Yoon’s impeachment ratified: A new era for South Korean democracy?
[Editor’s note: Youngsu Won, director of Pnyx — Korean Institute for Marxist Studies, will be speaking at Ecosocialism 2025, September 5-7, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia. For more information on the conference visit ecosocialism.org.au.]
South Korea’s Constitutional Court finally ratified former president Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment on April 4, 111 days after parliament voted to remove him for his attempted December 3 self-coup. Explaining the judges’ unanimous decision, acting president of the bench Moon Hyung-bae said Yoon’s actions in declaring martial law, seeking to close parliament and arrest opponents had “damaged people’s basic political rights” and “violated the principles of the rule of law and democracy”.
Most of those gathered outside the court applauded in joy at the verdict, while a small contingent of anti-impeachment protesters left bitterly disappointed. The ruling conservative People Power Party (PPP) grudgingly accepted the verdict. The main opposition force, the liberal Democratic Party (DP), welcomed the decision, proclaiming it a great victory for South Korean people and democracy.
A new presidential election must now be held by June 3. Yoon now faces the likelihood of being arrested and serving a lengthy sentence for his long list of illegal actions. His wife, Kim Keon-hee, also potentially faces several charges.
Constitutional Court
Yoon attended eight sessions of the proceedings in the Constitutional Court. Immediately after being impeached by parliament on December 14, he claimed full responsibility for his attempted self-coup. But in court, he began improvising ridiculous excuses and lies, delivering a shameless and irresponsible 67-minute statement in the final session. He denied any wrongdoing, basing his argument on presidential privileges, and blamed his co-conspirators who faithfully followed his order for any illegal actions that occurred.
Yoon also sought to appeal to his loyal supporters. His main message was that his actions were a warning, not a rebellion, and that his declaration of martial law was intended to “enlighten people” to the dangers posed by bogus anti-state, left-wing forces. Relying on fake news circulated by extreme right-wing YouTubers, Yoon raised allegations of electoral fraud committed by the National Electoral Committee and other conspiracy theories, including supposed Chinese interference in South Korean politics.
De facto civil war
During the political upheaval surrounding his impeachment, the reactionary extreme right within the PPP imposed itself on the party’s pro-impeachment minority. PPP leader and Yoon protégé Han Dong-hoon, who favoured impeachment, was replaced with a new anti-impeachment leadership that believed it could annul the impeachment.
They sought to do this by joining forces with the extra-parliamentary extreme right, particularly the quasi-fascist Taegeukgi squads, which organised violent protests against the impeachment. The extreme right mobilisation temporarily succeeded in relativising Yoon’s self-coup, further isolating the moderate pro-impeachment conservatives.
Prime minister Han Duck-soo was sworn-in as acting president on Yoon’s removal, only to be impeached himself on December 27 and replaced by deputy prime minister Choi Sang-mok. As high-ranking bureaucrats picked by Yoon, both ensured the continuity of the PPP’s conservative policies, disappointing many who had hoped a potential Yoonist regime without Yoon might implement more balanced politics. The PPP’s actions only further emboldened the extreme right to mobilise and use violent tactics, such as vandalism and physical attacks against the police and political opponents.
Extremist violence and chaos
The highpoint of far right violence occurred on January 19. Hundreds of thugs stormed the regional court of West Seoul, which had issued the arrest warrant for Yoon. They broke into the court, destroyed equipment and tried to burn down the building, leading to the arrest of more than 100 extremists. Yoon and some PPP MPs defended the violent criminals, claiming they were patriotic youths.
The extreme right successfully expanded their mobilisations nationwide, but divisions emerged within their ranks. This led to competing anti-impeachment rallies in Gwanghwamun, in downtown Seoul, and Yeouido, near the National Assembly. Vying for legitimacy and hegemony, each side raised allegations of corruption and wrongdoings against each other.
Both camps, however, supported harsher attacks on the Constitutional Court and the “right of citizens to revolt”. They both attacked the media, preferring to use YouTube channels to disseminate their lies, fake news and groundless conspiracy theories. Everywhere they appeared, they repeated their violent discourse and vulgar threats, issuing hate-mongering speeches and shameless lies that only bred further disgust among the pro-impeachment majority.
Court delays decision
During the course of this historic political drama, the conservative PPP opted more than once to take the path of political suicide: first, by refusing to vote to impeach Yoon, then choosing to side with Yoon and his ultra-right supporters after his impeachment. With polls indicating that just under 40% opposed impeachment, they felt they had made the right decision.
As the tide of anti-impeachment mobilisations grew, extremist PPP MPs hoped these could potentially sway some judges to vote against impeachment. Rumours and fake news talking up splits between the judges spread indiscriminately, leading to further threats of violence against individual justices. Yoon was arrested on January 17, but under pressure was released on March 8. Yet, as the PPP became increasingly obsessed with saving Yoon, it shut its eyes to reality and continued further down the road of political death.
With the court continuously delaying its final decision, pro-impeachment forces began to get nervous. This led to a step-up of mobilisation: by late March, pro-impeachment protests had swelled, with hunger strikes and all-night sit-ins becoming routine in early April.
The future
DP leader Lee Jae-myung will likely win the coming election and become South Korea’s next president. However, the failures of previous DP governments will weigh heavily on any potential new DP government. A full-scale crisis awaits the next president, not just in terms of the immediate task of restoring the country’s broken democracy, but the multi-dimensional economic difficulties that Yoon’s self-coup unleashed.
As for most people, the sense of relief that they can now return to everyday life predominates. For the millions who mobilised to demand Yoon’s ouster, the wait between parliamentary impeachment and the court’s decision was much-too long, considering the obvious facts of the case.
South Korea’s democracy has survived Yoon’s self-coup and the subsequent wave of extreme right-wing violence. Once again the importance of people’s power in establishing and consolidating the country’s present-day democracy has been demonstrated. While Yoon’s impeachment is viewed as a tragedy by conservatives, most people understand popular resistance was crucial to not only defend but deepen democracy.
South Korea was created as an anti-Communist barrack state ruled by dictatorial regimes, both civilian and military. It was only due to popular resistance that, step by step, the country moved towards economic stability and democratisation. From the 1960 April revolution, through the 1980 Gwangju uprising and the 1987 uprisings, to the 2016 and 2024 candlelight revolutions, these people’s power victories have been fundamental to defending popular sovereignty and democracy.
South Korea’s historic experience of democratisation and democratic consolidation provokes certain reflective and creative thinking about the concept of democracy. The 20th century left’s perception of democracy was shown to be fundamentally limited in many ways. With the end of the Cold War, it was said the era of revolution was over for good — but reality has shown the opposite. Democracy and people power are unending processes that must be constantly consolidated through popular struggles.
Youngsu Won is director of Pnyx — Korean Institute for Marxist Studies.