Yoon Suk Yeol: South Korea’s scandal-hit leader who declared martial law

After a chaotic night in which he abruptly declared martial law and finally withdrew it just as suddenly, causing the nation to fall into discord, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s prospect is in jeopardy.

Yoon, who won the most popular position by a hair in 2022, was now viewed as a vote of confidence during his time in office and was already deeply unhappy and under growing pressure after losing political votes in April.

He’s also experienced specific difficulties. He apologized in a televised address to the nation last month for a series of scandals involving his family, including allegations of property manipulation and accepting a luxury Dior bag.

He is currently facing demands that he withdraw, and legislators have said they will move to remove him from office.

Tuesday night’s short-lived attempt to impose martial rules took people by surprise.

Legislators in Seoul had to go to the National Assembly to cast a ballot against the purchase. As thousands of protesters gathered outside in rage, authorities had assembled.

When Yoon reversed within days and announced he would remove the martial law order, the same audience erupted in ovation.

South Koreans and the rest of the world were surprised to learn that he would play for a high-stakes sport and then quickly back down.

When Yoon won the presidency, he was a relatively stranger to elections. He had gained acclaim from the country in 2016 when he prosecuted the fraud case against disgraced former president Park Geun-hye.

The social amateur came in 2022 only to lose to his liberal rival Lee Jae-myung by less than 1 % of the vote, which is the closest result the nation has seen since primary elections began to be held in 1987.

Yoon made an appeal to younger men voters by running on an anti-feminism system in a society where South Korean society is grappling with growing gender gaps.

Folks had “high expectations” for Yoon when he was elected, said Don S Lee, associate professor of public management at Sungkyunkwan University. ” Those who voted for Yoon hoped that a new government would uphold the principles of principle, transparency, and efficiency.”

Yoon has even defended North Korea from hawks. Yoon cited the socialist state on Tuesday night when he attempted to enact martial law.

Even though it was obvious from the beginning that his statement was more concerned with his private problems than with the threat from the North, he said he needed to “eliminate anti-state elements” and “protect against North Korean causes.”

Yoon is known for misstatements, which haven’t helped his scores. He was forced to retract his claim that authoritarian president Chun Doo-hwan, who imposed martial law and caused protests in 1980, had been” good at politics” during his campaign for 2022.

After meeting US President Joe Biden in New York in the following season, he was forced to deny disrespectful the US Congress.

He was caught on a warm device and apparently called US lawmakers using a Vietnamese phrase that can be translated into “idiots” or something even more potent. The video immediately gained widespread attention in South Korea.

Yoon has had some victory in his foreign policy, most notably boosting relationships in his nation’s generally troubled relationship with Japan.

Yoon’s administration has been mired in controversy. The allegations against his family Kim Keon Hee, who was accused of corruption and influence-peddling, were most prominent among them, when they reportedly accepted a Christian carrier from a priest.

Yoon rebuffed calls for an investigation into her actions in November while offering an apology on behalf of his partner.

However, his political standing remained shaky. In early November, his approval ratings tumbled to 17 %, a record low since he took office.

The opposition Democratic Party won the legislative election in April by a landslide, causing Yoon and his People Power Party a crushing fight.

According to Celeste Arrington, chairman of The George Washington University Institute for Korean Studies, Yoon was relegated to a lame duck president and reduced to vetoing legislation that the opposition had passed.

The opposition slashed the budget that the state and the ruling party had proposed this week, and the bill may be vetoed.

Around the same moment, the opposition was attempting to remove cabinet members, most notably the head of the government audit organization, because they had failed to properly evaluate the first lady.

With social difficulties pushing his back against the wall, Yoon went for the nuclear alternative- a shift that few, if any, may have predicted.

” Some observers were concerned about a political crisis in recent weeks about the clash between the leader and the opposition-controlled National Assembly,” said Dr. Arrington,” though some people predicted such an intense move as declaring martial law.”

President Yoon’s declaration of martial law was a “legal meddling and a social miscalculation”, according to Leif-Eric Easley, professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.

The president may have known how challenging it would be to apply his late-night decree, Dr. Easley told the BBC,” with incredibly little public assistance and without powerful backing within his own party and administration.”

” He sounded like a lawmaker under siege, making a determined move against mounting crises, administrative barrier, and calls for impeachment, all of which are then likely to enhance”.

As hastily-gathered legislators, some of whom are members of Yoon’s group, voted to raise martial legislation on Tuesday night, Yoon has sparked outrage from politicians on both sides. Yoon’s group leadership has demanded that the president step down, and the opposition Democratic Party is attempting to oust him. Yoon’s top aides offered to resign en mass on Wednesday, Yonhap news agency reported.

Opposition head Lee is promoting enthusiasm, claiming that Yoon’s “illegal declaration of martial law” is a “decisive opportunity to break the vicious cycle and return to normal world.”

Beyond South Korea’s territories, the effects of Tuesday evening are likely to be felt as well. Yoon’s news has rattled South Korea’s friends. Leaders in the US, a important ally, claimed they were caught off guard by Yoon’s news and are urging South Korea to resolve the issue “in accordance with the rule of law.” Japan claims to have “exceptional and severe issues” about the state of South Korea.

However, North Korea, which has ratcheted up hostilities with the South in recent months, perhaps “attempt to utilize groups in Seoul”, said Dr Easley.

South Korea is also rife with anger. On Wednesday, activists erupted into the streets to condemn Yoon. One of the largest labor organizations in the country, with over one million people, is urging staff to go on strike until they resign.

What Yoon intends to do is undetermined. Since the disaster, he hasn’t made a public look.

Former South Asian foreign secretary Kang Kyung-wha told the BBC Newsday program that “he was extremely controversial for the way he has handled the issues that have been raised with his own perform and the conduct of the first lady.” The president has a chance to escape this situation by putting himself in the position of” the ball is in his jury.”

However, Yoon may already be turning in favor of his mishandled martial law declaration, which could be the final blow to his fragile administration.