S. Nathan Park

On April 4, South Korea’s Constitutional Court unanimously voted to sustain Yoon Suk-yeol’s impeachment, removing him from the presidency for his illegal declaration of martial law and attempted autogolpe on Dec. 3, 2024. Yoon’s bizarre and short-circuited presidency displayed many of the antidemocratic trends emerging around the world. South Koreans’ response, in turn, offers an example of the way forward.

The Yoon administration was a strange one from the start. Having won on March 9, 2022—in the narrowest victory in South Korean presidential election history—by pandering to grievances about the rising cost of housing as well as young men’s toxic misogyny, Yoon’s first major initiative as the president was to relocate the presidential office from the Blue House—the presidential residence—to the Defense Ministry compound.…  Seguir leyendo »

When South Korean legislator Kim Min-seok warned in August that President Yoon Suk-yeol might be plotting to declare martial law, even the most ardent critics of Yoon were skeptical. Of course, the right-wing president was increasingly displaying authoritarian tendencies. In response to his miserably low approval rating, hovering between the high teens and low 20s, as well as mounting corruption allegations against him and his wife, Yoon ordered indiscriminate raids of the offices and residences of liberal politicians and journalists, numerous thinly supported criminal charges against opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, and ostentatious military parades.

But still, the idea that Yoon might attempt martial law and a self-coup—where an existing leader seizes dictatorial power—seemed to be too outlandish.…  Seguir leyendo »

Whether you were for or against U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Asia, you can’t overstate its importance. The legislator became the highest U.S. official to visit Taiwan, prompting a furious response from Beijing and adding to a U.S.-China rivalry that will shape the 21st century. Pelosi was welcomed by crowds in Taipei, Taiwan’s capital. On the Malaysia leg of her whirlwind tour, she lunched with Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob. In Japan, she met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

But after completing her historic visit to Taiwan, Pelosi’s flight landed at the U.S. Air Force base in Osan, South Korea—where no Korean official came to greet her.…  Seguir leyendo »