anti-ethnonationalism"
* 3.1 Anti-North Korean sentiment (or anti-communism)
* 3.2 Pro-Japanese colonialism (or Japanophilia)
* 3.2.1 LINE issue
* 3.2.2 Sado mine issue
* 4 Democratic backsliding
* 5 2024-2025 martial law crisis
* 5.1 Losing the midterm elections
* 5.2 Declaration of martial law
* 5.3 Downfall and impeachment
* 5.4 Attempted insurrection
* 5.5 First sitting president to be arrested
* 6 See also
* 7 Notes
* 8 References

## Social issues[edit]

### Anti-feminism[edit]

Yoon is a very anti-feminist ideologue, and his policies are reflected by this with his misogyny and sexism. He has pledged to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family since he was a presidential candidate. Although he failed to abolish the ministry due to international pressure, including the US, he is still hostile to feminism.[4]

### Anti-LGBT bigotry[edit]

The Yoon administration is attempting to reform the conscription system, while trans women (men by conservative South Korean law) who have not received hormone therapy for more than six months to be conscripted as social service workers supplementary to the military. Previously, in South Korea, trans-women who do not legally receive hormone therapy are considered male and subject to conscription, but trans-women who have received hormone therapy for more than six months even if they are legally male are not subject to conscription. (South Korean law has been transphobic since before Yoon, but Yoon is anti-trans even by conservative South Korean standards.)[5]

## State nationalism[edit]

As explained below, because he is a Confucian conservative and anti-communist, he attacks South Korean liberals/progressives/leftists, who want to sign peace treaties with North Korea, as "[ethnic] nationalism" (민족주의), "anti-Japanese racism" and even as "fascism". However, he does not actually deny all forms of nationalism, and he supports the "state nationalism" (국가주의) of South Korea. In South Korea, 국가주의 is mainly a right-wing ideology, but 민족주의 is mainly a left-wing ideology. 국가주의 is a view that prioritizes South Korea's anti-communist/conservative state identity over peaceful relations with North Korea.

Supporters of Yoon Suk Yeol accuse opponents of being "anti-Japanese racists" or "fascists" for advocating 민족주의, but rather Yoon Suk Yeol's 국가주의 has a very fascist history on the pre-1945 Korean Peninsula.

## "Anti-ethnonationalism"[edit]

"Opposition to ethnic nationalism" in South Korea does not have the same meaning as in the United States. It means opposing peace on the Korean Peninsula, pursuing an ultra-hawkish foreign policy toward North Korea, strengthening repressive militarism, anti-North state-based nationalism, abandoning the post-colonial agenda (in issues related to Japanese imperialism) to antagonizing North Korea, and cooperating with the historical revisionist/anti-Korean racistic ultranationalist government-dominated Japanese government.

He often describes the opposition parties as "Pro-North Korea" (친북) or "Anti-Japanese ethnonationalist" (반일 민족주의).[6]

The reason why South Korean conservatives are Japanophilia and anti-'Korean nationalism' is also related to traditionalist conservatism, North Korea has suppressed Confucian culture because it is communist dictatorship ~~although it was actually a Kim monarchy~~ but Japan has a well-maintained traditional culture throughout society.

### Anti-North Korean sentiment (or anti-communism)[edit]

With the exception of the Syngman Rhee (who was the first president), Yoon has the most hostile view toward North Korea among all presidents in South Korea in general and among all conservative ones in particular. He rejects dialogue with North Korea itself and only prefers hawkish policy.[7] The point where Yoon in the 2020s and Rhee's anti-North Korean sentiment in the 1950s cannot be equated is that North Korea invaded South Korea during the Rhee period. Therefore, unlike Yoon's deliberate promotion of anti-North Korean sentiment, anti-North Korean sentiment was common among South Koreans in the 1950s. After 1953, South and North Korea went into a armistice, effectively ending the war for more than 70 years, but South Korean conservatives and North Korean hard-liners oppose a peace treaty.

He even unilaterally reversed a military agreement reached by the Moon Jae-in government with North Korea in 2018, which called for banning fighter jets from flying on the inter-Korea military demarcation line, after becoming president in 2023. Of course, the fact that North Korea is a terrible totalitarian dictatorship remains unchanged, but Yoon Suk Yeol has actually made a diplomatic provocation against North Korea.[8]

Despite his ultraconservative LGBT, women's rights, and disability policies, he is closer to Joe Biden than to Donald Trump when it comes to North Korean policy. Because Trump supported South Korean liberals' traditional North Korea policy, the Sunshine Policy (햇볕정책), South Korean conservatives believe Trump "betrayed conservatism".

### Pro-Japanese colonialism (or Japanophilia)[edit]

See Internalized discrimination.

While mainstream politicians and people in South Korea have strong anti-Japanese sentiment, Yoon Suk Yeol has often expressed diplomatically ~~weeabooist~~ pro-Japanese views. He is ready to give up all post-colonial agendas for the friendly relationship between South Korea and Japan that the United States wants.[9] He even argues that victims of past Japanese war crimes in South Korea, including forced labor, should not demand compensation from Japanese companies and the Japanese government.[10] Even Robert Kelly, who is critical of South Koreans' anti-Japanese sentiment,[11] described him as "pro-Japanese".[12]

#### LINE issue[edit]

Originally developed by NAVER (네이버), a South Korean company, and mainly used in Japan, there is a messenger called LINE, which operates LINE as a joint venture with SoftBank (ソフトバンク), a Japanese company, in consideration of anti-Korean nationalism in Japan. In 2024, the Japanese right-wing nationalist government and SoftBank. are calling for the sale of their shares to take control of LINE from NAVER. South Korean liberals criticize the Yoon Suk Yeol government for not fighting against [Japanese] imperialistic, anti-market and anti-Korean [Japanese] nationalistic demands from the Japanese government. (SoftBank is already in charge of LINE's practical management, which is the result of undue pressure on Korean companies due to anti-Korean sentiment prevalent throughout Japanese society, including the Japanese public, the government, and bureaucrats.)[13][14][15]

#### Sado mine issue[edit]

The Yoon Suk Yeol government has expressed its de facto support for the right-wing Japanese government's attempt to list the Sado mine as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as a symbol of Japan's modernization; the Sado mine was subjected to "forced labor" against Koreans during World War II. This was a move for Yoon Suk Yeol to maintain good relations with Japan. Japan never recognizes the "forced labor" done at the Sado mine.[16]

This is not the first time Japan's far-right revisionism of history; Japan promised to recognize and commemorate the "forced labor" of Koreans before listing Hashima Island as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015 as a symbol of Japan's modernization, but has never recognized the "forced labor" of Koreans on Hashima since its listing.

Consider the German chancellor denying the Holocaust and the Israeli prime minister sympathizing with it. However, the U.S. government wants South Korea and Japan to maintain good relations to keep China in check, so Yoon will not take issue with Japanese historical deniers to satisfy the U.S.[17][18]

As a side note, the Japanese government is against the UNESCO World Heritage listing of the 'comfort women' records.[19]

## Democratic backsliding[edit]

His government is pushing back Korea's democracy dramatically, similar to Japan's Shinzō Abe administration in the past. He is notorious for his oppression of liberal or [ethnic] nationalist media (sympathetic to North Korea and hostile to Japan) because he is an extreme anti-communist.

According to 'V-Dem', a prominent German democratic research institute, South Korea is experiencing "re-autocratification" under the Yoon administration, and liberal democracy is rapidly undermined.[20]

President Yoon's recent comments describing the opposition as "anti-state forces"/"anti-national forces" (반국가세력), shows that this trend is far from over.[21]

## 2024-2025 martial law crisis[edit]

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### Losing the midterm elections[edit]

But thankfully, the people of South Korea weren't bewitched by Yoon's nonsense the way other democracies are with their strongmen. In the 2024 parliamentary elections, essentially Seoul's midterms, Yoon was so monumentally unpopular that the opposition Democratic Party of Korea won in a landslide, severely weakening his grip on power and his control over the country's future. [22] [23]

### Declaration of martial law[edit]

On December 3, 2024, Yoon declared martial law in South Korea, the first time it had been declared since the military dictatorship of Chun Doo-hwan in 1980. Yoon accused the Democratic Party (DPK), which has a majority in the National Assembly, of conducting "anti-state activities" and collaborating with "North Korean communists" to destroy the country, thereby creating a "legislative dictatorship." [24]

This meant Yoon prohibited political activities, including gatherings of the National Assembly and local legislatures, and suspended the free press, all because he was butthurt that he lost the midterms. But he didn't stop there. Yoon reportedly ordered the arrest of various political opponents, including the leaders of the DPK and his own People Power Party (PPP). This event was widely characterized by Korean politicians and news organizations, both international and domestic, as an attempted self-coup. [25] [26]

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo was allegedly sidelined in the decision-making process leading up to the martial law declaration, and discussions were kept private between Yoon and Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun.[27] Kim is a member of the "Choongam faction", a group within Yoon's inner circle made up of graduates from his alma mater, Choongam High School in Seoul.[28] Kim urged Yoon to enact martial law during a cabinet meeting shortly before the official declaration. Yoon sent armed troops to raid the National Election Commission (NEC) headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province (10 troops), one of its training centers in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province (130 troops) and the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission in Gwanak District in southern Seoul (47 troops), allegedly to investigate "election fraud," which sounds awfully familiar.[29]

This was all done without the cabinet's approval.[30] Yoon was even planning to arrest the leader of his own goddamn party. According to testimony by National Intelligence Service Deputy Director Hong Jang-won to the National Assembly on December 6, Yoon called him at 22:53 on December 3 and ordered him to help the DCC arrest his political opponents and that Yoon wanted to "use this chance to arrest them and wipe them out." Hong refused, so Yoon fired him.[31] Yoon even ordered the arrest of a judge who made a not-guilty verdict on Korea's opposition leader, Lee Jae-myung. [32] Due to Yoon's declaration of martial law, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency blocked all entrances to the National Assembly by 23:04 and prevented lawmakers from reaching the plenary session to overturn the martial law declaration[33]

### Downfall and impeachment[edit]

But in spite of all this, lawmakers outmaneuvered the police, protesters (who have military training due to conscription) pushed the martial law troops back, and the National Assembly passed an emergency motion nullifying the declaration several hours later. Yoon was forced to lift the martial law declaration in disgrace. [34] After surviving an initial impeachment vote, Yoon was successfully impeached in a second vote on December 14, 2024, with 204 voting in favor, including members of his own party. [35]

### Attempted insurrection[edit]

Yoon's failed martial law declaration and impeachment didn't stop his far-right supporters from taking to the streets to stop his arrest. Taking a leaf from their inspiration, they started to carry around the US flag with slogans of "Stop the Steal". Unsurprisingly, a large number of such protesters are followers of right-wing Evangelical wingnuts.[36] On January 25, during a court proceeding over Yoon's failed martial law declaration, a group of Yoon supporters attacked the courthouse and forcibly entered it in an attempt to find and harm the presiding judge, proclaiming "Get all the communist judges". In the process, they broke windows and security cameras, attacked police and court personnel, with some even attempting to set the courthouse on fire. Overall, over 80 people were arrested for the rioting.[37] For protesters crying about "anti-state activities" from their opponents, they sure love to engage in some law-breaking when it suits them.

### First sitting president to be arrested[edit]

Since lawmakers voted to impeach and strip him of his duties after his failed self-coup, Yoon retreated to his hillside residence, guarded by a "small army of presidential security staff" who "blocked a previous arrest attempt earlier this month." On 15 January 2025, over three thousand police officers marched onto his residence, essentially daring him to continue resisting arrest. Yoon, who saw where the wind blew, turned himself in for questioning, although he refused to answer any question while being interviewed. He continues to say his arrest is illegal. This marks the first time a sitting president of South Korea has been arrested. [38] [39]

## See also[edit]

* American imperialism \- His 'humiliating' pro-Japanese diplomacy is related to the Japan-South Korea-United States military cooperation push that the U.S. is demanding coercively. (Many South Koreans support the South Korea-United States alliance but oppose the Japan-South Korea-United States triangular alliance that the U.S. demands.)
* Brian Reynolds Myers \- A big supporter of Yoon.
* Donald Trump \- His most similar counterpart. Trump is an American nationalist when it comes to dealing with other countries, but on issues related to Russia, Trump is more of a 'Russophile' than an American nationalist.
* Shinzō Abe \- His Japanese counterpart, and quite similar despite their opposing ethnic nationalism.
* People Power Party, a conservative party with him as its member.
* Shin Ki-wook \- A right-wing Korean American scholar who supports Yoon. (Shin's a fan of Yoon, but Shin's not a fan of Trump.)
* National Security Act \- in the authoritarian Yoon administration, the scope of application of the law has expanded.

## Notes[edit]

1. ↑ The Korean word 자유 can be translated into liberal, liberty, libertarian and free. Since Yoon Suk Yeol is not a liberal, but an authoritarian conservative, it is desirable to translate 자유 in this context into "free" (in an anti-communist context) rather than "liberal".

## References[edit]

1. ↑ Is Yoon Suk-yeol the South Korean Trump? The Korea Herald.
2. ↑ "What is a self-coup? South Korea president’s attempt ended in failure − a notable exception in a growing global trend" by John Joseph Chin and Joe Wright, Conversation, 2024 December 5
3. ↑ "South Korean President Impeached by Legislature After Self Coup Attempt" by Mitch Shin, The Diplomat, 2024 December 14
4. ↑ President Yoon Suk Yeol’s decision to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality: a reflection of a South Korean society plagued by growing anti-feminism
5. ↑ [단독 ‘트랜스여성도 병역의무’ 부여하려고 판정기준 낮추려는 국방부]
6. ↑ 尹 “배타적 민족주의·반일 외치며 정치이득 취하는 세력 존재”
7. ↑ Even Park Chung-hee talked to N. Korea — so why won’t Yoon?
8. ↑ 9·19 9·19 남북군사합의 5년 만에 일부 효력정지…윤 대통령 재가
9. ↑ “윤 대통령은 친일파…역사, 자존심, 오염수 다 팔아먹어”
10. ↑ Sang-Hun, Choe (March 5, 2023). "Historical Disputes Kept Them at Odds. Can Seoul and Tokyo Make Amends?". The New York Times. Retrieved August 18, 2023.
11. ↑ More on South Korean ‘Anti-Japanism’ and the Intra-Korean Legitimacy Contest (July 3, 2015). Robert E Kelly.
12. ↑ "Yoon is free-lancing a pro-Japanese foreign policy against the will of the SK public, ..." Robert Kelly's Tweet (Aug 20, 2023)
13. ↑ https://www.chosun.com/english/opinion-en/2024/04/26/55UELRTBENA2TPLJ5U6BUMON5U/
14. ↑ https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_business/1140629
15. ↑ https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2024/04/129_373607.html
16. ↑ Even after Japan rejected demand to include term ‘forced,’ Korea signed off on Sado registration Hankyoreh (Aug 7, 2024)
17. ↑ In allowing Sado mine registration, Yoon forsakes history and diplomacy Hankyoreh (2024-08-07)
18. ↑ "S. Korea and Japan debate comments about being "forced to work"". The Hankyoreh. July 7, 2015. Retrieved 2015-09-13.
19. ↑ postpones registration of comfort women archival materials due to pressure from Japanese government Hankyoreh (2017-11-01)
20. ↑ Democracy in Korea regressed under Yoon: research The Korea Times
21. ↑ EVALUATING SOUTH KOREA'S DEMOCRATIC BACKSLIDING
22. ↑ "Election rout makes Yoon's 'lame duck' fears reality," The Japan Times
23. ↑ "In South Korea, President Yoon’s Lame Duck Era Officially Begins," Mitch Shin
24. ↑ Full text of his martial law declaration
25. ↑ "Assembly speaker declares martial law as invalid," Jung Min-kyung, the Korean Herald
26. ↑ "Democratic Party's martial law warnings become reality," KBS
27. ↑ "PM Han overlooked as defense minister bypasses him on martial law declaration," Korea Times
28. ↑ "Defense minister, Yoon high school alumnus, named as mastermind of martial law plot," Choi Jae-hee, Korea Herald
29. ↑ "Why did martial law troops go to National Election Commission?" Shin Ji-hye, Korea Herald
30. ↑ "Main opposition leader decries martial law declaration as illegal, unconstitutional," Song Sang-ho, YNA
31. ↑ "South Korea president ordered arrest of own party leader," BBC
32. ↑ "Yoon ordered arrest of judge who made not-guilty verdict on opposition leader: police chief's lawyer," Kim Seung-yeon, Yonhap News Agency
33. ↑ "Timeline: The swift rise and fall of martial law in South Korea," KoreaPro
34. ↑ "South Korea cabinet lifts martial law," BBC Live
35. ↑ "South Korean MPs impeach president over martial law attempt," BBC News
36. ↑ Why supporters of South Korea’s impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol are flying US flags Raphael Rashid. The Guardian. 3 January, 2025
37. ↑ Yoon supporters storm Seoul court after his detainment period is extended The Guardian. 18 January, 2025.
38. ↑ "South Korean investigators question arrested President Yoon in insurrection probe," Hyunsu Yim and Ju-min Park, Reuters
39. ↑ "Dumpling Soup, Dried Radish and Cabbage Kimchi: South Korean Leader’s Life in Jail," New York Times