Letter from Seoul - 21
It is 4:38 p.m. Saturday here in the Orient. A vote to impeach Yoon - the second attempt, was scheduled for 4 p.m. There are no results as yet. Naturally, I returned to the National Assembly area earlier today and have more photos. This time ... there were literally thousands of people, primarily young college-age. Although we are across the river, I can hear noise from the National Assembly area.
The accompanying photo was for Sookyung ... to help me understand context. It’s not that strong, yet she was able to tell me that the message on the left side says: “Must go” and the right side says: “To prison.” Obviously an anti-Yoon message. Korean police estimate that at least 200,000 people gathered in front of the stage to support Yoon’s impeachment. I have no doubt. As far as I could see .... people, for blocks and blocks. I’ve never seen that many people in Seoul at one time. And that was at 12:30 p.m. today. There were at least three dozen police buses positioned up-and-down the main street in front of the National Assembly, to include some parked along the bridge that spans the wide, wide Han Gang (Han River).
At least 200,000 people massed outside the National Assembly in Seoul today in support of impeaching President Yoon Suk Yeol, who attempted to declare martial law in South Korea over a week ago.
Yoon was forced to immediately rescind his martial law decree in the early hours of December 3, when 190 legislators defied the army and broke into the National Assembly for a historic vote that overturned Yoon’s attempt to use the military to take control of the government.
Today the National Assembly met at 4 p.m. and voted in favor to impeach Yoon for violating both the South Korean constitution and his oath of office. The vote was 204-85. Three legislators abstained, and eight other votes were nullified.
Yoon immediately vowed to step aside as President of South Korea, though it is unclear whether he intends to resign – or pursue other options to maintain his role as the elected President.
About 30,000 supporters of Yoon held a rally at Gwanghwamun Square today.
Because of the special relationship between South Korea and the United States over the past 70-plus years, Koreans frequently look to America as a positive model for both culture and politics.
Yesterday, Time magazine picked Donald Trump as Person of the Year for 2024. This is no joke.
Since the 2020 Election, Trump sent the Proud Boys, his Brown Shirts, to break into Congress on January 6, 2021 and help overthrow the U.S. government. He has since been convicted of 34-felonies and is an adjudicated rapist who owes his victim millions of dollars in damages.
Trump has pledged to issue pardons to his Brown Shirt thugs on his first day back in office.
This is certainly “Person of the Year” standards.
If anyone subscribes to Time magazine, stop wasting your money. It is strictly a Vichy publication, all too ready to collaborate with serial con artist Donald Trump.
On the other hand, Koreans take leadership standards and honor far more seriously than Americans.
Perhaps the mentor should take lessons from the student.
The Koreans do not fuck around and bounced President Park Geun-hye from office in 2016 for corruption, i.e. shaking down Samsung and LG for “campaign” donations. A rose by any other name is still a con game. Geun-hye, the first female president in South Korean’s history, is the daughter of Park Chung-hee, who ruled initially as a military dictator and took the country through the transition to its present status as a democratic republic.
This Park family is cursed with bad luck Shakespearian overtones, like the Kennedy political family, the Gandhis, the Bhuttos, and on and on. A North Korean assassin entered the country on a fake Japanese passport and tried to shoot Park Chung-hee, but missed and killed his wife instead. Bad fucking luck for both the assassin and Park’s wife.
A few years later President Park was shot dead at point blank range at a party by the head of the KCIA (Korean Central Intelligence Agency). Men and their testosterone; a blessing and a curse.
Meanwhile, Park Geun-hye was pardoned by the much-hated President Moon Jae-in, hopeful this would help sweep his party to victory in the recent 2022 National Elections. This almost worked, yet Yoon won the presidency, and has made a hash of things.
Geun-hye now lives at home as a recluse, watching Korean soap operas and wondering about the meaning of life – just like the rest of us. She is exactly our age.
[Old Delhi, Varanasi and Kolkata]