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Yoon's supporter vows to protect South Korea’s impeached president

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PERSONAL: ‘My heart boiled with anger’ - Yoon's supporter vows to protect South Korea’s impeached president

Reuters Wires

Holding a placard reading “Stop the Steal”, a slogan popularized by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump supporters, 25-year-old university student Park Byeong-heon chants slogans loudly at a rally in downtown Seoul in support of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.While the bulk of Yoon supporters appear to be in their 60s or 70s, young conservatives like Park have played a visible role in rallying support for their embattled leader.Yoon became the first incumbent South Korean president to face arrest for his botched attempt to declare martial law on Dec. 3, which triggered political chaos in Asia&#x27;s fourth-largest economy and a key U.S. ally. He avoided arrest on Friday (January 3) after presidential guards and troops blocked efforts to carry out a warrant in a criminal insurrection investigation.Popular pro-Yoon YouTubers, some of them conservative men in their 30s, have used their online reach to mobilize support and assert unsubstantiated claims that the South Korean elections were marred by fraud, echoing one of Yoon&#x27;s justifications for imposing martial law. Their activism has been encouraged by Yoon, who told supporters in a letter last week that he was watching all their hard work via livestreams on YouTube.&quot;After listening to the president&#x27;s speech on December 12th, I watched videos of YouTubers spreading the truth and I actually researched a lot of material. I realized that all the South Korean media have been lying, and that made my heart boil with anger,” Park said while holding U.S. and South Korean flags.Park, who lives in Busan to attend university, said he extended his stay in Seoul to attend more rallies after meeting fellow Yoon supporters who emphasized the need for young people to fight the political crisis. He became a crowd favorite at the rallies for his English speeches aimed at foreign media, decrying attempts by the authorities to arrest Yoon.Pointing to a claim by pro-Yoon YouTuber Kim Sung-won, Park said like the 2020 U.S. presidential election which Trump claimed was fraudulent and lost, South Korea faced the same risk.“Actually, it (Yoon’s declaration of martial law) did not cause any kind of actual harm including the basic rights of the people. Therefore, the charge of insurrection cannot be established, and the impeachment (of Yoon) does not make any sense. Now, the opposition Democratic Party has declared that they will exclude the charge of insurrection in the impeachment motion, and that means that they (the Democratic Party) themselves know that this is an unreasonable move,” Park said.While Yoon made no mention of election issues in his initial martial law declaration, he dispatched hundreds of troops to raid the National Election Commission (NEC) and later alleged North Korea had hacked the NEC, but cited no evidence.Yoon said the attack was detected by the National Intelligence Service but the commission, an independent agency, refused to cooperate fully in an investigation and inspection of its system.The hack cast doubt on the integrity of the April 2024 parliamentary election - which his party lost by a landslide - and led him to declare martial law, Yoon said.At the time the commission said by raising the suspicion of election irregularities, Yoon was committing a &quot;self-defeating act against an election oversight system that elected himself as president.&quot;The NEC said it had consulted the spy agency last year to address &quot;security vulnerabilities&quot; but there were no signs a hack by North Korea compromised the election system, and that votes are conducted with paper ballots.The issue has become a major talking point for Yoon supporters who say his martial law declaration was justified, and now hope their concerns will resonate with Trump.However, Trump, who is set to take office for a second term on Jan. 20, has not commented on Yoon&#x27;s situation and there are no clear ties between his campaign and Yoon&#x27;s backers.Regardless, supporters like Park are banking on Trump&#x27;s return to save Yoon and vowed to fight on for their leader in the meantime.Addressing Yoon in a message, Park said, “I fully understand what you have said, and I along with other young people will do our best to protect you and your presidency.” - report from Reuters

Holding a placard reading “Stop the Steal”, a slogan popularized by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump supporters, 25-year-old university student Park Byeong-heon chants slogans loudly at a rally in downtown Seoul in support of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Holding a placard reading “Stop the Steal”, a slogan popularized by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump supporters, 25-year-old university student Park Byeong-heon chants slogans loudly at a rally in downtown Seoul in support of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Yoon's supporter vows to protect South Korea’s impeached president

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Yoon's supporter vows to protect South Korea’s impeached president

Reuters

Published Jan 07, 2025 05:45 PM PHT

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