Ex-lawmaker sued for alleging Yoon Suk Yeol was 'drunk' during martial law
A former lawmaker is facing legal actions after he raised suspicions that President Yoon Suk Yeol was under the influence of alcohol during the imposition of martial law in early December.
According to Yoon's legal representatives on Wednesday, a complaint was filed with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency against Kim Jong-dae, a former lawmaker of the minor progressive Justice Party, Wednesday morning.
Kim was accused of defaming the impeached president and misleading the public, making him just the latest on a list of those facing potential legal ramifications after publicly alluding to the president's alleged drinking habits.
This came as Kim on Monday said that Yoon was apparently drunk inside the Joint Chiefs of Staff building hours after he declared martial law, based on information he had obtained from military police.
Kim said in a radio interview with CBS that he was told an unnamed military police officer inside the building could "smell alcohol on the breath of Yoon" as he walked past the officer after a private conversation with then-Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun at between 1:30 a.m. and 2 a.m. on Dec. 4. The National Assembly had passed its motion to reject martial law at about 1 a.m. the same day.
In response, Yoon's legal team said Tuesday that the remarks imply that Yoon had imposed martial law by accident while under the influence of alcohol, rather than upon deep contemplation.
"Kim should refrain from depreciating the president's determination (to impose martial law) using the privately obtained information that was not fact-checked," Yoon's team said in a statement.
This followed the presidential office's announcement Monday that it had sued an unnamed individual for generating and circulating explicit deepfake videos of Yoon and his wife Kim Keon Hee. Images of Yoon drinking heavily were among the deepfake material, as displayed at a rally in Gwangju on Saturday calling for his removal from the presidency with the impeachment verdict.
The career prosecutor-turned-president of South Korea has had a public perception as a heavy drinker, which has often sparked criticism.
Yoon Yeo-joon, who was the environment minister under the late former President Kim Young-sam's administration, raised suspicions based on hearsay that Yoon had been "drinking all night until dawn every day," blaming his drinking habit as leading to potentially insensible decisions, in a media interview in December.
Also in January, Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, citing a former minister of the Cabinet, raised suspicions that Yoon had started to consume more alcohol at private dinner gatherings since the ruling party's general election defeat in April 2024, adding that he was frequently bringing up the notion of declaring martial law.
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11 hours ago
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[Lee Kyong-hee] Pressure mounts for inter-Korean detente
When the new president takes office in two days, he will face a host of pressing tasks. Among the main challenges will be the division of the Korean Peninsula, which still festers more than 70 years after fighting ended. As we have seen more than a few times, the North-South divide is often used for political gain. Ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol was the latest high official to employ a 'Red Scare' strategy to stifle political opponents. In his declaration of martial law, Yoon said he would eliminate the 'anti-state, pro-North communist sympathizers threatening to overthrow the constitutional order of our liberal democracy and plundering the freedom and happiness of our people.' Yoon didn't realize that claiming "communist infiltration" had grown so deep as to imperil the nation, provokes skepticism and questions about judgment and leadership, not fear. Nevertheless, Yoon's clumsy self-putsch once again highlighted the fact that the ideological divide in South Korea has little chance of ending without addressing problems derived from territorial division. Besides peace on the peninsula, political and social progress within the South is at stake. Considering the geopolitical backdrop, this task has taken on more urgency. The new South Korean president will be under instant pressure to finesse a high tariff threat from US President Donald Trump. And he must be mindful that Trump will likely resume his 'bromance' with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sooner or later to strike a deal. There will be no time to spare in the first months of the new administration. North Korea is clearly in a different place now than it was in 2018, when Kim wanted Seoul to lay a bridge to Washington for summit talks with Trump in his first presidency. While the Biden administration remained idle and Yoon indulged in belligerent rhetoric, Kim's rogue regime has grown stronger and more dangerous, demonstrating stunning resilience to endure even the harshest difficulties. It has continued to advance its nuclear and missile technologies, stealing cryptocurrency, earning billions of dollars from troop commitments and arms sales to Russia and learning battleground lessons in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin is providing North Korea with security guarantees, as well as food and fuel, under a mutual defense treaty. The UN sanctions against North Korea have effectively been invalidated, with neither Moscow nor Beijing abiding by UN Security Council resolutions. Total bilateral trade between North Korea and China, which accounts for most of the North's foreign trade, has also increased remarkably. Now, with an estimated 50 nuclear weapons and enough material for some 40 more, Kim has a lot more cards and leverage than ever before. It is unrealistic to expect Kim to surrender his entire nuclear capabilities in return for lifting sanctions or in response to heightened pressure. In this light, the only plausible way to bring Kim to the table appears to be dramatically enlarging the scale of incentives. There is speculation that Trump, the dealmaker, will likely make huge concessions in his fourth summit with Kim to yield tangible results. He has probably realized that the tough, conventional pursuit of genuine denuclearization has become pointless, and therefore will likely seek a 'small deal' based on arms control. Under the 'America First' agenda, the agreement may focus on more realistic goals, such as North Korea's commitment to a moratorium on further nuclear tests and provocative ICBM launches, stopping the transfer of weapons of mass destruction technology to third parties, ending aggressive cyber operations against Western targets, and withdrawal of offensive weaponry deployed near the Korean DMZ. In return, the agreement may include an end-of-war declaration, or even a peace treaty on the Korean Peninsula and formal diplomatic relations between the United States and North Korea. These provisions would help alleviate security fears on the part of South Korea and Japan, while having important benefits for the United States, such as reducing defense spending and redeployment of troops. Trump may further expand the deal to link peace in Northeast Asia with that in Ukraine. North Korea may be asked to stop sending troops and ammunition to Russia, which would push Putin to stop fighting and help Trump cut US spending in Ukraine. Since North Korean supplies have accounted for 50 percent of Russian artillery fires in Ukraine, a ceasefire could be made sustainable. South Korea's new administration should be prepared to smartly position itself in the negotiation process, while seeking separate dialogue with Pyongyang to discuss bilateral issues, including humanitarian assistance and cross-border economic cooperation. No less crucial would be clarifying its stance with Washington concerning possible reductions in US Forces Korea and enhancing deterrence by securing nuclear latency through renegotiating provisions in the Korea-US civil nuclear agreement banning South Korea's enrichment and reprocessing of nuclear fuel. The new administration will need to think outside the box to lead the nation through a challenging time toward common prosperity on the divided peninsula, even if reunification remains a long-term goal. Mold-breaking thinking and brave moves are required in times of crisis. The new president needs to show extraordinary leadership by listening to different public views and crafting a suprapartisan consensus regarding inter-Korean issues across a polarized divide.
Korea Herald
19 hours ago
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S. Korea, Japan, Australia hold trilateral talks to discuss security, cooperation
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Korea Herald
a day ago
- Korea Herald
While Kim courts capital, Lee campaigns in industrial Southeast
With just two days to go to the presidential election, the three leading candidates on Sunday hurtled through rival strongholds and their own home turfs alike to lure undecided voters. Democratic Party of Korea candidate and front-runner Lee Jae-myung revisited the conservative strongholds of Daegu and the wider Gyeongsang region, a day after former President Park Geun-hye made an appearance to lend her support to the People Power Party's Kim Moon-soo. Despite a long history as the conservative stronghold, several recent opinion polls have showed a relatively narrow gap between support from voters in the area for Lee and People Power Party candidate Kim, compared to previous elections. Lee began in Andong, his hometown and the capital city of North Gyeongsang Province, vowing to be 'a president for everyone,' at a rally held in the morning. 'If you give me the opportunity, I won't become a 'half president' that divides the country by relying on one side and oppressing another, but rather a president for everyone that brings all people to one,' he said. Lee stopped by Daegu around noon, where he stressed that the upcoming election would be a "judgment for the forces of insurrection,' taking a jab at former President Yoon Suk Yeol's failed Dec. 3 martial law and the faction within the People Power Party that supported him. Lee stopped by Ulsan hours later. He was set to wrap up his itinerary for the day in Busan, according to campaign staff. The last stop of his campaign trail, scheduled for Monday, is expected to be Seoul's financial and political hub of Yeouido, sources close to the matter said. In a separate Facebook post Sunday, Lee expanded on earlier pledges to revitalize regional economies of major cities in the Gyeongsang region, including the port cities of Busan and Ulsan, vowing to establish a state-run investment bank focused on funding local development projects. 'I plan to pursue the establishment of the 'East-South Investment Bank' for the recovery of competitiveness of the Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang region and lead their sustainable growth,' Lee said via Facebook. Lee has said he plans to swiftly transform Busan into a strategic gateway for emerging Arctic maritime trade. Kim, meanwhile, made several stops in the Greater Seoul area, including Gyeonggi Province, where he served as governor from 2006 to 2014. He appeared at a rally in Suwon, where he ramped up his criticism of Lee — who was also governor of the province from 2018-21 — and reiterated his apology for Yoon's martial law. 'Only your vote can make South Korea upright and create a just democracy,' Kim told the crowd gathered at his rally. 'If someone who is bound to go to prison becomes the president of this country, then this country will merely become a bundle of crimes,' he added. Lee faces five ongoing criminal trials on 12 charges, including subornation of perjury and election law violations. Regarding the Dec. 3 martial law bid, he said that Yoon's move affected the country 'with several hardships' and he and the People Power Party 'reflect on it deeply.' In the afternoon, Kim appeared near Coex in Gangnam-gu, where he said South Korea's possibility of being ruled by a "monstrous dictatorship" under Lee was a "bigger problem" than Yoon's martial law bid. "South Korea's democracy is at a crisis," he said. "Martial law is problematic, but the bigger problem is the concerns that (our country) could head towards a monstrous dictatorship." Kim's remarks come as the former labor minister has struggled to the narrow the gap with Lee in opinion polls. In the latest Realmeter survey released Wednesday, Lee was leading with 49.2 percent, with Kim trailing behind with 36.8 percent. Candidate Lee Jun-seok of the minor New Reform Party came at No.3 with 10.3 percent. The survey involved 1,003 respondents aged 18 or older. To support Kim, independent conservative candidate Hwang Kyo-ahn dropped out of the presidential race Sunday afternoon. "We must muster all of our remaining powers (to win against Lee), so I will help Lee and support what he does," Hwang said in an interview with a YouTube channel. Kim was to stop by parts of Gyeonggi Province, including Guri and Uijeongbu, before rallying in areas of northern Seoul. His last campaign stop is expected to be the City Hall in central Seoul on Monday, according to campaign staff. Meanwhile, Lee Jun-seok of the minor conservative New Reform Party campaigned at Dongtan Lake Park in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. He pledged to cater to voters in their 30s and 40s — the average age of residents in Dongtan — by listening to their opinions.
