{"id":13544,"date":"2025-02-19T00:10:41","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T05:10:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/?p=13544"},"modified":"2025-02-19T00:10:41","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T05:10:41","slug":"south-koreas-democracy-is-stable-for-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2025\/02\/19\/south-koreas-democracy-is-stable-for-now\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea\u2019s Democracy is Stable, For Now"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Joseph Brennan<\/b><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Managing Editor<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<div class=\"ose-gettyimages ose-uid-1e30f194d905f5bf3003a22d08ada683 ose-embedpress-responsive\" style=\"width:723px; height:623px; max-height:623px; max-width:100%; display:inline-block;\" data-embed-type=\"GettyImages\"><a id=\"x9dnN67zSmh43yxOWOLliQ\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2188032436\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:\"x9dnN67zSmh43yxOWOLliQ\",sig:\"ItGnNz7_hzY96U9ebHjwNL0AQj6Au8Op7Et1KOcu43w=\",w:\"594px\",h:\"396px\",items:\"2188032436\",caption: false ,tld:\"com\",is360: false })});<\/script><script src=\"\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\" async><\/script><\/div>\n\t\t\t<script>\n\t\t\t\tif (typeof gie === 'function') {\n\t\t\t\t\tgie(function(){\n\t\t\t\t\t\tvar iframe = document.querySelector('.ose-embedpress-responsive iframe');\n\t\t\t\t\t\tif(iframe && !iframe.getAttribute('title')){\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tiframe.setAttribute('title', '')\n\t\t\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\t\t});\n\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">On January 26, 2025, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was indicted on charges of insurrection. Yoon\u2019s charges make history as he is the only South Korean president to have been indicted while in office. Moreover, the President declared martial law prematurely. According to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2025\/01\/26\/g-s1-44857\/south-korean-prosecutors-indict-impeached-president-yoon-suk-yeol-over-martial-law\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">NPR<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, the South Korean constitution allows for the president to declare martial law, but only in times of war and other states of emergency to keep order. Additionally, Yoon is rumored to have been directing a rebellion during the six hours South Korea was under martial law. His rationale for these actions is that there was an active infiltration of pro-North Korea and anti-state personnel within the government, states <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/asia-pacific\/south-korean-president-yoons-political-implosion-martial-law-impeachment-2024-12-15\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Reuters<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. This \u2018rebellion\u2019 left South Koreans with a bitter remembrance of the military dictatorships of the 1960s-80s, along with a looming question: how stable is their democracy?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">South Korea, as many other countries in the world, is currently experiencing a flare of far-right ideology, says the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.internationalaffairs.org.au\/australianoutlook\/martial-law-the-far-right-and-authoritarian-legacies-in-south-korea\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Australian Institute for International Affairs<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(AIIA). The right-wing party in the Republic of Korea (ROK) is the People Power Party (PPP), which unsurprisingly defended their president by opposing his impeachment and organizing protests. However, the PPP is not new to power. When Yoon took office, he installed PPP members into every level of government. Since the Korean War, the far-right has been known to have a \u201cconservative hegemony\u201d on politics in South Korea, furthers the AIIA. Now, this hegemony is relying on conspiracy theories to reach its audience.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The PPP, and its twisted belief of North Korean interference in their government, is based on a selection of far-right YouTube videos and conspiracy theories, as discussed in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foreignaffairs.com\/south-korea\/can-south-koreas-democracy-survive\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Foreign Affairs<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. In their view, there is always a possibility of infiltration into the government, however, currently it is only rumored. Moreover, the PPP has chosen to ignore known conservative journalists, including ones who opposed Yoon\u2019s declaration of martial law. Foreign Affairs continues saying that \u201cthe South Korean far right is not just Yoon\u2019s political base. It is also emerging as the base of his party.\u201d\u00a0 The PPP, what is supposed to be a conservative party, has latched on to President Yoon and his ideology, instead of letting go and bringing this extremist flare back to neutrality.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Following the impeachment of Yoon, Han Duck-soo, the prime minister and a fellow PPP member, took place as acting President. However, one of his first duties was to sign off on the appointments to the Constitutional Court. The court typically has nine sitting judges, but currently it only has six. He refused, putting the court\u2019s ability to review Yoon\u2019s initial impeachment in danger, as the decision to uphold the impeachment requires six votes meaning any rejection would save Yoon. Ultimately, Han was impeached. However, this time the National Assembly decided the number of votes to impeach Han was lower, to which the PPP protested. Han commented on the matter stating that he would step down from his duties as to \u201cnot add to the chaos,\u201d per <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cj30234e0djo\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">BBC<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Next in line to the presidency was the finance minister, who allowed two of the three appointments, vetoed a bill which would have allowed special counsel to open an investigation into Yoon, and remains the acting President, says the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/m.koreaherald.com\/article\/10017168\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Korea Herald<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. These constant changes not only place an emphasis on the South Korean economy, but also on the population.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It is no surprise that the debate about South Korea\u2019s democracy has come into the spotlight. The survival of the democratic ROK rests on those in the government. The current, but ever-closing, power vacuum in South Korea could lead to a resurgence of poorly remembered military leadership in the country. However, optimistically, it could also lead to a stronger democracy. If the PPP ceases to make extreme policy and governmental decisions based on unsubstantiated conspiracy theories found in YouTube videos, the democracy of the ROK has a far\u00a0 greater chance of existing. Even still, the Democratic Party of Korea (DP), the leading opposition party, must continue to abide by the law, not making shortcuts in order to oust deemed \u2018insurgent\u2019 political leaders.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Image courtesy of\u00a0<em>Getty Images.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On January 26, 2025, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was indicted on charges of insurrection. Yoon\u2019s charges make history as he is the only South Korean president to have been indicted while in office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5397,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2845,7],"tags":[421,856,2481,2863],"class_list":["post-13544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2845","category-opinion","tag-south-korea","tag-democracy","tag-martial-law","tag-yoon-suk-yeol"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>South Korea\u2019s Democracy is Stable, For Now - The Diplomatic Envoy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2025\/02\/19\/south-koreas-democracy-is-stable-for-now\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"South Korea\u2019s Democracy is Stable, For Now - The Diplomatic Envoy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On January 26, 2025, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was indicted on charges of insurrection. 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