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South Korean ex president Yoon Suk Yeol jailed for life for leading insurrection

theguardian.com

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Re: South Korean ex president Yoon Suk Yeol jailed for life for leading insurrection

#61
post #3

This is the correct way to handle a former president who tries to mount an anti-democratic insurrection.

It also illustrates what a real insurrection attempt looks like. [1] He declared martial law, suspended and prevented their Congress equivalent from meeting (and directed the military to enforce such), ordered the immediate arrest of numerous high level politicians with a goal of arresting hundreds, issued a declaration that all media and publications had to be approved before publication, ordered the power+water for…

Just to be clear, ordering a violent mob thousands strong to march on the capitol and "fight like hell" to interfere with the peaceful transition of power is also what a real insurrection attempt looks like.

Re: South Korean ex president Yoon Suk Yeol jailed for life for leading insurrection

#62
post #3

This is the correct way to handle a former president who tries to mount an anti-democratic insurrection.

One thing worth pointing out is that by the time Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law on December 3, 2024, he was already one of the most unpopular presidents in South Korean history. After that his ratings declined even further. This makes for a much smoother enforcement of the law to make him accountable for his actions.

Re: South Korean ex president Yoon Suk Yeol jailed for life for leading insurrection

#63

Also the King stepping aside as the commoners come to for his brother. Lots of recent examples demonstrating that none of these unprecedented moments are untouchable if you actually are a people who believe in the rule of law.

It's not the King, it's the government, really. In any case, one of the reasons, if not the main reason, is that the scandal has unfolded very publicly so that covering it up is not an option as it might have been otherwise or previously.

Re: South Korean ex president Yoon Suk Yeol jailed for life for leading insurrection

#64
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I notice a reticence for people to speak plainly about things these days, because certain topics must be danced around at the edges in order for there to be any productive conversation. Canada's PM Carney spoke recently about the Power of the Powerless essay and the shared lie, when the Green Grocer puts up the "Workers of the world unite" sign. And I kind of fear that shared reticence to speak plainly is causing an…

It's been ~10 years. Everything has been hashed and rehashed to death. America knew exactly who he was on day 1. He came down the stairs calling Mexicans rapists.

He also came down the stairs calling Obama a secret Muslim Kenyan.

Re: South Korean ex president Yoon Suk Yeol jailed for life for leading insurrection

#65
post #46

One interesting firestorm that he started was over doctors. Yoon Suk Yeol did the basic math of “if our population isn’t having babies and people are getting older, how much medical capacity will we need?” The results—due to artificial caps on medical students (like the AMA does in the US)—mathed out to: “oh, shit.” He decided to raise the caps by a lot . The medical establishment freaked out, since that would lower…

I can't believe I'm defending Yoon, but this was one issue where Yoon identified the correct problem, and all those doctors were clearly in the wrong. But because there are so few doctors, things like emergency rooms were always overfull, and doctors who worked there were always overworked, and when they said no there was nothing the rest of the country could do. So the doctors basically had the rest of the country by its balls, so to speak.

It will forever grate me that those assholes of Korean Medical Association could say "You see how hard we're working for all of you guys? That's why there should be no more doctors!" with a straight face and will never face any consequences for that.

(Of course, it didn't help Yoon that he attacked this problem with the finesse of a bulldozer, with disastrous consequences. But still.)

Re: South Korean ex president Yoon Suk Yeol jailed for life for leading insurrection

#66
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I notice a reticence for people to speak plainly about things these days, because certain topics must be danced around at the edges in order for there to be any productive conversation. Canada's PM Carney spoke recently about the Power of the Powerless essay and the shared lie, when the Green Grocer puts up the "Workers of the world unite" sign. And I kind of fear that shared reticence to speak plainly is causing an…

It's been ~10 years. Everything has been hashed and rehashed to death. America knew exactly who he was on day 1. He came down the stairs calling Mexicans rapists.

No, he called some Mexican migrants into the US rapists.

Trump has done plenty of real things that are worthy of criticism. Calling Mexicans in general rapists is not something he did.

Re: South Korean ex president Yoon Suk Yeol jailed for life for leading insurrection

#68
post #3

This is the correct way to handle a former president who tries to mount an anti-democratic insurrection.

It also illustrates what a real insurrection attempt looks like. [1] He declared martial law, suspended and prevented their Congress equivalent from meeting (and directed the military to enforce such), ordered the immediate arrest of numerous high level politicians with a goal of arresting hundreds, issued a declaration that all media and publications had to be approved before publication, ordered the power+water for…

don't worry, I suspect there will be a 2nd attempt on Jan 6th 2029

Re: South Korean ex president Yoon Suk Yeol jailed for life for leading insurrection

#70

Also the King stepping aside as the commoners come to for his brother. Lots of recent examples demonstrating that none of these unprecedented moments are untouchable if you actually are a people who believe in the rule of law.

The King has made it very clear that he was entirely unhappy with Andrew's involvement for years, but had Andrew done the right thing and entirely disappeared from public life he might have retained a degree of protection.

He didn't and so he had everything stripped away which sent a very clear message to Government and the police that he was there for the taking.

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