A key member of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s political party was in Washington this week calling on President Trump to express support for freedom and democracy in Northeast Asia at a moment when China and North Korea may seek to take advantage of the political crisis gripping Seoul.
Na Kyung-won, a member of parliament from Mr. Yoon’s conservative People Power Party (PPP), told The Washington Times in an interview that Mr. Trump could “strengthen the U.S.-South Korea alliance” by backing Mr. Yoon’s party publicly at a moment when she said the liberal opposition in Seoul is on the attack in ways that may benefit China.
“I cannot say foreign forces are in control of the opposition, but I cannot help but think that the opposition is pro-North Korea and pro-China,” said Ms. Na, who told The Times that she met this week with a range of Republican U.S. lawmakers, including Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, and Reps. Young Kim of California and Jen Kiggans of Virginia.
“President Trump and his administration’s policy is going to be very important,” she said. “If they can emphasize that freedom and democracy are very important, I think that would be helpful for the security alliance and the economic alliance between the U.S. and South Korea.”
“I believe a strong message would be helpful, not only for South Korea’s interests, but also for U.S. interests because this kind of message would be a deterrence toward China,” Ms. Na said.
Mr. Yoon, a hawkish conservative, was impeached last month after a short-lived attempt to impose martial law in South Korea on the claim it was needed to confront domestic political paralysis in the face of rising threats from North Korea, a military treaty ally of nearby communist party-ruled China.
“Dear citizens, I declare emergency martial law to defend the free Republic of Korea from the threats of North Korean communist forces and to eradicate the shameless pro-North Korean anti-state forces that are plundering the freedom and happiness of our people and to protect the free constitutional order,” Mr. Yoon said in early-December.
The move sparked mass protests and the liberal opposition Democratic Party responded with outrage, moving swiftly to impeach Mr. Yoon.
Despite public demonstrations by his own supporters, Mr. Yoon has since been arrested and now faces possible long-term imprisonment amid an evolving political crisis in South Korea, a key military ally of the United States on the geographic periphery of both North Korea and China.
South Korea’s opposition, which holds a legislative majority in South Korea’s parliament, has said in recent days that Mr. Yoon’s arrest will be a “cornerstone” for restoring the country’s collapsed constitutional order.
Ms. Na framed the situation differently, asserting that the opposition — not the PPP — presents a challenge to democracy and freedom in South Korea.
“What we’re concerned about is the paralysis of the politics in South Korea right now because the opposition party has more than 200 seats. They have total control,” she said, adding that prior to Mr. Yoon’s martial law move, the PPP was attempting to introduce an expansion of the country’s espionage act “to include not only Koreans, but also foreigners like Chinese.”
“But the opposition party was against it, so this act could not be passed,” she said.
“The impeachment motion against Mr. Yoon was very dangerous,” Ms. Na said, adding that “whether the martial law declaration was worthy enough to impeach a president, that is something that has to be decided by the constitutional court.”
“Trump thinks free democracy is important, so I hope President Trump supports the Yoon government and our ruling party to strengthen free democracy more in Korea,” she said.
• Guy Taylor can be reached at gtaylor@washingtontimes.com.