Chaotic Scenes at Presidential Residence as Protests Intensify in South Korea
cuarto, protests outside President Yoon Suk-yeol’s residence in Seoul took a chaotic turn as two groups of people clashed in their demands.
One group, supporting the president, attempted to protect him from potential arrest, shouting anti-prosecution slogans and expressing skepticism about the charges against him. They were met with another group of protesters calling for his arrest, who gathered to sing songs and express their discontent.
Law enforcement struggled to keep both sides apart, as hundreds of supporters of the ousted president, including far-right YouTube personalities and evangelical leaders, descended on the residence.
In the chaos, one woman threw herself in front of a police bus, while other protesters blocked a street leading to the residence.
President Yoon, earlier this week, had urged his supporters to help him defend democracy and fight until the end. However, critics, including opposition politicians and experts, have condemned this call to action, stating that it’s a dangerous attempt to incite violence by manipulating people’s emotions.
Yoon’s legal team maintains that the arrest warrant is illegal, and his team has previously refused to comply with search and seizure requests.
Background:
On December 3, 2024, President Yoon Suk-yeol declared a state of emergency, claiming that the opposition sympathized with North Korea. The declaration was promptly repealed hours later, with the entire National Assembly, including lawmakers from his own party, voting for its abolition.
Yoon’s justification for the emergency decree was the alleged pro-North Korea stance of the opposition. South Korea and North Korea have been in a technical state of war since the Korean War ended in 1953, with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
Prior to this, no South Korean president had ever declared a state of emergency since the country’s democratization in the late 1980s.
Yoon, who took office in 2022 for a five-year term, has faced numerous challenges implementing his agenda due to the National Assembly being controlled by the opposition. His low approval ratings, heavily impacted by scandals involving him and his wife, have further hindered his presidency.
On December 14, 2024, the National Assembly voted to impeach President Yoon, effectively removing him from office.
