FIle picture of South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol
| Photo Credit: AP

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol appeared in court Thursday (February 20, 2025) for a hearing where his lawyers contested his arrest on a criminal charge alleging he was orchestrating a rebellion when he briefly imposed martial law in December.

Security was heightened as the motorcade transporting Mr. Yoon arrived at the Seoul Central District Court and dozens of his supporters rallied nearby.

Mr. Yoon becomes the country’s first sitting head of state to stand trial in a criminal case.

The preliminary hearing will involve discussions of witnesses and other preparations for his criminal trial, and the court was also to review the request by Mr. Yoon’s lawyers to cancel his arrest and release him from custody. Such challenges are rarely successful.

Mr. Yoon was indicted on January 26 on the rebellion charge carrying a potential punishment of death or life in prison. In South Korea, presidents have immunity from most criminal prosecutions, but not on charges of rebellion or treason.

The indictment alleges his imposition of martial law was an illegal attempt to shut down the National Assembly and arrest politicians and election authorities. The conservative Mr. Yoon has said his martial law declaration was intended as a temporary warning to the liberal opposition and that he had always planned to respect lawmakers’ will if they voted to lift the measure.

Mr. Yoon’s presidential powers were suspended when he was impeached Dec. 14, and South Korea’s Constitutional Court is nearing a decision on whether to formally remove him from office or dismiss the Assembly’s impeachment and reinstate him.

EDITORIAL | Costly miscalculation: On the South Korean President’s announcement of martial law

Martial law was lifted about six hours after Mr. Yoon declared it but has caused political turmoil, disrupted high-level diplomacy and tested the resiliency of the country’s democracy. Mr. Yoon’s conservative supporters rioted at the Seoul Western District Court after it authorized his arrest last month, while his lawyers and ruling party have openly questioned the credibility of courts and law enforcement institutions handling the case.

Mr. Yoon has continued to express contempt for his liberal rivals for obstructing his agenda and endorsed baseless conspiracy theories about election fraud to justify his ill-fated authoritarian push.

Mr. Yoon’s defence minister, police chief and several military commanders have also been arrested and indicted on rebellion, abuse of power and other charges related to the martial law decree, which involved hundreds of heavily armed troops deployed to the National Assembly and National Election Commission offices.

Protesters drag a figure depicting South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol as they march during a rally against Yoon Suk Yeol, who declared martial law, which was reversed hours later, in Seoul, South Korea, December 28, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

South Korea’s suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol refused a summons to appear for questioning on Sunday (December 29, 2024), the third time he has defied investigators’ demands in two weeks.

Investigators probing Yoon had ordered him to appear for questioning at 10 am (GMT 0100) on Sunday, a demand he rejected.

Yoon, a former prosecutor, also failed to attend a hearing he was summoned to last Wednesday, giving no explanation for his absence.

The conservative leader was stripped of his duties by parliament on December 14, following a short-lived martial law declaration that plunged the country into its worst political crisis in decades.

Yoon faces impeachment and criminal charges of insurrection, which could result in life imprisonment or even the death penalty, in a drama that has shocked democratic South Korea’s allies around the world.

“President Yoon Suk Yeol did not appear at the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) at 10 am today,” said the office in a statement.

“The Joint Investigation Headquarters will review and decide on future measures,” it added.

The CIO is expected to decide in the coming days whether to issue a fourth summons or ask a court to grant an arrest warrant to compel Yoon to appear for questioning.

He is being investigated by prosecutors as well as a joint team comprising police, defence ministry, and anti-corruption officials, while the Constitutional Court deliberates on the impeachment motion passed by parliament.

If upheld by the court, which is required to deliver its ruling within six months of the impeachment, a by-election must be held within 60 days of the court’s decision.

Former president Park Geun-hye was impeached under similar circumstances, but she was investigated only after the Constitutional Court removed her from power.

A 10-page prosecutors’ report seen by AFP stated that Yoon Suk Yeol authorised the military to fire their weapons if needed to enter parliament during his failed bid to impose martial law.

Yoon had survived an impeachment vote last week.

Most ruling party lawmakers were boycotting a parliamentary vote Saturday (December 7, 2024) to deny a two-thirds majority sought by the opposition to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his short-lived imposition of martial law, as protests grew nationwide calling for his removal.

The likely defeat of the motion is expected to intensify public protests calling for Mr. Yoon’s ouster and deepen political chaos in South Korea, with a survey suggesting a majority of South Koreans support the President’s impeachment. Mr. Yoon’s martial law declaration drew criticism from his own ruling conservative party, but it is also determined to oppose Mr. Yoon’s impeachment apparently because it fears losing presidency to liberals.

Also read | Timeline of South Korea’s martial law declaration; quick overturn by President Yoon Suk Yeol

Impeaching Mr. Yoon would require support from two-thirds of the National Assembly, or 200 of its 300 members. The opposition parties who brought the impeachment motion have 192 seats, meaning they need at least eight additional votes from Mr. Yoon’s People Power Party.

The opposition-controlled Parliament began a vote earlier Saturday, but only three lawmakers from PPP took part with opposition members. If the number of lawmakers who cast ballots doesn’t reach 200, the motion will be scrapped at midnight, according to National Assembly. Opposition parties could submit a new impeachment motion after a new parliamentary session opens next Wednesday.

National Assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik urged ruling party members to return to the chamber to participate in the vote, stressing that it was closely watched by the nation and also the world.

“Don’t make a shameful judgment and please vote based on your convictions,” Woo said. “I plead to you, for the future of the Republic of Korea.”

Earlier Saturday, Mr. Yoon issued a public apology over the martial law decree, saying he won’t shirk legal or political responsibility for the declaration and promising not to make another attempt to impose martial law. He said would leave it to his party to chart a course through the country’s political turmoil, “including matters related to my term in office.”

“The declaration of this martial law was made out of my desperation. But in the course of its implementation, it caused anxiety and inconveniences to the public. I feel very sorry over that and truly apologize to the people who must have been shocked a lot,” Mr. Yoon said.

Since taking office in 2022, Mr. Yoon has struggled to push his agenda through an opposition-controlled parliament and grappled with low approval ratings amid scandals involving himself and his wife. In his martial law announcement on Tuesday night, Yoon called parliament a “den of criminals” bogging down state affairs and vowed to eliminate “shameless North Korea followers and anti-state forces.”

The turmoil resulting from Mr. Yoon’s bizarre and poorly-thought-out stunt has paralyzed South Korean politics and sparked alarm among key diplomatic partners, including neighboring Japan and Seoul’s top ally the United States, as one of the strongest democracies in Asia faces a political crisis that could unseat its leader.

Tuesday night saw special forces troops encircling the parliament building and army helicopters hovering over it, but the military withdrew after the National Assembly unanimously voted to overturn the decree, forcing Yoon to lift it before daybreak Wednesday. The declaration of martial law was the first of its kind in more than 40 years in South Korea. Eighteen lawmakers from the ruling party voted to reject Yoon’s martial law decree along with opposition lawmakers.

The passage of Mr. Yoon’s impeachment motion appeared more likely Friday when the chair of Mr. Yoon’s party called for his removal on Friday, but the party remained formally opposed to impeachment.

On Saturday, tens of thousands of people packed streets near the National Assembly, waving banners, shouting slogans and dancing and singing along to K-pop songs with lyrics changed to call for Mr. Yoon’s ouster. A smaller crowd of Mr. Yoon’s supporters, which still seemed to be in the thousands, rallied in separate streets in Seoul, decrying the impeachment attempt they saw as unconstitutional.

Lawmakers on Saturday first voted on a bill appointing a special prosecutor to investigate stock price manipulation allegations surrounding Yoon’s wife. Some lawmakers from Mr. Yoon’s party were seen leaving the hall after that vote, triggering angry shouts from opposition lawmakers.

If Mr. Yoon is impeached, his powers will be suspended until the Constitutional Court decides whether to remove him from office. If he is removed, an election to replace him must take place within 60 days.

Opposition lawmakers say that Yoon’s attempt at martial law amounted to a self-coup, and drafted the impeachment motion around rebellion charges.

Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, told reporters that Yoon’s speech was “greatly disappointing” and that the only way forward is his immediate resignation or impeachment.

On Friday, PPP chair Han Dong-hun, who criticized Mr. Yoon’s martial law declaration, said he had received intelligence that during the brief period of martial law Yoon ordered the country’s defense counterintelligence commander to arrest and detain unspecified key politicians based on accusations of “anti-state activities.”

Hong Jang-won, first deputy director of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing Friday that Yoon called after imposing martial law and ordered him to help the defense counterintelligence unit to detain key politicians. The targeted politicians included Han, Lee and Woo, according to Kim Byung-kee, one of the lawmakers who attended the meeting.

The Defense Ministry said it had suspended the defense counterintelligence commander, Yeo In-hyung, who Han alleged had received orders from Yoon to detain the politicians. The Ministry also suspended the commanders of the capital defense command and the special warfare command over their involvement in enforcing martial law.

Former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun, who has been accused of recommending Mr. Yoon enforce martial law, has been placed under a travel ban and faces an investigation by prosecutors over rebellion charges.

Vice Defense Minister Kim Seon Ho has testified to parliament that it was Kim Yong Hyun who ordered troops to be deployed to the National Assembly after Yoon imposed martial law.

South Korea lifts President’s martial law

| Video Credit:
The Hindu

Hours after imposing martial law in South Korea, President Yoon Suk Yeol lifted it early on December 4. This was after a tense night of political drama in which troops surrounded the parliament and lawmakers voted to reject military rule.

Mr. Yoon had declared martial law late on December 3, vowing to eliminate “anti-state” forces. He has been struggling against an opposition that controls the country’s parliament and that he accuses of sympathising with North Korea.

Less than three hours after imposing martial law, parliament voted to lift the declaration, with National Assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik declaring that the martial law was “invalid”.

The lawmakers of South Korea’s opposition coalition on Wednesday moved a motion in the Asian country’s Parliament to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol after his shocking imposition of martial law that brought thousands of protesters to the streets.

File picture of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol waving a Korean flag
| Photo Credit: via Reuters

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol recently began practising golf, for the first time in eight years, in preparation for future meetings with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, Mr. Yoon’s office confirmed on Tuesday (November 12, 2024).

South Korean media said Mr. Yoon visited a golf course on Saturday (November 9, 2024) for a sport his office said he had last played in 2016.

“A lot of people close to President Trump… (told me) President Yoon and Trump will have good chemistry,” Mr. Yoon told a press conference on Thursday (November 7, 2024), after congratulating Mr. Trump by telephone on his win.

Former Trump administration officials and influential Republicans had offered to help build ties with the incoming president, he added.

Analysts said Mr. Yoon may seek to find a way to capitalise on a personal friendship with Mr. Trump to advance Seoul’s interests as Trump’s “America First” foreign policy plans and his unpredictable style play out in his second term.

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump mimics a golf swing as music plays after speaking during a campaign rally at Thomas & Mack Center on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
| Photo Credit:
AP

South Korean companies rely heavily on trade with the United States, and during Mr. Trump’s first term, the countries clashed over cost-sharing for the roughly 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea as a legacy of the 1950-1953 Korean War.

Officials in Seoul have been working to prepare for significant economic change, while Mr. Yoon called on Sunday for government and industry talks to prepare for Mr. Trump’s return.

The similar personalities and outsider approaches of Mr. Trump and Mr. Yoon may help them get along, said Ramon Pacheco Pardo, a specialist in Korean affairs at King’s College London.

“I also think that Yoon is generally well-liked by policy-makers in the United States, which will help him, whoever advises Trump on foreign policy,” he added.

Bruce Klingner, of the Heritage Foundation in Washington, agreed that the two could develop a strong relationship but warned it might not be sufficient to spare South Korea from negative impacts.

“While many leaders will seek to replicate the friendship that Shinzo Abe had with Mr. Trump, there is no evidence that personal relationship resulted in any tangible, demonstrative benefits for Japan,” the former CIA analyst added, referring to the assassinated former Japanese prime minister.

Tokyo was treated the same as Seoul in contentious talks on military cost-sharing, he added.

This combination of pictures released from North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via KNS on early October 19, 2024, shows a balloon and items apparently from South Korea, found on October 18 in the southern border area in North Korea.
| Photo Credit: KCNA VIA KNS / AFP

“Trash carried by a North Korean balloon fell on the presidential compound in central Seoul on Thursday (October 23, 2024),” officials said, the second such case in recent months that raises concerns about the vulnerability of key South Korean sites during potential North Korean aggression.

The incident comes after the rival Koreas ramped up threats and rhetoric against each other over North Korea’s claims that South Korea flew drones over its capital Pyongyang to scatter propaganda leaflets this month.

South Korea’s presidential security service said in a statement that one of the balloons floated by North Korea burst over the South Korean presidential compound on Thursday (October 23, 2024) morning, dropping rubbish on the ground. No dangerous items were found.

North Korea has sent trash-carrying balloons into South Korea since late May in a resumption of a Cold War-style psychological campaign. The trash that fell on the South Korean presidential compound in July contained no dangerous material and no one was hurt.

It wasn’t immediately known whether South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was at the compound during the latest incident. His schedule showed he was due to meet with visiting Polish President Andrzej Duda at his office later Thursday (October 23, 2024).

South Korea’s Dong-A Ilbo newspaper reported earlier Thursday (October 23, 2024) on its website that North Korea’s latest balloons contained propaganda leaflets criticising Mr. Yoon and his wife Kim Keon Hee along with trash.

The newspapers said the leaflets were scattered in areas in Seoul’s Yongsan district, where Mr. Yoon’s presidential office is located, and noted that North Korea has recently begun using GPS technology to drop balloons more accurately in intended locations.

The South Korean presidential security service didn’t immediately confirm the report.

Experts say North Korea likely lacks sophisticated technology to drop balloons on specific targets.

“Whether the balloons have GPS or not, it’s all about launching them in large numbers and hitting the right altitude based on wind direction and speed, so that they can ride those winds to travel,” Lee Choon Geun, an honorary research fellow at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute, said.

“While some media are saying the accuracy of the balloons has improved, that improved accuracy isn’t because they equipped them with some sort of guidance system, but rather because it’s the season when winds blow southward,” researcher Lee said.

North Korea has earlier accused South Korea of “infiltrating drones” to drop propaganda leaflets over Pyongyang three times this month and threatened military responses if it happened again. South Korea has refused to confirm whether it sent drones but warned that North Korea would face the end of its regime if the safety of South Korean citizens is threatened.

North Korea said its balloon activities were in response to South Korean activists launching anti-Pyongyang leaflets via their own balloons. South Korea responded by restarting propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts at border areas, prompting North Korea to turn on their own frontline loudspeakers.

The Koreas’ Cold War-style campaigns come as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has increased the pace of his weapons tests and expanded military cooperation with Russia.

U.S. and South Korean officials said Wednesday (October 23, 2024) that 3,000 North Korean troops have been deployed to Russia and are training at several locations. South Korean officials say North Korea eventually aims to send a total of 10,000 troops to Russia to support its war efforts in Ukraine.

South Korea is concerned that Russia may reward North Korea by giving it sophisticated technologies that could improve the North’s nuclear and missile programs that target South Korea and its allies.

South Korean Army soldiers collect the trash from a balloon presumably sent by North Korea, in Incheon, South Korea, on July 24, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Trash from at least one North Korean balloon fell on the South Korean Presidential compound on July 24, raising worries about the security of key South Korean facilities from North Korean provocations.

“The rubbish that fell on the ground at the compound in central Seoul contained no dangerous material and no one was hurt,” South Korea’s Presidential security service said in a statement. But experts say South Korea needs to shoot incoming North Korean balloons at border areas next time, as it’s not clear whether North Korea would put in hazardous items in future campaigns.

North Korea’s latest balloon launches came days after South Korea boosted its frontline broadcasts of K-pop songs and propaganda messages across the rivals’ heavily armed border. Their tit-for-tat Cold War-style campaigns are inflaming tensions, with the rivals threatening stronger steps and warning of grave consequences.

Seoul officials earlier said North Korea had used the direction of winds to fly balloons toward South Korea, but some of the past balloons had timers that were likely meant to pop the bags of trash midair. The security service gave no further details about the rubbish found at the Presidential compound, such as whether balloons were discovered along with the trash.

If North Korea is found to have used timers or any other device to deliberately dump trash on key South Korean facilities such as the Presidential office, it would certainly invite strong response by South Korea. But experts say dropping balloons at ground targets is extremely sophisticated technology and that North Korea would certainly lack such an ability.

The security service refused to disclose whether President Yoon Suk Yeol was in the office at the time. Mr.Yoon’s office earlier said he has no official schedule on July 24.

‘North Korean landmines could float into South Korea’

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said earlier on Wednesday that North Korean balloons were flying north of Seoul after crossing the border and had urged people to be alert for falling objects.

It was North Korea’s 10th such launch since late May. The more than 2,000 huge balloons so far have dropped wastepaper, scraps of cloth, cigarette butts and even manure on South Korea. North Korea has said it was responding to South Korean activists scattering political leaflets across the border via their own balloons.

Experts say North Korea considers South Korean civilian leafleting activities a major threat to its efforts to stop the inflow of foreign news and maintain its authoritarian rule. In furious responses to past South Korean leafletting, North Korea destroyed an empty South Korean-built liaison office in its territory in 2020 and fired at incoming balloons in 2014.

The North’s balloons haven’t caused major damage but have raised security jitters among people, worried North Korea could use such balloons to drop more hazardous materials such as chemical- and biological agents.

South Korea said on Sunday it was ramping up its anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts from its loudspeakers at all major sites along the land border because North Korea was continuing launches of trash-carrying balloons. South Korea restarted last Thursday its loudspeaker broadcasts for the first time in about 40 days in retaliation for North Korea’s previous balloon activities.

Observers say South Korean propaganda broadcasts can demoralise frontline North Korean troops and residents. In 2015, North Korea fired artillery rounds across the border in anger over South Korea’s restart of propaganda broadcasts, prompting the South to return fire.

South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson Lee Sung Joon said the ongoing South Korean broadcasts include K-pop songs and news on South Korean economic development. South Korean media reported the broadcasts also contained news on the recent defection of a senior North Korean diplomat and called the mine-planting work by North Korean soldiers at the border “hellish, slave-like lives.”

South Korea has an estimated 40 loudspeakers — 24 stationary and 16 mobile ones. South Korea’s military said on July 22 it was fully operating the fixed loudspeakers and plans to use the mobile loudspeakers as well.

South Korea’s military has warned of other unspecified stronger steps if North Korea continues its balloon campaigns. North Korea hasn’t made an official response to the South Korean propaganda broadcasts. But last week, Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, threatened new countermeasures against South Korean civilian leafleting as she warned that South Korean “scum” must be ready to pay “a gruesome and dear price” over their actions.

South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol sounded a warning to fellow world leaders on September 21 about the recent communication and possible cooperation between North Korea and Russia, saying any action by a permanent U.N. Security Council member to circumvent international norms would be dangerous and “paradoxical.”

Speaking before the U.N. General Assembly, Yoon Suk Yeol invoked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s visit last week to Russia, which is one of the five permanent members of the council, the U.N.’s most powerful body.

Kim met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia’s far east. The two said they may cooperate on defence issues but gave no specifics, which left South Korea and its allies — including the United States — uneasy.

South Korea keen on joining Quad, talks on upgrading CEPA underway: envoy

“It is paradoxical that a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, entrusted as the ultimate guardian of world peace, would wage war by invading another sovereign nation and receive arms and ammunition from a regime that blatantly violates Security Council resolutions,” Yoon told fellow leaders on the second day of the U.N. General Assembly’s annual gathering of leaders. He had been expected to raise the issue.

Yoon said that if North Korea “acquires the information and technology necessary” to enhance its weapons of mass destruction in exchange for giving conventional weapons to Russia, that would also be unacceptable to the South.

“Such a deal between Russia and the DPRK will be a direct provocation threatening the peace and security of not only Ukraine but also the Republic of Korea,” he said, using the acronym for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “The Republic of Korea, together with its allies and partners, will not stand idly by.” South Korea has expressed support for Ukraine, which is fighting a war against the 2022 Russian invasion of its territory. At the G20 summit in India earlier this month, Yoon said Seoul would contribute $300 million to Ukraine next year and — eventually — a support package worth more than $2 billion.

“The nuclear and missile programmes of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea pose not only a direct and existential threat to the peace of the Republic of Korea, but also (are) a serious challenge to peace in the Indo-Pacific region and across the globe,” Yoon said in his speech.

Foreign experts speculate that Russia and North Korea were pushing to reach arms transfer deals in violation of Security Council resolutions. Both countries are in major disputes with the West, and both are under international sanctions.

While Russian-North Korean cooperation is feared to fuel Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine, it has also encouraged unease in South Korea, where many think a Russian transfer of sophisticated weapons technologies would help North Korea acquire a functioning spy satellite, a nuclear-powered submarine and more powerful missiles.

On Tuesday, South Korean Vice-Foreign Minister Chang Ho-jin summoned the Russian ambassador to Seoul, Andrey Kulik, and urged Moscow to immediately stop its military cooperation with North Korea, which he said would have a “very negative impact” on its relations with the South.

North Korea has been increasing its nuclear arsenal for years, ratcheting up tensions in the region as it threatens to use nuclear weapons in conflicts. It regularly conducts missile tests, particularly in the past year.

In response, Yoon and U.S. President Joe Biden in April agreed to expand joint military exercises, increase the temporary deployments of U.S. strategic assets and launch a bilateral nuclear consultative group.