SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s political crisis, ignited in December by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s shock short-lived declaration of martial law, lurched into legal and constitutional realms Thursday.
Mr. Yoon, detained by an investigative agency after a dramatic standoff outside his official residence in Seoul this week, was unable Thursday to attend a hearing at the Constitutional Court on whether he should be removed permanently from office. He has refused to answer questions about his case as he sits in a separate detention center.
Tensions are still running high: Angry crowds of supporters rallied Thursday outside the site where Mr. Yoon is being held — a first for a sitting, albeit impeached, president. One Yoon supporter this week set himself on fire — an extreme protest format in East Asia — suffering third-degree burns. He has not recovered consciousness.
Elsewhere, administration, commerce and life continue as normal in a key regional U.S. ally, but the political instability has costs. President-elect Donald Trump will be inaugurated Monday, but South Korean officials — whose political futures are in the air — have been unable to forge relationships with the new administration.
Economic pressures are building as well.
“Political changes sparked by the martial law imposition have greatly affected the foreign exchange market,” warned Bank of Korea governor, Rhee Chang-yong. “The won-dollar exchange rate is higher than what we can expect based on our economic fundamentals and the rate gap with the United States.”
The conservative Mr. Yoon, whose five-year term was nominally supposed to run through 2027, was detained Wednesday morning after the dramatic, hours-long standoff between investigators and police on the one hand, and lawmakers from his People Power Party and presidential security on the other.
Outside his residence, thousands of noisy but peaceful supporters were held at bay by a massive police presence. After police breached his compound with ladders, Mr. Yoon surrendered.
He is being held for 48 hours of questioning by the powerful Corruption Investigation Office for High Ranking Officials. The CIO’s focus is on whether Mr. Yoon’s decision to declare martial law on the night of Dec. 3 constituted insurrection.
Insurrection is one of only two crimes for which a sitting president can be tried. The other is treason.
The CIO was established when Mr. Yoon, at the time the nation’s chief prosecutor, was battling with then-President Moon Jae-in over legal reforms. The CIO questioned Mr. Yoon on Wednesday for 10 hours, with Mr. Yoon reportedly refusing to speak. A halt was called in Thursday’s questioning on grounds of Mr. Yoon’s alleged poor health.
The CIO can hold Mr. Yoon for 48 hours under South Korean law; after that, they need an indictment to keep him in detention.
Mr. Yoon’s lawyers argue the CIOs actions are illegal. A hearing on the matter got underway at Seoul Central District Court, the jurisdiction where Mr. Yoon’s residence is located.The court which granted the CIO’s detention warrant is the Seoul Western District Court.
In its first action, the panel on Thursday rejected an appeal by Mr. Yoon’s lawyers seeking his immediate release, potentially opening the route for the CIO to indict him on Friday.
Constitutional fight
Separately, the Constitutional Court, the legal body that will uphold or overturn Mr. Yoon’s impeachment, sat Thursday. Mr. Yoon was impeached by the opposition-controlled National Assembly 13 days after his martial law fiasco.
Under South Korea’s constitution, a president has the right to declare martial law. At issue is whether conditions demanded it, and whether the conditions of its execution were met — a source of fierce debate.
Mr. Yoon says he acted in the face of reports of foreign electoral interference, election fraud and a rise of anti-state forces. His opponents say election fraud allegations are bunk and accuse him of provoking North Korea into initiating a security crisis.
Mr. Yoon has stated his intention to defend himself in court. He did not attend its first hearing — apparently due to the risk of being nabbed by the CIO. Nor did he attend its second hearing Thursday, due to his ongoing detention by the CIO, but he was represented by his lawyers.
It’s an extraordinary turn of events for a country often seen as a democratic and economic success story in the region. Many contend that it is Mr. Yoon who is the victim in the controversy.
“It is not fair at all,” said Kim Chul-hong, a professor at the Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary and a member of the pro-Yoon conservative Christian group, the Gwanghwamun Patriots Rally. “The president wanted to stand at the Constitutional Court, but the CIO are holding him right now. I think that is their strategy.”
Fair or not, there are legal precedents, said a lawyer from a progressive group opposing Mr. Yoon.
“You can be tried at the Constitutional Court and the Criminal Court at same time,” said Yun Bok-nam, co-chair of the civic group Lawyers for a Democratic Society. “At the time of the Park Geun-hye trial, two processes were ongoing at the same time.”
Ms. Park, the last conservative president in South Korea until Mr. Yoon took office in 2022, was impeached in 2017 over allegations of cronyism, corruption and abuse of power.
Legal and constitutional precedents linking the Park and Yoon cases are imperfectly aligned.
Ms. Park “was arrested after the impeachment, but Yoon has been arrested before the decision of the Constitutional Court,” Mr. Yun admitted. “This is related to constitutional immunity. A president may not be prosecuted unless for treason or insurrection. Yoon is being investigated for the exceptional clause related to insurrection.”
Ms. Park declined to defend herself, was impeached and jailed for 32 years — approximately three times the sentence for a murder. Her home and its contents were seized.
After four years, she was pardoned, freed and entered a quiet retirement. She never admitted her guilt or recognized the legality of the institutions that tried her.
Street battles
Street politics — notably the “people power” protests that secured democratic rule in South Korea in 1987, and the “candlelit revolution” demonstrations that fueled Ms. Park’s removal — speaks with a thunderous voice in South Korea.
“In a nutshell: A courtroom should be immune from external influence,” said Jin Young-jong, co-chair of liberal civic group People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy. “We’re not trying to influence the legal process, but to accurately convey and communicate the will of the people. The evaluation of court decisions will be made by history.”
Mr. Jin’s group is organizing protests, such as the lightstick-waving crowds that gathered outside the National Assembly on Dec. 14 when it voted to impeach Mr. Yoon.
But right-wing, pro-Yoon protesters have dominated central Seoul’s Gwanghwamun district and the streets outside Mr. Yoon’s residence.
If the anti-Park rallies of 2016-17 provided a model, Mr. Yoon’s plight is invigorating conservatives.
“We are going to have a Saturday rally in Gwanghwamun and we are dispatching our people to [the IOC] and the Constitutional Court,” vowed Mr. Kim. “We are going to hold demonstrations everywhere.”
• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.