South Korea’s nightly news programs are dominated by the political tumult that has gripped the nation since President Yoon Suk-yeol declared martial law early last month, with Wednesday’s broadcasts focusing on rival pro- and anti-Yoon in Seoul.
Yoon is currently holed up in the fortified residence, and up to now has for questioning by South Korea’s presidential security service.
Yoon is under criminal investigation for insurrection after his botched martial law declaration. A new detention warrant against the embattled president was issued Tuesday, and anti-corruption investigators have to detain him.
For the vast majority of South Koreans, however, little changed after the initial .
Since then, Yoon has been impeached and the case is being considered by the Constitutional Court. Meanwhile the opposition Democratic Party has filed impeachment motions against several senior politicians who have taken over the reins of government since Yoon retreated to his official residence.
And with the Corruption Investigation Office still trying to take Yoon into custody, ordinary South Koreans just want the political crisis to be over and for the government to once again start addressing day-to-day problems, such as the weak economy and a currency that continues to slip against the dollar.
Many are proud, however, that a nation that endured a succession of military dictatorships that lasted into the late 1980s has proved sufficiently resilient and preserved democratic institutions in the face of such a severe test.
Born during a dictatorship
“I was born during the Park Chung-hee dictatorship. I was actually born in 1979, the year he was assassinated, and we grew up being taught about those times. At no time during this present situation did I feel that South Korea was slipping back into a dictatorship or that we were losing control to the military,” said Lee Eunkoo, joint founder of an NGO that assists North Korean defectors to settle in the South.
“Of course I was concerned, like everyone I know was concerned, but I believed in the system that South Korea has built, I believe in democracy and the power of ordinary people,” she told DW.
“And it may take some time for everything to be sorted out, but I know our system is resilient, that it will not collapse and that we are not going back to a dictatorship,” she added. “To me, the greatest outcome is that democracy has worked.”
Others do admit to being more alarmed at the events of December 3, but agree that the nation has demonstrated resilience.
“When I first heard that Yoon had declared martial law, I was scared,” said Kim Hyun-jung, a 46-year-old content developer who lives in Gangwon Province, east of Seoul.
“Korea has a long history of military governments and my immediate reaction was that we were going to experience what people in the past had been through,” she told DW.
Kim lives with her family near a key military base and, on the night that martial law was declared, she said there was a great deal of coming-and-going involving helicopters.
People want ‘stability’
“The situation had not been resolved by the time I went to bed, but when I woke up in the morning the martial law decree had been reversed and the situation had stabilized,” she said. “I was relieved to hear that, although I did worry what people in other countries were thinking about events here.”
In the intervening weeks, life has completely returned to normal, Kim added, although everyone is watching the news more closely than before.
“I think people are a little uncomfortable and there is a lot of talk about impeachment, court cases and elections, but people are not scared,” she said.
“We just want the situation to be resolved,” Kim said. “People are worried about the economy, the bad exchange rate that makes it difficult to travel abroad, but it is not unsafe here.”
Opinions are inevitably divided on Yoon, with public opinion polls put the figure at around 70% wanting the impeachment process to go ahead, a trial to be convened and the entire nation to be able to move on.
“People want stability,” Kim said.
Support for Yoon
A remarkably large segment of the public is steadfast in supporting Yoon and have turned up every day outside his residence to form a human barricade around the property and to help to frustrate efforts to arrest the impeached president.
These people agree with Yoon’s claims that the left-wing opposition Democratic Party is doing the bidding of Pyongyang and threatens the nation’s security.
A public opinion poll conducted in the days after Yoon’s short-lived martial law showed that after sinking to just 11% previously, his support had bounced back to a 40% support rating. Analysts put the figures down to distrust of the Democratic Party and its leader, Lee Jae-myung.
“I was abroad when Yoon declared martial law, but my wife and her friends immediately went out to protests to support his vision for the country,” said Song Young-Chae, an academic from Seoul.
“I recently returned to , and because I am worried about what will happen if the opposition takes power, I am also planning to join the protests in order to protect the freedom of this country,” he told DW.
“Our daily lives and routine have not been affected by what has happened, but I feel that more people really want to express their feelings and that is why they are going out and demonstrating in support of our president,” he said.
“Yes, Yoon made mistakes but there are a lot of people like me who feel that he needs to be able to take the nation in the right direction for our future.”
Edited by: Wesley Rahn
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