South Korea at the crossroads: Who is Lee Jae-Myung?

by WorldTribune Staff, December 30, 2024 Real World News

Armed with a super-majority in South Korea’s parliament, the leftist Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) sought to quickly impeach conservative President Yoon Suk-Yeol following his declaration of martial law on Dec. 3.

Two impeachment votes were quickly held in the National Assembly. The second vote, on Dec. 14, resulted in Yoon’s impeachment. [Early on Dec. 31 the DPK even wrangled an arrest warrant from a court in Seoul.]

Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Jae-Myung

“What is amazing, the parliament has proceeded with two impeachment votes over one week without holding any open debate regarding such an important issue,” Korean-American writer John H. Cha noted in a Dec. 28 analysis for East Asia Research Center.

Why was the DPK in such a hurry to impeach Yoon?

The DPK is led by Lee Jae-Myung, who was recently convicted for violating election laws and is also “on trial or under investigation for cases involving real estate corruption, bribery of a Supreme Court justice, and sending money to North Korea,” East Asia Research Center Founder Tara O noted.

As a presidential candidate in 2017, Lee went on a Chinese propaganda TV outlet and vowed to “renege” on the deployment of the U.S. THAAD missile defense system in South Korea. China had strongly opposed the deployment.

Lee also was against the U.S. military being stationed in South Korea, saying: “In fact, the pro-Japanese faction (Koreans), whom the U.S. was not able to liquidate, joined with the U.S. occupation forces, retaining the control system, didn’t they?”

Tara O, a retired U.S. Air Force officer and adjunct fellow at the Hudson Institute, noted in a November 2021 analysis that Lee’s main support base is Gyeonggi Dongbu Yonhap, which roughly translates as the Eastern Gyeonggi Confederation, a pro-North Korea organization. It is known to be comprised of the ‘NL’ or National Liberation line, especially Jusapa, those who pledged allegiance to Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il. It sees the Workers’ Party of Korea as the sole legitimate political party on the Korean Peninsula, and pursues a unified Korea under the Kim Family Regime in North Korea via federation.”

As mayor of Seongnam in 2012, Lee tried to put his own brother Lee Jae-Sun, an accountant, in a psychiatric hospital, against his will and without informing his brother’s family. Lee Jae-Sun had criticized then-Mayor Lee Jae-Myung for corruption.

Currently, the DPK is looking for a quick decision from the Constitutional Court on Yoon’s impeachment, in which case a snap election would be held. Lee, a close second to Yoon in the 2022 presidential election, is seen as a shoe-in in a snap election. The snap election would need to take place quickly for Lee. If he is convicted in any of the cases against him, he would be disqualified from the presidency.

The Constitutional Court will either accept the parliament’s impeachment recommendation or reject it. Whether the Court will move quickly is uncertain. The Court took 63 days for Roh Moo-Hyun and 92 days for Park Geun-Hye from the passage of their impeachment motions to the Court’s verdict. Yoon has vowed to contest the case in court vigorously.

Tara O noted that Yoon “will make his case as to why he was compelled to declare the ersatz martial law that lasted six hours before he took it down. He intends to argue that he couldn’t sit idly by amid all the shenanigans Lee and the DPK were pulling—such as impeaching prosecutors who had been investigating Lee and even the auditor general, 22 times altogether prior to martial law.”

Yoon said he was moved to declare martial law after Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) investigating hacking by North Korea and possibly by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) against the South Korea’s National Election Commission (NEC) servers and computers discovered serious weaknesses in the system.

“Out of seven attempts to infiltrate the NEC computers, intelligence agents were able to hack the system on six occasions and manipulate the election results at will. Meanwhile, the NEC officials have claimed that their system was sound and safe,” Tara O wrote.

“President Yoon was compelled to issue martial law, and he intends to defend his decision to dispatch computer experts to examine the NEC system during the six hours, because he deemed NEC’s susceptibility to outside hacking an emergency situation,” Tara O continued. “North Korea’s hacking ability has been well-documented, including the DOJ’s latest indictments of fourteen North Korean hackers responsible for theft over the Internet. Yoon will need to explain his decision and circumstances in such a way that the Korean public can understand.”

Former Defense Minister Kim Yong-Hyun issued a statement in support of Yoon:

I deeply thank the citizens of the free Republic of Korea.

The martial law was declared to:

1) Sound the alarm about the National Assembly’s violation of the Constitution and its corruption tantamount to insurrection

2) Resolve public suspicions about election fraud

3) Eradicate the anti-state forces, including the pro-North Korea Jusapa [KimIlSungists/Juche Ideologists], who are infiltrating our society

4) It contains the president’s precious will to pass on a proper country to future generations

Mr. President and all of you, I am sorry that I have not been able to properly support your wishes.

Let us fight together to the end for the future of the Republic of Korea with the single-mindedness of the old country.

The fate of a free Republic of Korea depends on you

It’s just the beginning.

I will fight with you until the end.

Three commanders who carried out their duties in accordance with the orders of the Minister, in accordance with the wishes of the President, are being illegally detained.

In addition to these, many subordinate soldiers are suffering from illegal investigations. We ask for your support and prayers so that they may not lose their wisdom and courage.

Once again, I would like to express my gratitude to the patriotic people of Korea.

Kim issued a followup statement on Dec. 30 in which he called the martial law order and the conduct of the troops lawful and legitimate.

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