Embittered survivor gives in to martial law backlash By Reuters

By Jack Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol faces the biggest threat to his brief but checkered political career, with his fate in the hands of judges after some of his allies turned their backs on him and They voted to impeach him on Saturday for allegedly leading an insurrection.

Considered a tough but increasingly isolated political survivor, he has been dogged by scandals and personal conflicts, unwavering opposition and divisions within his own party.

After narrowly winning the 2022 election, his recent battles have left him increasingly bitter and sparked a recklessness that a former rival said was his defining trait.

When Yoon imposed a short-lived martial law on December 3, he was already badly beaten politically.

This week, his appeal that he had acted only out of “ardent patriotism” to save the country from destruction and his challenge to “fight to the end” did little to secure the continued support of those who were previously unconvinced that he had committed an impeachable crime. .

Instead, the 29-minute speech raised alarm that he might have become unhinged, his sense of judgment so damaged that he was now a danger to the global industrial power and one of the most powerful success stories of democratic resilience.

Shin Yul, a political science professor at Myongji University, said Yoon was probably listening to the wrong people, such as right-wing extremists and YouTube personalities, and probably “still thinks he did the right thing.”

An opposition member of the Democratic Party said Yoon's speech was a “display of extreme deceit.”

Even those who were more sympathetic said he had bowed to extreme pressure and endless political attacks, some of which he probably took personally.

“I hope we remember how the opposition party has incredibly and brutally cornered the president and his family with threats of special prosecutors and impeachment,” said Ihn Yohan, a doctor and member of parliament for the People's Power Party (PPP). by Yoon. .

SCANDALS, PROSECUTION THREATS, 'AMERICAN PIE'

Yoon's final year of presidency was heavily overshadowed by a scandal involving his wife, who was accused of inappropriately accepting an expensive christian dior (EPA:) bag as a gift and her stubborn refusal to fully acknowledge it.

Yoon only apologized after the scandal was blamed as one of the main reasons for his party's crushing parliamentary election defeat in April. But he continued to reject calls for an investigation into the scandal and an allegation of stock price manipulation involving his wife and mother.

The prosecutor's office that investigated the accusations decided not to file charges against the first lady.

Yoon's problems at home have overshadowed the relative success he has had on the international stage.

His bold initiative to reverse a decades-long diplomatic dispute with neighboring Japan and join Tokyo in three-way security cooperation with the United States is widely regarded as his signature foreign policy legacy.

Yoon's ability to bond on a personal level, seen as the trait that gave him his initial success, was on full display at a White House event last year, when Yoon took the stage and belted out the pop song “American Pie” before an amazed audience. US President Joe Biden and a delighted crowd.

SHAMANS, HIGH SCHOOL PEERS

Born into a wealthy family in Seoul, Yoon was a quiet young man who excelled in school. He entered the elite Seoul National University to study law, but his penchant for partying led him to repeatedly fail the bar exam before passing on the ninth try.

Yoon, who will turn 64 on Dec. 18, rose to national prominence in 2016 when, as a lead investigator investigating then-President Park Geun-hye for corruption, he told a reporter that prosecutors are not gangsters, when He asked if he was out of order. revenge.

Three years earlier, Park had suspended Yoon and then fired him from a team investigating a high-profile case against the spy agency. That measure was widely considered a punishment for defying his authority.

His role in the imprisonment of the sitting president and his dramatic return as head of the powerful Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office marked the beginning of a dizzying rise to power.

Two years later, he became attorney general and led a corruption investigation against a close ally of the next president, Moon Jae-in. That made him a favorite of conservatives frustrated with Moon's liberal policies, making him a presidential candidate in 2022.

But his presidency got off to a rocky start when he went ahead with moving the presidential office from the Blue House complex to a new site, facing questions about whether it was because of a feng shui belief that the old presidential complex was cursed. Yoon at the time denied any relationship he or his wife had with a shaman.

When Yoon refused to fire top officials after the 2022 Halloween night disaster, which killed 159 people, he was accused of protecting his “yes men.” One of them was Security Minister Lee Sang-min, a fellow high school graduate of Yoon.

Another student at Choongam High School in Seoul was Kim Yong-hyun, the man who spearheaded the presidential office movement, then became the presidential security service and in September was named defense minister.

Kim was one of two people who recommended that Yoon declare martial law, a senior military officer said. Lee was the other.