On December 6, 2024, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s declaration of a state of emergency has caused a significant upheaval in the South Korean political arena, facing the risk of impeachment. As a security cooperation partner of South Korea, Japan is extremely concerned about the developments in South Korea’s political situation and hopes that Yoon Suk-yeol’s loss of power will not affect the bilateral relationship and security cooperation between the two countries. South Korean experts believe that the incident will not have an international impact.
President Yoon Suk-yeol announced the implementation of a state of emergency at 10:25 p.m. on December 3rd, but under pressure from the parliament to lift the state of emergency, he lifted it in the early hours of the 4th, having it in effect for about 6 hours.
Subsequently, six opposition parties including the South Korean Democratic Party and 191 independent members of parliament initiated an impeachment motion against Yoon Suk-yeol on the early morning of the 5th, with a vote scheduled for the 7th. If 8 members of the ruling party, National Power, turn against Yoon Suk-yeol, the impeachment motion will pass. However, on the same day, National Power declared its opposition to impeaching Yoon Suk-yeol at a parliamentary meeting, reducing the possibility of impeachment.
Kim Taewoo, former director of the Korea Institute for National Unification and professor of military science at Konyang University, stated on December 5th that, “Although I do not support the president’s implementation of the state of emergency, it was carried out in a situation where the opposition parties were continuously impeaching the president, reducing the budget, and causing the country to be paralyzed and unable to function normally.”
He further explained that the president believed that the country was paralyzed and in a state of emergency due to the continuous impeachment by the opposition parties and the inability to operate normally, thus implementing the state of emergency according to the constitution. During the implementation process, the president also promptly lifted the state of emergency in accordance with the parliament’s request.
The opposition parties in South Korea are seeking to impeach Yoon Suk-yeol on charges of “insurrection,” but Kim Taewoo believes that the likelihood of it passing is low.
South Korea is an important security partner in East Asia for Japan and a key member of the US-Japan-South Korea alliance. Therefore, Japan is closely monitoring the state of emergency declared in South Korea, closely watching the developments, and hoping that it will not adversely affect the hard-won relationship between the two countries and security cooperation.
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