ktown konnection #46 | Pres. Yoon faces impeachment

IN THIS ISSUE:

• Pres. Yoon faces impeachment after failed martial law

• Much anticipated “Light Shop,” written by “Moving” scribe Kang Full, premieres

• 6 Korean series dominate Top 10 on Disney+

SOUTH KOREA NEWS 🇰🇷

Pres. Yoon’s bungled coup, looming impeachment

Within hours after Pres. Yoon Suk-yeol’s Tuesday night declaration of martial law, Korea’s National Assembly voted to end it. Not after clashing with soldier and police officers at the National Assembly building, however, and thousands of protesters showed up.

Fortunately (for the state of democracy in Korea), members of parliament were able to enter (some climbed fences and broke barricades) and voted to lift martial law early Wednesday. (From all news coverage, there were scuffles, but it seems that no one was killed and no major injuries were reported.)

In his televised late-night address on Tuesday, Pres. Yoon had cited the threat of pro-North Korean sympathizers, which, by all accounts of coverage and public opinion, seemingly came out of nowhere and with no evidence of the claim.

It was shocking; Yoon took a page straight out of the dictatorship playbook, a piece of Korea’s traumatic history in its struggle for democracy.

It followed the plummeting approval ratings of an unpopular leader, an administration mired in multiple scandals, and a parliament with a majority opposition party that have halted the President’s policies.

Hearings were held on Thursday to investigate why, and how, this all happened. What was revealed only scratched the surface, but confusion and disorganization characterized its operation. Curiously, the Army’s chief of staff claimed he didn’t exactly know what enforcing martial law meant.

Reuters reported that Korea’s defense minister, Kim Yong-hyun, had recommended imposing martial law to Pres. Yoon. The defense minister resigned on Wednesday; other senior aides resigned. (Kim had also denied wanting to impose martial law at his confirmation hearing three months ago.)(Sidenote: Supreme Court justice copycat much?)

Pres. Yoon is now facing impeachment, a motion submitted by parliament hours after their vote to end martial law. Protests have been demanding his arrest and resignation.

His impeachment comes to a vote on Saturday evening; it needs a 2/3 majority vote, or 200 of parliament’s 300 members, to pass. It then goes to a Constitutional Court, which must be passed by votes of at least 6 of its 9 members, and has up to 6 months to confirm or reject a motion for impeachment.

Once Yoon is removed from office or resigns, a new election would need to be held within 60 days. Korea’s prime minister Han Duck-soo would be acting president in the interim.

Tuesday night’s events were a chilling sight and a bona fide political crisis; South Koreans are scarred by the violent crackdown by military on protesters during the democratization movement of the 1980s, not to mention Korea’s dark history of government control over all media, the harsh repression of freedom of speech, and arrests without reasonable cause characterized by martial law.

It’s even more chilling for modern democracies today in the current global climate and admittedly here stateside, in a polarized nation during a tense election year (and even higher post-election anxiety), and in lieu of the fact that this happened in South Korea, a stable democracy.

PREMIERES

• December 4 “Light Shop” (Disney+)(Hulu)

Latest premieres The much-hyped “Light Shop” from Disney+ is the follow-up from “Moving” scribe Kang Full and has a star-studded ensemble, which includes Ju Ji-hoon (“Love Your Enemy”), Park Bo-young (“Daily Dose of Sunshine”), Minha Kim (“Pachinko”), and Uhm Tae-goo (“My Sweet Mobster”), among others.

I’ve only seen the first ep; it’s got the tone of a horror series (“Scary Stories” vibes) and a vignette-ish structure (yes, I’m still waiting to see how they’re all connected).

The series marks the directorial debut of prolific actor Kim Hee-won (“Moving,” and a gazillion other Korean TV shows + films you’ve definitely seen).