Yoon Suk-yeol’s personal coup / What is happening in South Korea?

Mehr News Agency, International Group, Last Tuesday “Yoon Suk Yeol” The president of South Korea appearing on the country’s television declared “martial rule”; an action that suspended all parliamentary activities and all “constitutional guarantees”; including banning political activities and suspending all means of civil society resistance (and increasing the government’s power for arbitrary arrests) as well as removing freedom of the press, such as mass media from now on under It was under “military supervision”.

To ensure the implementation of such measures, police forces surrounded the parliament building and with support forces Armed special forces started patrolling the streets of Seoul. Shutting down the parliament was a coup (or a personal coup) which, if confirmed, would establish a dictatorial regime based on armed and repressive forces in South Korea.

However, Yoon Seok-yeol‘s personal coup d’etat for some reasons not only did not stabilize, but also started quickly. collapsed. First, the majority of South Korea’s ruling class was against this personal coup, for this reason both the “Democratic Party” (the most important opposition party that dominates the parliament) and the leadership The People’s Power Party, of which the president himself is a member, opposed Yoon Suk Yeol‘s coup. In such a situation, the representatives tried to enter the parliament building to vote against the military rule.

Secondly, the United States, with which South Korea has close ties, did not support the military regime either. The administration of Joe Biden, who is spending the last months of his presidency, “multiplied political contacts with Seoul… until to force it to abolish martial law. However, Donald Trump, whose presidency is scheduled to begin in January 2025, remained completely silent.

In such a context, the key element of the process, that is, the mass movement of the people, came to the scene. Thousands of people poured into the streets of Seoul, surrounded the parliament and succeeded in encouraging the representatives (attending an emergency session of the parliament) to vote overwhelmingly against the imposition of martial law. On the same day, the Confederation of Trade Unions (the most important union in South Korea) called for an “indefinite general strike” against the declaration of martial law “until the resignation of Yoon Suk-yeol“.

Yoon Suk-yeol canceled the martial law in the face of such atmosphere and conditions; Special forces and armed forces withdrew from the streets and the police returned to their normal activities in Seoul. In the overall balance of the changing process, it is quite clear that it was the masses of the people and the workers who defeated Yoon Suk-yeol‘s personal coup.

A desperate attempt

Yoon Suk-yeol to justify his action started with illusory arguments such as “Parliament (National Assembly) ), whose majority is dissidents, has become a “nest of criminals” that acts in line with the interests of “North Korean communists”, so he declared martial law “to protect a free South Korea against the threat of armed forces”. The communist should protect.”

But the reality behind these dreamy arguments was completely different. Yoon was elected president in 2022, narrowly defeating the Democratic Party candidate. However, his government was weakened due to worsening social and economic conditions. In the face of these early crises, he tried to implement measures such as increasing the working week from 52 to 69 hours. In response to this action, a massive demonstration was formed that defeated Yoon’s plan and forced Yoon to retreat. Public discontent and demonstrations were exacerbated by the outbreak of numerous cases of corruption among government ministers (a very common occurrence in South Korea). In such a situation, the government was placed in the minority faction in the parliamentary elections.

This situation made it possible for the opposition majority faction in parliament to reject Yoon’s budget bill and launch numerous parliamentary cases against his ministers. . The government was very weak, with recent polls showing only 19% approval rating. The situation was moving towards the inevitable defeat of Yoon Suk-yeol‘s party in the 2027 presidential election.

In such a situation, Yun launched a coup to ensure he remained in power. Paradoxically, the failure of this effort will hasten his departure, as the majority of the public now wants him fired. href=”https://www.mehrnews.com/news/6316730/%D9%BE%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%84%D9% 85%D8%A7%D9%86-%DA%A9%D8%B1%D9%87-%D8%AC%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A8%DB%8C-%D8%B1% D8%A7%DB%8C-%D8%A8%D9%87-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA%DB%8C%D8%B6%D8%A7%D8%AD-%D8% B1%D8%A6%DB%8C%D8%B3-%D8%AC%D9%85%D9%87%D9%88%D8%B1-%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%AF”> Parliament has also voted to impeach him.

Let’s read a little history

To understand the current developments, it is necessary to look a little into the history of South Korea. South Korea was founded after the defeat of Japanese imperialism in World War II. Japan had occupied and annexed the entire territory of the Korean Peninsula for several decades. The north of the country was dominated by the military forces of the former Soviet Union together with the Korean resistance forces, and a government headed by Kim Il-sung was established there. Meanwhile, another government was established in the south with backed large military forces of the United States of America. Both countries declared themselves independent and claimed the right to govern the entire peninsula.

The creation of South Korea was linked to the policy of US imperialism to “isolate” the Chinese revolution in 1949 and check its spread in the Asia-Pacific region. With this goal, he created South Vietnam and supported the dictatorial regime of “Chiang Kai Shek” based in Taiwan. Both new countries were part of its “struggle against communism”.

In such circumstances, the Korean War (1950-1953) took place between the North and the South; The war that finally ended with the declaration of a ceasefire and in fact a “deadlock” and an official peace treaty was never officially signed. This means that technically both countries are still at war. Since then, the border between these two countries has been one of the most militarized borders in the world and there are constant tensions there.

South Korea can be considered a semi-colony of US imperialism due to its origin and existence, as well as considering the economic, political and military agreements that bind it to Washington. described; But it is a special semi-colonial country, because it has been allowed to develop a significant industry. Such history and developments have profoundly changed the social structure of South Korea, creating a super-exploited working class that is highly populated and concentrated.

The big beneficiary of this “special privilege” has been South Korea’s ruling class, which has developed international companies in high value-added sectors; Companies like Samsung, Hyundai, LED, LG and Kia. They also invest a lot abroad in China and other smaller countries such as Vietnam and Thailand.

1987 Revolution

So South Korean governments and political regimes represent the combination of these two components; On the one hand, they are agents and suppliers of American resources, but on the other hand, they are suppliers of transnational companies; For decades, such a situation dominated the political atmosphere of South Korea, but in 1987, a huge wave of popular uprisings (known as the June movement or the democratic uprising) caused a change in the 1948 constitution, reduced the powers of the president, and expanded democratic freedoms. /p>

The popular uprising led to the overthrow of the dictatorship and the establishment of a democratic regime (called the Sixth Republic). Therefore, the political history of South Korea is divided into two periods before 1987 and after 1987.

deep contradictions

But this great democratic victory did not change the character and nature of the semi-colonial capitalism of the South Korean government. For this reason the government and the new political structure that emerged in 1987 continued to maintain this nature in two main aspects; It means compliance with the imperialism of the United States and the dominance of transnational corporations. This situation creates a deep conflict between it and the people of South Korea and therefore leads to popular discontent and constant struggles.

People are increasingly fed up with what military subservience to US imperialism means to combat the “communist threat from the north”. In the interviews conducted in 2023, young South Korean students emphasize that “they have never considered North Korea as an enemy, and that they have always considered North Korea and South Korea as one nation” and hope that the two countries will unite one day.

There were also many protests against the establishment of the large US military base at Camp Humphreys, which delayed its construction and opening for years, as well as widespread protests against The construction of the second airport on “Jeju Island” in the south of the country was started, the airport that is supposed to be used by the planes of the US Air Force.

The fight against transnational companies has also shown itself in different ways; Among them, protests and strikes against the increase of working days of these companies, as well as widespread and intense strikes of Samsung workers, which were formed to raise wages and against the harassment of the labor union. And also, over the years, the fight against the corruption of the government and other institutions has also been going on. For example, in 2016 “hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Seoul to demand the resignation of President Park Geun-hye… who was accused of giving a [Samsung-related] businessman friend access to classified government documents without the relevant clearances.” Park was finally impeached in 2017.

Current status and prospects

As ​​mentioned, the people of South Korea won by defeating the personal coup of Yoon Suk-yeol and They defended the democratic government after the 1987 revolution. This is an important fact that undoubtedly affects the course of events and developments. In this framework, the ruling class of South Korea, especially the Democratic Party, succeeded in putting this process on the path of the parliament and an institutional and legal solution. Yun’s impeachment would almost certainly remove him from office, and then a new presidential election would be held, which would almost certainly be won by a Democratic candidate. The Democratic Party, which was founded in 2014, is aware that South Korea’s political regime is currently on the “boiler” and to prevent it from “exploding” it will advance a “de-escalation” plan with North Korea to cover part of the military expenses. to devote to social services. But it will not be ready to get rid of the influence of multinational companies and dependence on America and to get out of the semi-hidden situation.