Political division deepens over martial law

Public sentiment clashed as rallies for and against the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol were held throughout Seoul on March 1. pending the upcoming impeachment trial. Ruling and opposition party politicians that participated in rallies for and against impeachment amplified the conflict with hate speech and conspiracy theories. With President Yoon hinting the possibility of defying the Constitutional Court’s ruling driving further political division, many criticize that March 1, which traditionally marks the March 1st Independence Movement in 1919 against Japanese colonial rule, has been tainted by politics.

According to the police, a total of 118,200 people gathered at the anti-impeachment rally held in Seoul's Gwanghwamun and Yeouido on March 1, while some 30,000 people gathered at the pro-impeachment rally in front of Gyeongbokgung Palace and near the Constitutional Court. The ruling and opposition party lawmakers that participated made extreme remarks aimed at hard-core supporters. Standing on the podium at the Gwanghwamun anti-impeachment rally, People Power Party lawmaker Seo Cheon-ho shouted, “They must all be destroyed. Let’s destroy them,” referring to the Corruption Investigation Office for High Officials, the National Election Commission, and the Constitutional Court. Former National Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun said in a prison letter released through his lawyer to immediately punish Constitutional Court judges such as Moon Hyeong-bae, Lee Mi-seon, and Jeong Gye-seon, who led the illegal impeachment trial, encouraging supporters to defy the results of the Constitutional Court judgment and take retaliatory action.

“If the civil war had continued, I would probably have become crabmeat somewhere in the deep sea on the way to Yeonpyeong Island,” said Leader Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea, at a pro-impeachment rally near the Constitutional Court in Jongno-gu, Seoul. He stimulated supporters by mentioning the so-called ‘Baekryeong Island Operation’ written in the notebook of former intelligence commander Roh Sang-won, who is suspected of participating in martial law. “(President Yoon) is telling all kinds of lies, using tricks, and, as a priest said, ‘going crazy,’” claimed Hwang Un-ha, floor leader of the Reform Party of Korea.

Conflict and division are also spreading to universities. Three months since the issue of martial law, conflicts regarding impeachment has become a ‘new normal,’ following President Yoon’s refusal to apologize and defining impeachment as “an insurrection plot by the opposition party.”

“Our society is facing a state of psychological warfare and civil war driven by political polarization and conflict, with no discussions between the parties and no efforts to end the situation,” said Choi Young-jin, a professor of political and international studies at Chung-Ang University. “If this situation continues, it will hinder the functioning of the state and lead to political and social incompetence.”


Hyung-Jun Hwang constant25@donga.com