South Korea’s SEOUL The scene is somewhat recognizable: American flags, banners saying “Stop the Steal,” and the rare cap that reads “Make America Great Again.”
Conservative supporters of ousted South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol are protesting, but it’s not a Donald Trump rally. Yeol could be the first sitting president of an East Asian democracy to be arrested after he caused political unrest last month with his failed attempt to impose martial law.
Yoon’s impeachment and possible imprisonment have sparked resentment from his supporters, some of whom have heightened allegations of election fraud and other conspiracy theories propagated by right-wing YouTubers, despite polls showing that the majority of South Koreans favor his removal from office.
In order to show support for the long-standing South Korean alliance with the United States, which they believe is essential to defending South Korean democracy in a hostile area, many of Yoon’s followers fly American flags.
Additionally, they have embraced some of the phrases and symbols linked to President-elect Trump, whom they perceive as a political kinship partner of Yoon and a fellow victim of persecution.
Choi Jin Nyoung, a journalist and lawyer in Seoul, told NBC News on Monday that South Koreans, especially conservatives, find similarities between Trump’s Make America Great Again slogan and their own goals for a Great Korea.
After what they see as political and diplomatic defeats during past administrations, they see Trump’s plan as being in line with their goal of reviving national pride and advancement.
Following an hours-long confrontation with his security service, officials failed to execute an arrest warrant for Yoon at his official residence in central Seoul on Friday, to the cheers of his fans. In order to save Yoon from being arrested, thousands of pro-Yoon demonstrators have congregated outside the house in recent days.
Like Trump fans, many of them rejected the probes into Yoon as being politically motivated.
Gang Sung-min, a pro-Yoon demonstrator, stated on Friday that these activities were carried out as an overreach from the beginning and that the investigations were started illegally. Therefore, I think that the public can intervene to stop such unlawful activity.
In relation to his declaration of martial law on Dec. 3, which he lifted hours later when lawmakers unanimously rejected it, investigators are attempting to examine Yoon on potential rebellion charges.
The anti-corruption organization in charge of the joint probe was reportedly looking for an extension of the warrants that were obtained last week to arrest Yoon and search his home. The warrants were supposed to expire at midnight local time.
Yoon has had difficulty advancing his legislative agenda against the opposition-controlled parliament since he barely won election in 2022 to a single five-year term. Last month, in an unexpected late-night speech, he declared martial law was required to fight anti-state forces that he claimed were paralyzing the government and harboring sympathies for communist North Korea, with which the South is still nominally at war.
There is no proof to support his claims that the April parliamentary election, which was won by the Democratic Party, the largest opposition party, was a fraud. Yoon deployed troops to the National Election Commission headquarters during his martial law proclamation to look into his claims, but the order was revoked before they could confiscate any staff or computer equipment.
Even though Yoon offered no proof to back up his claims, his supporters—many of whom are older, Christian conservatives who backed Yoon’s tough stance toward the nuclear-armed state and whose family fled what is now North Korea decades ago—found resonance in them. Additionally, they have a strong mistrust of China under communist control and believe that both Trump and Yoon are harsh on Beijing.
People believe that the liberal Democratic Party, which controls the legislature and has a chance to regain the presidency in a fresh election, is more willing to cooperate with North Korea and China.
Many conservatives worry that if impeachment moves forward and the current administration falls, it could result in a national crisis as well as a change in leadership, Chung Hyuk Jin, a moderate analyst, told NBC News over the phone on Monday.
Without providing any proof, Yoon supporters have charged that China is behind the anti-Yoon demonstrations. They have also accepted Trump’s and Yoon’s unfounded allegations of electoral fraud.
Similar to the US, electoral fraud is destroying South Korea. Ahn Jae-eun, 63, whose parents fled to South Korea during the Korean War in 1950–1953, said, “It’s collapsing.”
Ahn said that Yoon had imposed martial law in an attempt to expose this electoral fraud, that his impeachment was unlawful, and that fake news was being disseminated by South Korean media.
“The truth about these electoral frauds will be fully uncovered when our President Trump and President Yoon Suk Yeol take office on January 20,” she stated.
In their court pleadings, Yoon’s own attorneys have even mentioned Trump, pointing to the Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity from last summer to support their claims that Yoon was acting in his executive capacity and that no fundamental rights were violated during the brief martial rule regime.
The troops were removed straight away when the president approved the repeal request, correct? Thus, according to Bae Bo-yoon, one of Yoon’s attorneys, on Friday, there was no particular hurt or damage done.
Jennifer Jett reported from Hong Kong, while Stella Kim reported from Seoul, South Korea.
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