The Guardian view on the South Korean leader’s arrest: democracy is a work in progress | Editorial

Presidencies of South Korea It often ended badly. Office holders have been assassinated, impeached and deposed. With former leaders Face it Corruption investigations and sometimes long prison sentences.

However, Yoon Suk Yeol has set a precedent such as… The first president to be captured in office. He was accused of mutiny due to his short-lived attempt Imposing martial lawthe former prosecutor replaced his suits with the standard khaki detainee uniform. In exciting details, the man who led the first impeachment of his country’s president, Park Geun-hye, was also impeached. His powers are currently suspended.

Tuesday is to reject He ordered the forces to remove the representatives from the National Assembly building, which contradicts the testimony of a military commander. a female lawyer He claimed The purpose of declaring martial law was merely to “sound the alarm” about what they described as violations of the political system by the opposition Democratic Party. The ad ran for only six hours. But the fallout is likely to destabilize South Korean politics for months, deepening the conflict Economic troubles And the security uncertainties it faces, especially in light of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

In riot with Disturbing similarities to the events of January 6 Following the attack on the US Capitol, far-right supporters of Mr. Yoon stormed a courthouse in Seoul over the weekend in search of the judge who issued the warrant for his arrest last Tuesday. While it has democratic guarantees Mostly it workedthe reluctance of Mr. Yoon’s colleagues in the People Power Party to support impeachment, and the fact that security agents initially… prevented his arrest While holed up in the presidential compound, he is also causing concern.

South Korea’s political and economic development has been almost miraculous. From the ashes of colonialism and war, the phoenix has risen. Later, the enormous sacrifices made by activists gave way to decades of dictatorship for a thriving and militant democracy. But young people are disillusioned with widening inequality and intense competition. The leading digital nation and economic and cultural powerhouse has proven itself fallible in other ways. December Jeju plane crashwhich claimed the lives of 179 people, and other disasters that could have been completely avoided Sewol ferry sinkswhich killed mostly school children, and Itaewon crush on HalloweenMost of them were young people, which also raised questions about governance.

In a country where politics was already highly personal and highly polarized, the largely negative campaigning in recent elections was seen as chaos. New low. Gender and generational divisions have joined the traditional regional divide and a left-right divide that is rooted not in issues such as taxes, but in “history, ethnic identity, and the division of Korea itself,” as he put it. One author.

However, underlying this disappointment and anger remains a strong sense of the bloody cost that has been paid for democracy And the need to defend it. It took massive protests against what was seen as a culture of corruption and impunity to remove Park from office eight years ago, and it took large crowds. He rushed to defend National Assembly following Mr. Yoon’s declaration of martial law. South Korea has every right to be proud of the progress it has made. But the events of recent weeks prove that there is still a long way to go – and that politicians must be as committed to democracy as those they are supposed to serve.

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