5 ms·

It is refreshing to the leader of a country doing something insanely untoward, and then suffering the consequences for their actions.

sofixa 2y ago
And especially that the politicians from his party managed to (after some time, convincing and protests, but still) overcome their affiliation and personal political interests to impeach the president.
- janice1999 2y ago
  Some of that may be self-interest given that the President tried to imprison the heads of his own party during his attempted coup. The army deserves at least some praise for refusing to escalate the situation and ignoring orders to invade their own parliament.
- crop_rotation 2y ago
  Sadly very few politicians from his party voted for impeachment (although more than zero). Goes to show how if only his party had 15 more members he might not be getting impeached.
- throw4321 2y ago
  You're assuming they're not gonna go the way of Cheney and Romney. Around the world, most of this stuff is dry runs for other stuff.
petre 2y ago
Dunno what's wrong with this guy, I understand he's a former prosecutor who locked up presidents Lee and Park. Now he somehow repeats the same mistakes, declares martial law, sends the army to the Parliament to arrest the uncooperating opposition? And it all backfires because the National Assembly can always override the President. He'll probably end up in prison. He should have known better. What is wrong Korean politicians (both ROK and obviously DPRK) and abuse of power? At least in the ROK they have a functional democracy with at least two former convicted presidents.
- PhasmaFelis 2y ago
  I've read that he had cronies in the military. My only guess is that he was hoping they'd back him hard enough to suppress the opposition. (Either by ignoring the vote, or by preventing them from voting in the first place--which it seems came close to happening.)
  - petre 2y ago
    It wouldn't have worked anyway. The ROK has a history of right wing patries abusing power and violent student protests clashing with riot control police. That is hard earned democracy. If he thought the people wouldn't be out in the streets backing up the Assembly, he was so wrong. They're out in the streets protesting peacefully with k-pop light sticks as we speak.
    - throw4321 2y ago
      Just for reference, in the US there were protests after protests in late 2016 and early 2017. The only difference they made is tiring out the participants.
      - yongjik 2y ago
        Korea also saw almost nonstop protests since Yoon came to power - TBH I think there was always some part of Korea protesting the government, since forever. But you can't just kick out a president for being hugely unpopular - they must do something so drastically and flagrantly unconstitutional that the majority of citizens must say "Yep that's unconstitutional, we have to drag him down because our Republic is at danger." Whether you like Trump or not (I don't), Trump of 2016/2017 did not meet the threshold. (Half of America had just elected him, what would you expect?) I think Jan 6th clearly met the threshold, and Biden should have seen that Trump ends up in prison. He somehow didn't - I get that precedents are important in politics and America had never seen an ex-president in prison, so would have been very controversial - but I think it was a wrong decision and America is now paying the price.
kergonath 2y ago
He’s not been tried yet, though.

sofixa 2y ago

And especially that the politicians from his party managed to (after some time, convincing and protests, but still) overcome their affiliation and personal political interests to impeach the president.

janice1999 2y ago
Some of that may be self-interest given that the President tried to imprison the heads of his own party during his attempted coup. The army deserves at least some praise for refusing to escalate the situation and ignoring orders to invade their own parliament.
crop_rotation 2y ago
Sadly very few politicians from his party voted for impeachment (although more than zero). Goes to show how if only his party had 15 more members he might not be getting impeached.
throw4321 2y ago
You're assuming they're not gonna go the way of Cheney and Romney. Around the world, most of this stuff is dry runs for other stuff.

petre 2y ago

Dunno what's wrong with this guy, I understand he's a former prosecutor who locked up presidents Lee and Park. Now he somehow repeats the same mistakes, declares martial law, sends the army to the Parliament to arrest the uncooperating opposition? And it all backfires because the National Assembly can always override the President. He'll probably end up in prison. He should have known better. What is wrong Korean politicians (both ROK and obviously DPRK) and abuse of power? At least in the ROK they have a functional democracy with at least two former convicted presidents.

PhasmaFelis 2y ago
I've read that he had cronies in the military. My only guess is that he was hoping they'd back him hard enough to suppress the opposition. (Either by ignoring the vote, or by preventing them from voting in the first place--which it seems came close to happening.)
- petre 2y ago
  It wouldn't have worked anyway. The ROK has a history of right wing patries abusing power and violent student protests clashing with riot control police. That is hard earned democracy. If he thought the people wouldn't be out in the streets backing up the Assembly, he was so wrong. They're out in the streets protesting peacefully with k-pop light sticks as we speak.
  - throw4321 2y ago
    Just for reference, in the US there were protests after protests in late 2016 and early 2017. The only difference they made is tiring out the participants.
    - yongjik 2y ago
      Korea also saw almost nonstop protests since Yoon came to power - TBH I think there was always some part of Korea protesting the government, since forever. But you can't just kick out a president for being hugely unpopular - they must do something so drastically and flagrantly unconstitutional that the majority of citizens must say "Yep that's unconstitutional, we have to drag him down because our Republic is at danger." Whether you like Trump or not (I don't), Trump of 2016/2017 did not meet the threshold. (Half of America had just elected him, what would you expect?) I think Jan 6th clearly met the threshold, and Biden should have seen that Trump ends up in prison. He somehow didn't - I get that precedents are important in politics and America had never seen an ex-president in prison, so would have been very controversial - but I think it was a wrong decision and America is now paying the price.

kergonath 2y ago

He’s not been tried yet, though.