South Korean prosecutors indict President Yeol

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who had declared martial law on December 3 and removed it after a few hours, is now under attack from several quarters. The parliament dominated by the opposition Democratic Party, with help from Yeol’s own People Power party, had revoked the martial law, and impeached Yeol on December 14.

On Sunday, prosecutors have indicted him for being the ringleader of an insurrection. His martial law order is now seen as insurrection by the prosecution. Yeol’s lawyers said in a statement, “(The) President’s declaration of emergency martial law was a desperate plea to the public over a national crisis caused by the opposition getting out of control.”

The prosecution did not make any statement about the indictment. The president of the country does not have immunity for insurrection. If convicted, Yeol could either face life imprisonment or death. South Korea has not executed anyone in decades.

His lawyers have called the indictment “the worst choice”. Yeol, who has resisted arrest earlier as his personal security guards resisted the prosecution bid to arrest him, is now in prison, and in solitary confinement.

Yeol’s lawyers have challenged the impeachment by parliament before the Consitutional Court, which is hearing the case. The court has 180 days to decide whether Yeol can be restored to office and whether the impeachment by parliament is valid. Yeol’s lawyers have argued before the court that he (Yeol) had declared martial law as a desperate measure to break a political deadlock.

The opposition Democratic Party wants an election to replace the president. But this would depend on the decision of the Constitutional Court. Yeol’s party had distanced itself from the president’s decision and it has even criticised it. But it was not in favour of the opposition-led impeachment motion.

The political tussle can only be resolved in a fresh election. Yeol, a former prosecutor himself and a conservative, had won the election on the corruption plank, and on turning away from any overtures to North Korea. As a matter of fact, one of the charges made in the martial law order of December 3 was to remove the pro-North Korea forces in the country.

It looks like that Yeol rescinded the martial law order because his party did not approve of it. And the ruling party joined the opposition in climbing over the walls to enter parliament and pass a midnight resolution rejecting the presidential order imposing martial law.

If Yeol’s impeachment by parliament is upheld by the Constitutional Court, then presidential election would be held. A Gallup poll showed that the Democratic Party’s Lee Jae-Myung, who had lost the election by a historically narrow margin of 0.78 percent in 2022, is considered the favourite candidate among the opposition leaders.

But Lee faces an election violation verdict. If the court does not find him guilty then the way would be clear for him to contest. According to observers, democratic processes are being followed in South Korea despite the constitutional and political crisis that has followed Yeol’s martial law faux pas. The martial law episode has shaken the political system, but it has shown enough resilience to survive it. Democracy has been restored in South Korea in the 1980s and for 40 years it has endured it.

The people were shocked beyond measure when the martial law was announced, and they said that democracy cannot be undone. It is the public outrage that seems to have compelled the ruling party to join hands with the opposition to reject Yeol’s martial law order. Yeol seems to have realised soon enough that he would not be able to carry through the martial law, and he stepped back. But he finds it now that withdrawing the martial law does not redeem him. It only exposed his political weakness.