US Lee Jae-myung approaches ‘impeachment of Yoon Seok-yeol’ after Trump’s inauguration
The US approached the ‘impeachment of Yoon Seok-yeol’ after Trump’s inauguration in January next year, and Lee Jae-myung emphasized ‘President Yoon’s character flaws’ in the New York Times.
In an interview with the NYT, Lee said, “They don’t trust each other and are afraid,” and “They are swinging grenades with one hand holding each other’s throats and the other pulling out the safety pins.”
The NYT reported on the 10th, “He said that President Yoon is desperate to protect his remaining power at all costs, and that ruling party leader Han Dong-hoon is desperate to expand his influence.”
Lee continued, “I know that the final result of this endless vicious cycle of political revenge is civil war,” and “The president has a responsibility to exercise power for national unity, and should not use it as a means to express personal feelings or pursue personal interests,” the NYT reported. The New York Times reported that “Lee called President Yoon a ‘victim’ of political retaliation and blamed the vicious political environment on him,” and that “Lee said he would end the vicious cycle if he becomes president.”
Alexander Downs, a political science professor at George Washington University, told Voice of America (VOA) on the 10th that “even if President Yoon is impeached, it will not have a major impact on US-South Korea relations,” and that “the US will wait until the impeachment process is completed, and once the decision is finalized, the US will cooperate with whoever the next president is.”
He continued that “President Trump will be tough on all US allies and demand that they do their fair share,” and that “this will not be affected by whoever leads South Korea.” Professor Downs stated that the reason for the ‘impeachment process’ was that “the choice of foreign policy is generally not grounds for impeachment in a democratic country,” and that “it does not correspond to ‘treason, bribery, or other serious crimes’ as stipulated in the U.S. Constitution,” and that “the Korean Constitution stipulates that the president can be impeached ‘for violations of the Constitution or laws in the performance of official duties.’ I do not think that the choice of alliances that some people do not agree with constitutes grounds for impeachment.”
Professor Downs continued, “Since the declaration of martial law is a violation of the Constitution rather than foreign policy, the argument for impeachment can be raised strongly,” and stated that the examination of the ‘violation of the Constitution’ is the issue.
On the 9th, when asked whether President Yoon, who is under investigation for martial law sedition, is still a conversation partner for President Joe Biden, U.S. State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said, “We will keep the door to communication open with all relevant parties in Korea, and the legal process and political process must be conducted consistently with the rule of law.” “President Yoon is the president of Korea, and political procedures in Korea must be conducted according to the laws and constitution of Korea,” he said.
The New York Times reported on the 10th with an interview article with Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, using the unusual title <South Korea’s president is still in office. This man is trying to oust him> and the subtitle <Opposition candidate Lee Jae-myung is leading the impeachment drive over President Yoon Seok-yeol’s declaration of martial law. He could also become the next president>.
Lee told the NYT on the 9th, “We will continue to do this until he is impeached,” and “More and more people are joining the fight with increasing passion. We will try to finish this by Christmas,” and the article quoted him as saying.
Lee continued, “Former President Yoon was angry because he couldn’t do what he wanted, so he tried to become an absolute monarch, a king,” and “What he did was so outrageous that people questioned whether he was in his right mind.”
The New York Times said, “President Yoon Seok--yeol’s move to declare martial law shows how emotional and dangerous South Korea’s political polarization has become,” and “Lee survived a stabbing attack by a right-wing extremist in January. But Lee said that Yoon’s martial law revealed more flaws in his ‘impulsive’ personality than in South Korea’s democracy.”
In an interview with conservative American media outlets, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, Lee said on the 8th, "Some people call me the 'Trump of Korea,'" and "I don't see myself as 'hyperpartisan.'" I am a realist,” he said.
In an interview with the US AP on the 6th, Representative Lee said, “The more dangerous part of the martial law incident is not the fact that he declared martial law, but the mental state of the president who decided to do something that no one understood.”
In an interview with France’s AFP on the same day, Representative Lee said, “It is important to view President Yoon’s extremely irrational, impulsive, and unreasonable decision as a very unusual phenomenon,” and “a sudden fever caused by bacteria.”
The opposition party’s ‘impeachment motion’ completely excluded President Yoon’s overthrow of the system of ‘seizing the Republic of Korea as a free Republic of Korea’ in Article 1 of the Constitution, which is the most basic in the case of undermining and seizing the national identity.
The six opposition parties’ ‘impeachment motions’ announced on the 5th stated, “Under the pretext of value diplomacy, he has ignored geopolitical balance and has antagonized North Korea, China, and Russia, and has insisted on a strange foreign policy centered on Japan, thereby inviting isolation in Northeast Asia and triggering a war crisis, thereby protecting national security and the people.” By stating that “they have neglected their duties,” he omitted the content of “martial law ideological coup against the anti-state of Free Korea,” and indirectly cited President Biden’s “ROK-US-Japan alliance” system as a reason for impeachment, revealing his pro-Trump tendency.
On the 3rd, President Yoon rejected the democratic republic of the Constitution in his martial law declaration and declared the “free Republic of Korea” as the national policy, and showed a typical example of a fascist coup by ordering the elimination of anti-state forces to protect “free Korea.”
See <Yoon Seok-yeol’s fascist coup to seize the “democratic republic” and overthrow the “free” system, Lee Jae-myung’s immunity deleted, December 6, 2024>