By Jack Kim
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol faces the biggest challenge of his brief but turbulent political career, despite surviving a difficult impeachment process amid calls from members of his own party upon his resignation for imposing martial law.
Yoon was seen as a tough political survivor, but he became increasingly isolated, plagued by personal scandals and conflicts, inflexible opposition and divisions within his own party.
After narrowly winning elections in 2022, his recent struggles have made him increasingly bitter and brought out a carelessness that a former rival said was his defining trait.
When Yoon attempted to impose martial law on Tuesday, he was politically badly bruised.
An impeachment motion against him failed Saturday night when members of his ruling party boycotted the National Assembly session, but even some of them said he was not qualified for office and he should resign.
The opposition vowed to try again, while Yoon's party said it would find a “more orderly and responsible” way to resolve the crisis.
Some analysts said Yoon, a former prosecutor who had never held elected office before his presidential election, showed signs of “extreme anger” when martial law was in effect, citing terms he allegedly used to order the arrest of certain parliamentarians. who had encountered him.
A senior intelligence agency official told a parliamentary intelligence committee that Yoon said, “Catch them all and round them up,” according to panel member Kim Byung-kee.
Scandals overshadow success abroad
Ihn Yohan, a doctor and lawmaker from Yoon's People Power Party who is considered an ally of the president, said the martial law decree was “extreme” but not entirely unjustified given the relentless political attacks against Yoon. “I hope we remember how the opposition party incredibly and viciously pushed the president and his family into a corner by threatening them with special prosecutors and indictment,” he said. Thursday at a party meeting.
The past year of Yoon's presidency has been largely overshadowed by a scandal involving his wife, who was accused of inappropriately accepting an expensive offer. Christian Dior (EPA:) handbag as a gift and her stubborn refusal to fully accept it.
Only after the scandal was seen as one of the main reasons for his party's crushing defeat in April's parliamentary elections did he apologize. But he continued to reject calls for an investigation into the scandal and allegations of stock price manipulation involving his wife and mother.
The prosecutor's office that investigated the allegations decided not to file charges against the first lady.
Yoon's struggles at home have overshadowed the relative success he has enjoyed on the international stage.
His bold efforts to end a decades-long diplomatic conflict with neighboring Japan and join Tokyo in a three-way security cooperation with the United States are widely seen as his signature foreign policy legacy.
Yoon's ability to create personal connections, considered the trait that brought him his early success, was on full display at a White House event last year, when Yoon took the stage and sang the pop song “American Pie” to a stunned audience. President Joe Biden and a delighted crowd.
SHAMANS, high school friends
Born into a wealthy family in Seoul, Yoon was a laid-back youth who excelled in school. He entered Seoul National University to study law, but his penchant for partying led him to fail the bar exam several times before passing on the ninth try.
Yoon, who turns 64 on Dec. 18, rose to national prominence in 2016 when, as the chief investigator investigating then-President Park Geun-hye for corruption, he told a reporter that prosecutors are not gangsters, when asked if he was wanted. revenge.
Three years earlier, Park suspended Yoon and then fired him from a team investigating a high-profile case against the intelligence agency. The move was widely seen as punishment for challenging his authority.
His role in the jailing of the sitting president and his spectacular return to head the powerful Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office marked the start 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. This made him the darling of conservatives frustrated by Moon's liberal policies, leading him to become a presidential candidate in 2022.
Yoon defeated Lee Jae-myung, the current opposition leader who led impeachment proceedings against him, by a margin of less than 1 percent.
But Yoon's presidency got off to a rocky start when he decided to move the presidential office from the Blue House compound to a new site, wondering if it was because of a feng shui belief that the The old presidential compound was cursed. Yoon then denied any involvement of himself or his wife with a shaman.
When Yoon refused to fire top officials after the 2022 Halloween night disaster, in which 159 people were killed in a crowd in Seoul's Itaewon nightlife district, he was accused of protecting “men-yes-yes”. One of them was Security Minister Lee Sang-min, a close confidant and fellow high school graduate of Yoon's.
Another former student of Seoul's Choongam High School was Kim Yong-hyun, the man who led the transfer of the presidential post, then became the presidential security detail and was named defense minister in September.
Kim was one of two people who recommended Yoon declare martial law, a senior military official said. Lee was the other, according to local media.
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