Almost like the voters need to start putting anti- partisanship as their number one priority when voting.
Not necessarily anti-partisanship, but commitment to democracy and the rule of law.
From the link:
I read that too quickly and thought there were two charges, with the second being oddly specific.
Those wacky Orientals!
(Sarcasm implied, for those who don’t get it.)
Yoon seems to have retreated from initial contrition, but protests continue:
Seems to me his party is making a mistake. They seem to be concerned that impeaching Yoon will give the other parties an advantage and they have to support Yoon.
But if they do that, isn’t there a chance that they get tarred with the same animus for martial law as Yoon himself, and could get wiped out electorally? That’s what the BBC article seems to suggest.
Will have to wait and see, I guess.
MPs voted to impeach
A bit of background on Yoon, for those of us who are not familiar with Korean politics. (Me included!)
I agree. This is the time to distance themselves and throw him to the wolves, and try to get all the blame to stick to him and not them.
Do Koreans typically think that way culturally? I thought that disciplining transgressors in a group was held to be a tightly internal matter.
Police want to interview Yoon for possible rebellion charges.
Protests and counter-protests today.
Those calling for Yoon’s removal apparently trend younger, those supporting him seem to be older.
And now the acting President, Han Duck-soo, has been impeached, by a vote of 192-0. The People Power Party deputies (Yoon’s and Han’s supporters) boycotted the vote, and argue it takes a two-thirds vote to impeach an acting President.
The Speaker of the Parliament disagreed and issued a formal notice of impeachment. Han says he will respect that order.
Presidential functions are now being executed by the next in line, the Finance Minister.
It looks like part of what’s driving it is that there are three vacancies on the Constitutional Court, which is the body that rules on impeachments. The Parliament has nominated three new judges, and the PPP opposed those nominations.
So, we have a nation where one party is refusing to do their jobs, and the rest of the country is actually responding “OK, then, it’s not your job any more”? Think that’ll catch on?
I’m having a hard time thinking of any other democracy that has such a high ratio of presidents-to-jail or presidents-to-scandal. Seemingly every other South Korean president seems destined for prison or something post-presidency.
South Korea (and Taiwan) were for decades ruled by authoritarian strong men simply because under the continual threat of external conquest by totalitarian powers no dissent was allowable. That sort of system doesn’t liberalize or recognize the rule of law easily and it encourages cronyism.
Court issues arrest warrant for Yoon and search warrant for his premises. Unclear if presidential security service will cooperate.
No, it doesn’t look like they’re going to cooperate. Toon’s sounding and acting more and more Trumpy the more I learn about him. Misinformation, rigged elections, “stop the steal,” etc.
Who’s paying his bodyguards’ salaries? Who controls their pensions?
Yeah- how does a guy who isn’t president have guards that can defy the police?
That article says
Is it still acceptable to say “Europe” and “European”?