Written by Jack Kim
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is facing a major setback in his short but rocky political career as he struggles to fend off an unprecedented arrest attempt in a criminal investigation that says he is leading a coup.
A staunch political survivor who has become reclusive during his five-year tenure, Yoon, 64, has been plagued by scandals, consistent opposition and dissension within his party.
Since winning the election in 2022, Yoon has been angered by the ongoing battles that have exposed the recklessness that his former rival says is his defining characteristic.
By the time Yoon briefly imposed martial law on December 3, he was deeply wounded politically. He was suspended from his post after being impeached by parliament on 14 December for his martial law efforts. His political fate is in the hands of the Constitutional Court as the legal case grows, as prosecutors tried to arrest him on Friday but failed.
Barricaded in his official residence this week, he issued a message to his followers that he will “fight to the end”, rallying die-hard supporters to join him in the struggle to save the country from “anti-government forces”.
The one-page letter, signed “President Yoon Suk Yeol”, along with previous defiant messages saying he was acting “out of patriotic fervor” to save democracy, introduced people to fear that he may still be on the move. Some feared that his judgment was so impaired that he became a danger to South Korea, a global industrial powerhouse and one of the most powerful success stories of democratic consolidation.
An opposition member of the Democratic Party said Yoon had proved that he was “deceiving”. Even those who were sympathetic said that he had to deal with the pressure of constant political attacks, some of which he may have taken personally.
“I hope we remember how the opposition pushed the president and his family into a corner by threatening special prosecutors and impeaching him,” said Ihn Yohan, a member of parliament for Yoon’s People Power Party.
Scandals, threats of prosecution, ‘AMERICAN PIE’
The last year of Yoon’s presidency has been overshadowed by a scandal involving his wife, who was accused of accepting improper payments. Christian Dior (EPA:) a handbag as a gift, and her refusal to fully own it.
Yoon apologized after the scandal was blamed as a major reason for the PPP’s defeat in the parliamentary elections in April. But he continued to dismiss calls for an investigation into the scandal and allegations of stock price manipulation involving his wife and mother.
The prosecutor’s office that investigated the allegations decided not to press charges against the first wife.
Yoon’s struggles at home have overshadowed his success on the world stage.
His bold move to reverse decades of diplomatic conflict with neighboring Japan and join Tokyo in a three-way security partnership with the United States is widely seen as his signature foreign policy.
Yoon’s ability to take responsibility on a personal level, considered a factor that gave him his early success, was on full display at a White House event in 2023, when Yoon took the stage and belted out the 1970s hit “American Pie” to the surprise of President Joe Biden and and a happy crowd.
SHAMANS, SCHOOL BOYS
Born into a wealthy family in Seoul, Yoon was a free-spirited teenager who excelled at school. He entered the elite Seoul National University to study law, but his love of partying led him to repeatedly fail the bar exam before passing on the ninth try.
Yoon gained national attention in 2016 when, as a chief investigator investigating then-President Park Geun-hye for corruption, he was asked if he was willing to take revenge and replied that the prosecutors were not gangsters.
Three years earlier, Park suspended Yoon, then fired him from the team investigating the historic case against the national spy agency. That move was seen as punishment for challenging his authority.
The role he played in arresting the sitting president and his surprise return as head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office marked the beginning of a remarkable reign.
Two years later, he became South Korea’s Prosecutor General, leading a corruption investigation into the next president, Moon Jae-in. That made him a favorite among conservatives frustrated by Moon’s liberal policies, putting Yoon in the running for president in 2022.
But his presidency got off to a rocky start when he went ahead with moving the presidential office from the Blue House to a new location, raising questions as to whether it was due to a feng shui belief that the old presidential compound was cursed. Yoon denied that he or his wife were involved with the shaman.
When Yoon refused to fire senior officials after the 2022 Halloween mob killed 159 people, he was accused of protecting his “yes men”. One was Security Minister Lee Sang-min, who also graduated from Yoon’s high school.
Another student at Choongam High School in Seoul was Kim Yong-hyun, the man who led the presidential movement, became head of the presidential security service and was appointed defense minister in September.
Kim was one of two people who recommended that Yoon declare martial law, a senior military official said. Lee was one.
