From the issuance of martial law by Yoon Seok yeol to its lifting, it only took less than 6 hours. It was originally thought to be a winter in Seoul, but it was eventually turned into a performance art of power.
Korean people are abstract, but I didn’t expect it to be so abstract!
In fact, as early as July this year, a signature campaign to impeach Yoon Seok yeol was launched on South Korean websites, and in just a few months, more than one million people were gathered to support it. However, due to the impeachment threshold requiring the support of two-thirds of the members of parliament, although Yoon Suk yeol was heavily criticized, at least she has not yet touched the curse of the Blue House.
And Yin Xiyue’s commotion can be considered as completely paving the way for her own impeachment.
The opposition, including the Common Democratic Party, has made it clear that if Yoon Seok yeol does not resign immediately, impeachment will be initiated. National Power leader Han Dong hoon apologized on behalf of the ruling party for Yoon Seok yeol’s actions and demanded that Yoon Seok yeol resign from the party. Defense Minister Kim Yong hyun, who supports martial law, also resigned.
In addition, South Korea’s largest guild launched an indefinite strike to demand Yin Xiyue to step down, and the staff of the Presidential Palace also made speeches one after another. Not only did Yin Xiyue fail to wait for the spring in Seoul, but now he has become a public enemy of South Koreans.
That’s the question, why did Yin Xiyue issue martial law? What problems does this farce reflect in South Korea?
01
It is well known that Yin Xiyue was a prosecutor. In 2013, under the pressure of Park Geun hye, he arrested the President of the National Academy of Sciences and was appreciated by Moon Jae-in.
In 2016, Yoon Seok yeol joined the special inspection team as the head of the investigation team and detained Samsung Crown Prince for three days and three nights, directly confirming Samsung’s bribery of Park Geun hye;
After Moon Jae-in came to power in 2017, he immediately appointed Yin Xiyue as the Director of the Central District Procuratorate in Seoul, mainly responsible for the liquidation of the former leaders, and successfully sent Park Geun hye and Lee Myung bak to prison to step on the sewing machine, completing a record double killing of the former president.
It can be said that the prosecutor’s office is the main tool for internal strife in South Korea, and Yoon Seok yeol, as a knife, struck the major artery of the former leader.
What’s more wonderful is that the procuratorate system in South Korea was designed by the Americans to prevent South Koreans from practicing dictatorship, but it has become increasingly unpopular. Their procurators can ignore the existence of the president, and they will be inferior to anyone who wants to investigate, completely surpassing the country.
Friends who have watched “King of Glory” may have experienced that in South Korea, the power of prosecutors is astonishing. They hold a large amount of black information about high-ranking officials, celebrities, and tycoons in their hands, waiting to be used at critical moments of political change and social events. They can not only arrest and release officials at will, but also influence the president’s actions.
This absolute power also means the exchange of interests. South Korean prosecutors are also human and have a desire to become famous. In their eyes, the higher the level of officials they overthrow, the greater the accumulated political capital. Therefore, there are many people willing to use them as tools for power struggle.
Even if it fails, there won’t be any loss, but if something is really discovered, it will be someone like Yin Xiyue who has risen to fame.
So, South Korean presidents are generally cautious, but they can’t stop their relatives and friends around them. For example, Roh Moo hyun was caught by the prosecutor’s office just a few years after retirement because his wife took money, and in the end, he had to prove his innocence by jumping off a cliff.
Moon Jae-in also used the procuratorate to complete revenge, but he was also deeply aware that the power of the procuratorate was too great, and if he did not change the way he played, it would be difficult for him to jump out of the circular revenge model between presidents.
So after Moon Jae-in came to power, he promoted Yin Xiyue to the position of Procurator General, hoping to let him promote the reform of the procuratorate and weaken the power of the procuratorial department.
At this time, however, Yin Xiyue did not agree to change his life. He also successfully forced the suspension of judicial reform by investigating the former Minister of Justice Cao Guo and his family, which was regarded as an open break with Moon Jae-in.
At the beginning of 2020, Moon Jae-in sent his capable general Qiu Meiai as the head of the Legal Department, hoping to crack down on Yin Xiyue. He also uncovered the fund company fraud case of Yin Xiyue’s wife and mother-in-law, and the Legal Department asked Yin Xiyue to suspend his post.
Just two months later, the South Korean administrative court ruled that the suspension decision was invalid, and Yoon Seok yeol was reinstated to her original position. However, in order to avoid retaliation from him, Cho Mi ae voluntarily resigned from her post.
It can be said that Yoon Seok yeol almost became the ultimate villain who overthrew three former presidents, but he also basically offended all the bigwigs within two political parties.
In March 2021, Yoon Seok yeol, who had an unclean butt, resigned from her position as Attorney General and joined the largest opposition party in South Korea, the Korean Power Party, transforming into a presidential candidate.
It was a complete surprise that he was able to settle in the Blue House with a slight advantage, but it also destined that his presidency would not go smoothly.
02
Yoon Seok yeol’s National Power holds the administrative power in South Korea, but Lee Jae myung’s Democratic Party has gained a majority in the National Assembly and controls the legislative power in South Korea.
So since taking office in May 2022, the confrontation between Yoon Seok yeol and the Democratic Party has never stopped.
For example, Yin Xiyue felt that the feng shui of the Blue House was not good and wanted to move, but the Democratic Party disagreed;
Yin Xiyue believed that the power of the police chief was too great and wanted to push for a police reform bill. However, the Democratic Party firmly disagreed and sparked a nationwide political confrontation.
In 2023, Yin Xiyue’s government submitted a key budget, which was directly rejected by the Congress controlled by the Common Democratic Party. The reason was that this budget reduced the welfare policies implemented during the Democratic Party period, but increased the expenditure in the military and security fields. This is a revenge budget, specifically aimed at Moon Jae-in’s political heritage.
As a counterattack, Yin Xiyue mobilized the power of the prosecutor’s office to investigate Li Zaiming’s corruption and abuse of power, causing Old Li not only to lose his candidacy, but also to refrain from performing hunger strikes and protests, occupying the front page headlines of overseas news for a long time.
In fact, the Democratic Party was very dissatisfied with Yoon Seok yeol’s background as a prosecutor as early as when he ran for office. After Yoon Seok yeol came to power, the Democratic Party led and passed a reform bill that restricted the power of the prosecutor’s office, reducing its investigative authority from six major areas to two.
Yoon Seok yeol firmly opposes it, saying it is a political persecution of him. The bill has also sparked internal protests within the prosecution system, putting the conflict between South Korea’s legislative and executive powers on the table.
In short, all the policy ideas proposed by the Yoon Seok yeol government were opposed by Lee Jae myung’s opposition party, resulting in Yoon Seok yeol not achieving anything in recent years and even causing the parliament to be paralyzed. Even the South Korean media can’t bear to watch it anymore, saying that they are opposing for the sake of opposition and seriously hindering the country’s development.
The main reason for Yin Xiyue’s passionate coup is that the opposition party is pushing too hard and there is no room for any further manipulation.
Everyone knows that Yoon Seok yeol’s wife, Kim Jeon hee, commonly known as the walking Korean medical beauty, even outshines Yoon in major diplomatic events. However, this first lady’s background is not very clean and has always been a target of the opposition party’s relentless pursuit.
According to media reports, during his tenure as curator, Jin Jianxi used his husband’s judicial background to facilitate a large consortium, and even embezzled funds from project budgets as “private activity funds”. She is also suspected of forging academic qualifications and resumes and seeking funding support, habitually exaggerating the importance of participating in projects.
These accusations directly hit the sensitive nerves of South Koreans. In addition to various rough processing by online spoosters, Jin Jianxi directly changed from “goddess of art” to “queen of cheats”.
Although Yin Xiyue has repeatedly used presidential power to prevent investigations, how could the opposition led by Lao Li easily let go of such explosive anti-corruption materials?
On November 29th, five days before Yoon Seok yeol launched the “coup”, the South Korean National Assembly passed an amendment to the “Permanent Special Inspection Assembly Rules”. The core content involves the investigation of the president and his family, which means that presidential privileges no longer exist, and prosecutors must find people outside the president’s sphere of influence to do so. Moreover, this amendment is not a bill that can be implemented immediately.
Obviously, this bill is specifically aimed at Yoon Seok yeol and Kim Jianxi, and just one day before martial law, Lee Jae myung had already initiated impeachment against the president. If successful, Yoon Seok yeol may become the first president in office to take his wife to prison.
For the sake of his wife and himself, Yin Xiyue decided to make a big deal out of it, so he took out the “martial law” commonly used by military leaders in the past. However, from the results and process, such intense and foolish means still exceeded everyone’s imagination.
03
According to Yoon Seok yeol’s speech on television, it is probably said that Lee Jae myung’s opposition party is a domestic anti state force in South Korea that is manipulating the parliament and disrupting the country.
According to his logic, it is probably to block the Capitol building, restrict the activities of members of parliament, and then prevent the opposition from passing bills to investigate the First Lady or impeach high-ranking officials.
The risk of this operation is high, and it is very easy to be criticized by the opposition as a sieve. However, it can indeed break free from the constraints of Congress in a short period of time, and then manipulate public opinion to shift people’s attention from the economic issues of the First Lady to the issue of maintaining national security.
However, Lao Yin’s technique is too abstract and easily reminds people of the suppression in Gwangju and the chaos in the late period of Park Dae jung’s rule.
Friends who have watched ‘Seoul Spring’ know that the primary task of the military’s rebellion is to occupy the power center, cut off communication and networks, directly arrest the opposition, and finally add some unfounded charges to deceive the people into standing on their side.
Yin Xiyue announced martial law, and did not cut off communication and the Internet at the first time. A large number of Korean Internet celebrities and media went to live broadcast.
The military is also using soy sauce. Almost all members of the opposition party, led by Lee Jae myung, rushed to the parliamentary venue within two hours when transportation was cut off. Lee Jae myung himself even livestreamed and climbed over the wall to enter the parliamentary venue.
When the army arrived at the parliament, dozens of media outlets and hundreds of people had already gathered at the entrance. The army wanted to enter but was blocked outside, and the air transport unit directly under Yin Xiyue also gave up attacking the parliament at the last minute.
Even more unbelievable is that Yoon Seok yeol and her ruling party did not reach an agreement. Party leader Han Dong hoon led the anti presidential movement and quickly lifted martial law through parliament.
In this operation, Yin Xiyue was completely a stream of consciousness, belonging to the “passionate coup”. Compared to Li Zaiming’s political sense and action ability, the level of Lao Yin was simply not online.
The next step for him is either to resign voluntarily or to be ousted from office. His constitutional disaster and his wife’s economic corruption are probably unavoidable.
04
In fact, this martial law storm is not an isolated incident, it reflects two fundamental problems that have long existed in South Korean politics.
Firstly, the two political parties are either extreme left or extreme right, and there is no possibility of compromise.
Everyone knows that populism in South Korea is severe and there has always been a struggle between left and right factions.
To put it simply, the leftists in South Korea are generally “pro North and anti Japanese”, friendly to China, suppressing tycoons domestically, and demanding increased social welfare. Roh Moo hyun and Moon Jae-in are typical representatives, while Lee Jae ming obviously has mastered the anti blockade experience of his predecessors. In just two hours, he organized a protest team of thousands of people, and even pulled out slogans and banners, which shows his ability to mobilize the masses.
The right-wing in South Korea is a vested interest group that grew up during the era of Park Chung hee. They uphold the interests of the wealthy and refuse further reforms, maintain a humble attitude towards the United States and Japan, be tough on their northern neighbors, and support military expansion towards North Korea. Representative figures include Lee Myung bak, Park Geun hye, and now Yoon Suk yeol.
The relationship between the ruling party and the opposition party is often like an endless tug of war, with water and fire on both sides. After every change of power, the new government almost always liquidates its predecessor, while the opposition party will use all means to delay or even obstruct the implementation of the ruling party’s policies.
This state of left and right confrontation not only leads to a lack of continuity in South Korea’s policies, but also creates extreme distrust among the people towards the government.
Secondly, there is an imbalance in institutional design.
South Korea adopts a presidential centric system, which gives the president very high executive power but lacks sufficient checks and balances.
Except for the Prime Minister, the President’s power to appoint public officials is almost not subject to any substantial constraints, and even the selection of department heads and the Blue House can be manipulated behind the scenes. Therefore, some people say that South Korea is an imperial president with astonishing power.
So, a logical cycle emerged in the South Korean political arena, with one side being the irreconcilable party struggle and the other being the highly centralized presidential throne. Regardless of who takes office, they must act according to their own ideas and have no willingness to communicate or cooperate with other political forces.
The direct consequence of this is a life and death struggle on the political line, where those on stage demand unlimited power and those below are solely focused on taking them down. As a result, the South Korean president has become the center of internal strife and party struggles.
What’s even more troublesome is that South Korea doesn’t have a lifetime immunity like the US president, and the circle culture is also based on the facts. Since everyone is not clean, they won’t engage in any dirty tricks like settling accounts after autumn.
But the term of office of the South Korean president is only 5 years, and he cannot be re elected. Once he steps down, he becomes a living target of power struggles, because no matter which faction’s new leader comes up, he has to establish a different image from his predecessor, and there is no need to consider any political legacy when it comes to liquidation.
Of course, Yin Xiyue is an exception. The reason why he was cornered during his tenure is mainly due to his poor political skills and poor economic work ability.
You should know that Yin Xiyue’s base consists of the economic faction among young people, a portion of conservatives, and a large portion of anti female boxers.
But in the years since he took office, South Korea’s economic performance has been glaring. First, semiconductor exports have declined, and then there has been a widespread rental housing crisis. In order to kneel and lick Japan, Yoon Seok yeol is willing to give up compensation for comfort women, almost offending all the voters who support him.
In fact, before being impeached, Yin Xiyue’s approval rating had already dropped to less than 15%, basically declaring her political brain dead.
Yoon Seok yeol’s passionate coup is just a desperate struggle. The turmoil of martial law may be quelled in the short term, but internal strife in South Korea will not stop, and social rifts are difficult to heal.
Yin Xiyue is unlikely to escape the fate of being liquidated.
