South Korea’s U.S.-backed President Yoon Suk Yeol was released from the Seoul Detention Center on March 8. Yoon was impeached on Dec. 27, 2024, for his role in ordering a right-wing coup, an order that failed earlier that month. Yoon’s release was based on a legal technicality, and it is already sparking some resistance and some chaos.
Nodutdol organized protest following South Korean president’s call for martial law. New York, Dec. 4, 2024. (WW PHOTO: John Catalinotto)
Yoon had declared martial law on Dec. 3 during a televised address. The declaration aroused fierce and massive resistance, particularly from organized labor, students and two opposition parties that participate in the Korean Congress. The left-wing Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) played a significant role in organizing a fightback against Yoon. The coup attempt was halted within 24-hours when Congress rejected martial law.
Yoon was arrested on Jan. 3 and held at the detention center located in the Seoul suburb of Uiwang until his release on March 8. Supporters of Yoon greeted him by waving U.S. and South Korean imperial flags as he exited the detention facility. A militant crowd of angry protesters also confronted Yoon.
Surveys show most South Koreans disapprove of Yoon returning as president. A recent Gallup Korea poll confirmed that 60% of the public believe Yoon should be removed from political office. (Reuters, March 8)
Yoon is now expected to attend impeachment trials. The Constitutional Court is expected to decide whether to reinstate or remove him from his current position as South Korea’s 13th president.
Yoon: anti-communist war hawk
Yoon was elected president in 2022, and he has been supported by both the previous and current White House administrations. His 2022 presidential campaign promoted capitalist deregulation and privatization while also espousing an openly misogynist, anti-women’s rights and anti-worker platform.
As an unapologetic enemy of the working class, Yoon once proposed imposing a 120-hour work week. Not surprisingly, Yoon is very hostile to the Democratic People’s Republic of (North) Korea (DPRK), and he often labels all his critics as “communists,” regardless of their politics.
War maneuvers with U.S. military
Washington and Seoul have conducted annual joint military drills for decades in an attempt to intimidate the socialist DPRK, which must respond seriously as the drills could easily expand to an attack. The annual war exercises were briefly suspended between 2019 and 2022, following a meeting between then-U.S. President Donald Trump and DPRK Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.
Yoon enthusiastically reintroduced the military exercises upon becoming president, and they have occurred annually since. The second Trump administration has not expressed any interest in stopping the new war games.
In one recent joint military exercise on March 6, which was officially called “Freedom Shield,” a South Korean fighter jet bombed a South Korean village just 20 miles south of the DPRK border. According to a New York Times article on March 6, the attack left 15 people injured and damaged several homes and a church, with no reported fatalities.
Had the joint U.S.-south Korea war games led to an attack on a village inside the DPRK, even an accidental attack, the dangerous war exercise might have begun a new war on the Korean peninsula. The DPRK has been forced to practice their own military drills as a matter of security, sovereignty and survival.
In response to the recent bombing, DPRK officials have once again had to reserve their right to self-defense. Workers Party leader and DPRK diplomat Kim Yo-jong — also a sibling of Kim Jong Un — accused the Trump-Musk administration of committing the “most hostile and confrontational will” against the Korean people. She commented, “We will never confine ourselves to sitting still and commenting on the situation.” (New York Times, March 6).
International solidarity for workers’ rights, peace and sovereignty
Workers in the U.S., who are facing ongoing attacks from the reactionary Trump-Musk administration, have an interest in maintaining solidarity with Korean workers, students and farmers who are battling their own far-right class enemy, led by Yoon.
Nodutdol, an anti-imperialist, U.S.-based Korean organization, issued a statement in response to the surprising news about Yoon’s sentence release. Their assertion highlights how the South Korean right wing has since “gained steam,” and they have even stepped up their “violent rhetoric” against the Korean working class.
The South Korean far right is also connected to fascist groups, organizations and individuals around the globe, and they had a strong presence at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) held in the U.S. in late February.
Nodutdol pointed out on March 7 how violent street-fighting organizations are being created to show loyalty to Yoon and his reactionary cohorts: “A new fascist group formed by the Anti-communist Youth League, calling itself ‘Baekgoldan’ after the plainclothes police who served South Korea’s past military dictatorships, has threatened to initiate civil war if Yoon is removed from office. This group and its allies have also called for U.S. military intervention.” (Nodutdol Facebook)
Baekgoldan literally translates into “white skull squad,” and they operate similarly to the violent pro-Trump-Musk militia units in the U.S., such as the Proud Boys and Patriot Front.
It is important for anti-fascists to defend workers and oppressed people against the far right on every continent. Fascists, billionaires, “tech bros” and other pro-capitalist forces are working together globally in an unprecedented manner to attack the working class.
Nodutdol’s statement concludes: “All these signs point to a growing consensus among the Korean right and its global allies for a second coup attempt and even an escalation to civil war to achieve their political goals. With Yoon’s arrest warrant overturned, these forces will definitely seize the opportunity to further undermine Yoon’s trial and sow doubt about the legitimacy of the court’s ruling. We must remain vigilant and prepared to act in solidarity with the people of South Korea opposing a return to military rule.”