What S. Korea's political leaders have to say about Yoon Suk Yeol's ouster
South Korea's Constitutional Court on Friday confirmed President Yoon Suk Yeol's removal from office. This marks the second time in the nation's history that a sitting president has been removed in the middle of his term by impeachment.
Below are reactions from prominent political leaders and other notable individuals to the historic moment.
Rep. Lee Jae-myung, leader, liberal Democratic Party of Korea
Lee, the runner-up to Yoon in the 2022 presidential election, is now the leading contender for the next presidency.
"South Korea is the only country in the world where unarmed citizens have peacefully brought down a lawless regime. The world will take a fresh look at Korea and come to admire the strength of K-democracy. (Yoon's removal) marks the true beginning of a new Republic of Korea."
Rep. Kweon doubles as the conservative party's caretaker leader, since its chair, Han Dong-hoon, resigned in December amidst internal turmoil over whether or not to support Yoon's impeachment.
'The presidential election is just two months away. Though time is limited, we cannot retreat. We must not hand over South Korea, built and safeguarded through our blood, sweat and tears, to the dangerous forces aligned with Lee Jae-myung."
Lee, who in the past headed People Power Party, has already thrown his hat into the presidential race, announcing his run for the early presidential election.
'Today's ruling was a judgment on the outrageous attempt to resort to military force when politics failed. The people will deliver the same judgment to the main opposition party, which used its overwhelming majority in the National Assembly as a weapon, repeatedly pushing for impeachment to prevent a single person from being arrested. The people will not overlook that abuse of power.'
A veteran politician and former head of the country's intelligence agency, Park, 82, is one of the most influential figures in the liberal bloc.
'I welcome the Constitutional Court's flawless decision, which will serve as a compass for the investigations and criminal trial of former President Yoon."
'The Constitutional Court's decision will serve as a compass for future investigations and criminal trials. Now, we must reform the country and move toward the future. We must remove all the sprouts of internal strife that deny the very existence of the people, the media and the opposition party, in order to move toward the future."
Yoo Seong-min, former four-term lawmaker, member of People Power Party
Yoo, regarded as a reformist dissenter within the conservative People Power Party, competed against Yoon in the 2022 presidential primary.
'If the conservative bloc fails to reinvent itself, it will not regain the public's trust. We must start again, with a mindset to break down the old and build something new.'
Kim Dong-yeon, governor of Gyeonggi Province, member of Democratic Party
A member of the liberal Democratic Party, Kim is considered a potential presidential candidate.
'The ringleader of the insurrection has been ousted, but much work remains. We must rebuild systems to ensure that such reckless acts, which threaten our democratic republic, never happen again. Those who supported the insurrection and fueled violence must also face consequences."
Hong Joon-pyo, mayor of Daegu, member of People Power Party
Hong was defeated by Yoon in the conservative party's primary for the 2022 presidential election.
'Whether right or wrong, the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol is now in the past. What matters now is uniting the nation and moving beyond conflict and division. I have been thoroughly preparing for this election, considering it the final mission of my 30-year political career.'
Han Dong-hoon, former leader, People Power Party
Once a staunch ally of Yoon, prosecutor-turned-politician Han headed the People Power Party as chair until he resigned on Dec. 14 amid an internal feud over Yoon's martial law.
'I feel your pain, your disappointment, and your unease. Even in hardship, we must hold fast to the principles of liberal democracy and our duty to the community. Let's unite to safeguard Korea and work toward a brighter future.'
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[Wang Son-taek] Keys to success for the Lee administration
President Lee Jae-myung, who took office on June 4, has been busy. He is working to resolve the six-month national crisis that left the country without a president because of the martial law declaration by former President Yoon Suk Yeol. It is also urgent for Lee to appoint high-ranking officials to help him run the government over the next five years. Though he is very busy right now, he might hope to see his administration succeed -- in other words, to reestablish governance. Since the democratization of the Republic of Korea in 1987, there have only been two successful cases where the government has been wholly rebuilt -- specifically, the elections in 1992 and 2002. However, it is necessary to put aside the 1992 election of President Kim Young-sam, given that it resulted from a political trick -- the merger of three major parties. On the other hand, the election of President Roh Moo-hyun in 2002 can be evaluated entirely as the result of public judgment. His election as president was mainly due to the public's relatively positive evaluation of his predecessor, President Kim Dae Jung. The other presidents were all subject to public criticism but failed to lay the groundwork for a successful transfer of power to the opposition. The newly launched Lee Jae-myung administration should closely examine the background of the Kim Dae-jung administration's success and the causes of other governments' failures. Three variables might be derived by analyzing the successes and failures. The first is the zeitgeist, or the spirit of the times; the second is communication and the third is unity. President Kim Dae-jung always tried to grasp the zeitgeist, and once it had been understood, he demonstrated his utmost efforts to bring it to fruition. Until the 1990s, he focused on the struggle for democratization and political development. In the 2000s, he raised national topics such as national unity, informatization and technology, inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation. What might be the zeitgeist President Lee is facing? The first priority is overcoming insurrection. Efforts should be made to heal the psychological wounds of the people, shocked by the insurrection, by establishing institutional arrangements to prevent it from occurring again. The second most important task is to proceed with national reconstruction, which Korea must elevate to the next level by reforming and improving policies the state completely reversed during the three years of the Yoon Suk Yeol government. To this end, we propose a new Korean-style national development model and a national reconstruction campaign. To upgrade our democracy, it is necessary to introduce additional systems that guarantee popular sovereignty and to march with the people toward a future in which national integration can take place naturally. In terms of the economy, we need a national campaign to become a creativity-oriented society in which diversity, inclusiveness and tolerance are respected and where people can try again after failure. It is true that governments other than the Kim Dae-jung administration acknowledged the spirit of the times. The problem is that their actions went in different or opposite directions. The second task in succeeding as a government is effective communication. President Kim Dae-jung's communication method was surprisingly simple. First, to understand what policies the people wanted, he referred to opinions expressed in newspapers and broadcasts as much as possible. The next step was to candidly explain to the public the background of his policies and seek support. Even if a policy did not get 100 percent support, a candid explanation helped lessen the degree of rejection by the people. While pursuing his policies as the next step, Kim admitted to errors when things went wrong and sought understanding by explaining what happened. Listening to public opinion, explaining policies in advance and elucidating policy failures were key elements of Kim Dae-jung's successful communication. Although these elements seem simple, they are not easy to implement. If officials in charge of state affairs neglect the people and focus only on the struggle for power, they will not achieve public acceptance because frank communication would mean political defeat. Ironically, this is a key factor that led to the success of the Kim Dae-jung administration and the failure of other governments. The last of the three successful elements of the Kim Dae-jung government is that it made every effort to unify the people. National unity is also easy to talk about but challenging to achieve. This is because "the people" are ultimately the voters who support a leader in today's situation of severe political polarization. In a sense, voters who do not support the winner of an election might not count as citizens. Kim never discriminated against the people who did not support him, which was one of the great secrets to his success. For President Lee Jae-myung, achieving national unity will be more difficult than it was for President Kim because political polarization has become so extreme. Nevertheless, if President Lee repeatedly reaches out to and embraces the conservatives who oppose, fear and despise him, antipathy toward him will undoubtedly lessen. Then, the energy he would have spent attacking the opposition can be put into developing the policies that the majority of people want. In that scenario, there would be no reason for him not to succeed. The Lee Jae-myung administration has a much greater chance of success than its predecessors. This is because most of the negative images of President Lee are simply illusions. Within the next three months or so, it is certain that the baseless slanders against him will disappear. However, improving Lee Jae-myung's image does not guarantee success. The administration must work hard to grasp the zeitgeist, communicate strategically and achieve national unity as the great Kim Dae-jung did. These may well be sufficient conditions for success.
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[Editorial] No retaliation in probes
Special counsels should be neutral figures to avoid suspicions of revenge, oppression Three bills mandating special counsel probes into allegations involving the administration of former President Yoon Suk Yeol were enacted Tuesday following approval at a Cabinet meeting. One of the bills requires special counsels to investigate insurrection and treason charges related to Yoon's failed declaration of martial law. The second bill calls for a probe into allegations against Yoon's wife, Kim Keon Hee. She allegedly accepted luxury goods as bribes, manipulated stock prices and intervened illegally in the People Power Party's nomination of candidates for the National Assembly. The third bill deals with the death of a Marine who drowned while searching for missing flood victims and the presidential office's alleged pressure on officials investigating his death. The bills mark the first legislation for President Lee Jae-myung since taking office last week. Their passage through the Assembly was led by the ruling Democratic Party of Korea. Simultaneous special counsels investigating three cases against key figures from the previous administration and possibly lawmakers from the People Power Party are unprecedented. In light of the seriousness of the allegations, the truth needs to be uncovered. But the investigations should be impartial and transparent. If not, they are likely to be caught up in suspicions of political retaliation. Investigations of the allegations in question are either completed or ongoing. They were conducted separately by the prosecution, the police and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials. The government and the ruling party say the legislation was intended to increase the efficiency of the investigations by integrating the separate probes and revealing the overall truth in all three cases, but there is concern about the scale of the investigation and how special counsels are appointed. As many as 120 prosecutors will be assigned to three special counsel teams. This figure is more than half of the number of prosecutors at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, the nation's largest. Hundreds of investigation officers and assistants will also join. Allocating so many resources to the special counsel probes could set back investigations into other cases affecting the lives of ordinary people. Among other provisions, the bills give only the Democratic Party and the minor opposition Rebuilding Korea Party, which almost always stands by the now-ruling party, the exclusive right to recommend special counsels in the three cases. It is hard to dispel worries about the political neutrality of their investigations. The appointment of special counsels is a supplementary system designed to keep those in power from pushing biased investigations. It should be used in exceptional circumstances and only as necessary. But the Democratic Party unilaterally passed bills that expand the scope of special counsel probes and grant nominating authority exclusively to certain parties. It is true that suspicions about the previous administration still need to be addressed, and some investigations have been criticized as insufficient. But in a situation where Lee and the Democratic Party are now in power, it is questionable whether special counsels are even necessary to investigate the previous administration instead of using the existing judicial system. It is difficult to erase suspicions of political motivations. The opposition People Power Party has condemned the bills, arguing that the special counsels' "triple investigations" are political revenge. If the investigations were used as a lever of power for political suppression, as the People Power Party worries, it would be a grave threat to democracy. The special counsel investigations should not split the nation into "us versus them," either. People experienced deep division during the Moon Jae-in administration due to its drive to eliminate "the evils of the past," which led to claims of a political vendetta. Lee vowed to base his government on "integration." If so, the special counsel probes should serve as a just means of revealing the truth and ultimately restoring the rule of law, not a means for retaliation and oppression. That begins with appointing special counsels who are politically unbiased and widely respected.
