Hunkered down for weeks in his Seoul residence, Yoon Suk Yeol, 64, finally gave in after a new spectacular assault by prosecutors from the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO), escorted by police officers.
«I decided to respond to the Corruption Investigation Bureau“, announced the former magistrate who once attacked the corruption of the powerful, adding that he did not recognize the legality of the investigation but submitted to it “to avoid any unfortunate bloodshed».
Never before has a sitting head of state been arrested in South Korea. Because Mr. Yoon is still officially the president, the impeachment motion adopted against him on December 14 by the deputies having at this stage only resulted in his suspension pending its examination by the Constitutional Court.
Accused of having shaken South Korean democracy by imposing martial law on December 3 and sending the army to Parliament to muzzle it, he had ignored several summons as part of investigations for “rebellion”, a punishable crime of the death penalty. He also did not appear on Tuesday for the first hearing of his impeachment trial.
The very conservative leader had justified his shock decision at the beginning of December by his desire to protect the country from “North Korean communist forces» and “eliminate elements hostile to the State», inveighing against the majority opposition deputies who blocked all his projects.
That night, he authorized the army to open fire, according to revelations from the prosecution. This did not happen and in a hemicycle surrounded by special forces, elected officials managed to vote on a text calling for the abolition of this state of exception, to which the president was constitutionally obliged to obey.
Far from showing regret since he plunged South Korea into political chaos, Yoon defends himself from any act constituting a ” rebellion “, promising the thousands of supporters demonstrating in Seoul’s freezing winter to fight ” until the very end ».
Slayer of the Corrupt
Before his late entry into politics in 2021, Yoon Suk Yeol, son of academics born in Seoul on December 18, 1960, spent his entire career in the prosecution.
He played a key role in the investigation into abuse of power and corruption which led to the dismissal in 2017 of President Park Geun-hye and then her incarceration. The same year, he was appointed chief prosecutor of Seoul. Under his leadership, the prosecution indicted around a hundred senior officials, including former president Lee Myung-bak, for embezzlement of all kinds. Several suspects commit suicide in prison.
Yoon Suk Yeol was appointed attorney general of the country in 2019. Two years later, riding on his popularity as a fierce slayer of corruption and abuse of power, he resigned, announced his candidacy for the presidential election and joined the Ruling Party to the people (PPP, right).
A self-confessed anti-feminist, he promises to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality, at the forefront of progress for South Korean women since 2001. A commitment that he will never be able to honor due to lack of a parliamentary majority.
At the end of an ultrapolarized campaign, the PPP candidate was elected in 2022 with the narrowest margin in the country’s history, facing Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung.
Once in power, this declared admirer of Winston Churchill pursued a firm policy towards North Korea and strengthened the alliance with the United States. It is also moving closer to Japan, attracting the discontent of part of the population in a country where resentment towards the former colonial power remains strong.
Successive scandals
His reputation was quickly tarnished by a series of scandals. Starting with the Halloween stampede in Seoul in October 2022 which left more than 150 dead. The tragedy is attributed to a cascade of negligence on the part of the authorities.
He is accused of abusing his right of veto, in particular to block a parliamentary investigation into a case of price manipulation involving his wife Kim Keon-hee.
Other scandals impacting the first lady rubbed off on him and his popular support eroded at high speed. Which results in April 2024 in a crushing defeat in the legislative elections.
Yoon Suk Yeol is the first sitting South Korean president to be arrested and the third to be impeached by Parliament, after Park Geun-hye in 2017 and Roh Moo-hyun in 2004. The latter, however, saw his impeachment invalidated by the Constitutional Court.
Par Le360 (with AFP)
01/15/2025 at 7:01 a.m.
