Korea: then as farce

Friday 3 January was the latest flashpoint in a seemingly unending drama since the 3 December coup attempt by President Yoon Suk Yeol in South Korea.

Contrary to my assumption in my article about the coup online last month, Yoon’s Prime Minister and the head of his party (the PPP, Korea’s conservative party) did not convince him to resign. In an impromptu speech to the party on 12 December, Yoon apologised while also claiming that liberals were exaggerating by calling it an attempted “coup”, and that he would not be stepping down (much to the dismay and shock of many in the audience).

As a result, the PPP’s leadership (Yoon excluded) announced it would call for another impeachment vote, and this time not abstain.

But Yoon has stayed resolute — and stayed inside. He has not left the President’s house since giving the speech on 12 December. That caused significant difficulties on 3 January, when the Corruption Investigation Office attempted to arrest Yoon after granting a warrant on 30 December, at the end of a trial during which the sitting President (a former prosecutor) repeatedly refused to appear in court for questioning.

When it became clear that the President’s security detail and fervent pro-Yoon protesters were not going to grant them access, and when Yoon’s lawyers claimed that the CIO did not have the authority to investigate charges of “rebellion”, meaning police involvement would be challenged formally in court, attempts to carry out the arrest were ceased.

The CIO reported that “approximately 200 Presidential Security Service and military forces combined guarded the building, putting themselves as a human barricade and armed with personal firearms.” Yoon supporters protested nearby, carrying American flags and placards with the Trumpist slogan “Stop the Steal”.

On Monday 6 January, the CIO (a recently-established government body) admitted defeat and handed Yoon’s arrest warrant over to the Korean police. At time of writing, the arrest has still not taken place.

The details and motives in Yoon’s attempted coup have become somewhat clearer in the month since it took place. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions released a statement on 28 December confirming that, besides the President planning the coup for well over a year in advance, and colluding with leading figures in the military to do so, he also specifically targeted “left wing forces in the media, broadcasting and labour sectors” who were, in his view, blocking political action in the country.

Unsurprisingly, North Korea was in the firing line as well: Yoon allegedly sent a drone into North Korean airspace at the beginning of December, hoping for it to be shot down, providing an excuse for declaring martial law. The drone was left be, and Yoon instead blamed a “North Korean cyber-attack” as the culprit in his speech on the 12th.

The KCTU announced a general strike in the immediate wake of martial law being declared, calling on the 1.2 million unionised workers in the country to down tools and take part in the democracy protests that were sweeping major cities (and continue as Solidarity goes to press). Two weeks later, when Yoon was impeached, the general strike was declared “temporarily lifted” (the initial demand had been Yoon’s arrest). The KCTU claims that 70,000 auto workers downed tools on the day of the insurrection, and the confederation has been centrally involved in organising democracy protests across the country, but beyond that participation is unclear. KCTU has given little further detail on the effect and scale of industrial action taken.