28 members of his own democratic party, the majority party in the legislature defected to vote with the conservatives to give them a majority vote in favor of the resolution to drop Lee's immunity. This betrayal of their own party leader effectively seals the factional split within the democratic party before the upcoming election campaign season. The defecting group of democratic assembly members are labeled "su bak" (watermelons) one color on the outside another on the inside. They are considered by the progressive democrats who support Lee, as seeking their own personal gain rather than the public interest. In the US context, they would be called "democrats in name only" who merely represent special interests and really are more like conservatives and implicitly allied with conservative interests.
South Korean lawmakers vote to lift opposition leader's immunity against arrest (from @AP) https://t.co/JNPHweANGR
— Hyung-jin Kim 김형진 (@hyungjin1972) September 21, 2023
We'll see what happens tomorrow during the regular Saturday demonstrations. Democratic supporters of Lee are angry. Will the courts test the anger and resentment of Lee's supporters by finding that the contrived politically motivated charges against Lee are supported by credible evidence to warrant his pretrial detention?
[Column] Once a model democracy, Korea’s governing system is seriously unwell
Hankyoreh Sep 21
Yoon’s “Yongsan totalitarianism” is a threat to Korean democracy
The primary figure in Yongsan totalitarianism is the president himself, of course. Under the banner of “freedom,” the president has divided the nation and placed the country’s foreign policy on a US-oriented line as part of his purely black-and-white mindset.
The president stands on the front lines of ideological disputes and historical debates, seeking to erase the legacy of the independence movement against Japan on the grounds that some freedom fighters had communist sympathies.
All media outlets, opposition parties and civic groups that criticize the government are branded as “anti-state forces,” with the public prosecutors and the Board of Audit and Inspection serving as effective weapons toward that end.
The president doesn’t respect the National Assembly and circumvents it using his legal prerogatives to veto laws and make appointments.
The ruling party that ought to be providing balance between the president and the public has been reduced to a presidential lackey, forfeiting its relevance and independence.
Yongsan totalitarianism is a threat to democracy. It’s become common for not only politicians of all stripes but even ordinary people to talk about “the worst politics in history.” But what they’re really saying is that Korean democracy is seriously unwell.
https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/english_editorials/1109545.html
I left out the column's rather rudimentary and simplistic comparison to Jan. 6, Trump, etc., as irrelevant. The last part of the column is what is important. US domestic politics is really not germane, except to the extent that Yoon is directed if not controlled by US national security interests and Yoon's own domestic pro-Japan constituency.
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