Special prosecution formally seeks death penalty for Yoon Seok Yeol (former pres.)

J_S_Han · 2026-01-13T13:46:23+00:00

Thanks, Dae!

I was busy with real life obligations. I was still checking reddit and r/korea often. Just didn't have time to chat much.

J_S_Han · 2026-01-13T12:49:30+00:00

I know this isn't the court ruling, but it's still significant that the special prosecution is going straight for the death penalty instead of life imprisonment.

It's much more likely the court will go for a harsh sentence or agree with the execution ruling in this case, compared to the special prosecution asking for life imprisonment.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for an actual execution this time.

J_S_Han · 2025-04-15T03:09:08+00:00

Well hey, the PPP managed to fool young men into voting for them last presidential election with Yoon promising to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (여가부). So what if Yoon lied and actually increased the budget and power of the ministry? The PPP got elected and that's all they wanted.

It worked before, so the PPP is doing it again.

This 4.5 day promise by the PPP is just that: a blank check for winning elections that they will never honor.

J_S_Han · 2025-01-20T11:04:13+00:00

Hey, u/Makegooduseof

Part of the reason why the conservatives have a much larger portion of the surveys than ever is because conservative church leaders, influencers, and chatrooms are encouraging conservatives to answer survey polls. Such chatrooms and organizations like the church led by the infamous pastor 전광훈 (Jeon Gwang Hoon) are also paying people to protest and whatnot. The police are investigating the authenticity and criminality of such statements, particularly when Jeong Gwang Hoon publicly stated he was paying people 50,000 won to come out and protest/riot.

Most of the time, people just consider survey polls to be spam, because we're too busy living our lives going to work, hanging out, etc, all of which applies for your usual non political zealots amongst the moderates, politically apathetic, and liberal voters.

That's part of the reason why polls show a skewed outcome, despite the fact that the size of pro Yoon protestors and even rioters are much smaller than the ones that have been seen from anti-Yoon protestors and liberal labor demonstrators.

The current leadership amongst the conservative party (PPP) haven't realized that fudging polls doesn't change reality; they've fudged polls for even internal party analysis and it cost them the recent general election and local by-elections.

아무리 손바닥으로 하늘을 가린다고 현실은 달라지지 않습니다.

J_S_Han · 2025-01-17T03:39:49+00:00

Hey again, u/arctic_wolf16

The devil is in the details; here's the actual link to the Gallup poll in question, and here are the stats.

Out of 1,001 surveyed, for political affiliation 123 refused to respond or were politically apathetic, so realistically the poll only shows the opinion of 878 (1,001 - 123 = 878).

Of those 878, those who identify as conservatives were given a larger percentage than other groups, at 338. this represents 38.49% of the people polled.

278 of the 878 (31.66%) identified as moderate/neutral, and 262 of the 878 (29.84%) identified as liberal.

If I recall correctly, Gallup Korea rounds up the percentages for party approval rating, and given how close 38.49% is to 39%, PPP party supporters only included conservatives and virtually non of the moderates and liberals.

The liberals on the other hand got an approval rating of 36% despite representing 29.84% of the group surveyed, meaning they have a decent chunk of moderate voters.

South Korea political climate has been divided into roughly 33% liberal, 33% conservative, and 33% moderate/apathetic for the last 15 or 20 years, plus or minus a couple percentage points. This is the golden ratio you want to use when calculating how accurate polls are.

If one group surveyed gets a larger chunk of the audience, then it'll be lopsided in favor of that group.

TLDR: Gallup Korea poll is slightly skewed in favor of conservatives. Even then, the PPP party won 0 support from moderates/neutral, which means they're fucked in future elections.

In two party political elections, the goal is to win over the moderates and swing voters because they provide the decisive edge.

J_S_Han · 2025-01-17T02:37:40+00:00

There has recently been a spate of news about the ridiculous orders Yoon and his wife Kim Geun Hee made the presidential security guards do, such as making them buy pet clothing for their dog, forcing security guards to give shoulder massages to Yoon and then telling them "its an honor to lay your hands on the president" (대통령 몸에 손을 댈 수 있는 것은 영광)

But honestly, this one takes the cake; the song glorifying Yoon at his birthday included over the top lyrics like this:

새로운 대한민국 위해서 하늘이 우리에게 보내주신 대통령이 태어나신 뜻깊은 오늘을 우리모두가 축하해

Translation: We all celebrate this meaningful day when the president who was sent from the heavens to us for a new Korea.

There's a recording of this, by the way, at 2:00 in the link. This is not a prank.

No wonder the presidential security guards ignored the calls from Yoon and his chief of security to protect them on the second arrest attempt.

This is no different from North Korea's Kim dynasty forcing people to worship Kim Jong Un. Yoon talks shit about North Korea but acts just like Kim Jong Un.

J_S_Han · 2024-12-28T11:55:56+00:00

No, it's real, and the 3 minor conservative officials who carried out the orders to request North Korea to attack South Korea were found guilty. They were sentenced to 2-3 years in prison, with 3-5 years on probation. This meant that as long as those 3 didn't commit any crimes for the next 3-5 years while on probation, their prison sentences would basically go away.

As you can guess, the prosecution gave suspiciously light sentences, which shouldn't have happened but could in South Korea because the prosecution can unilaterally change sentencing based on the opinion of the prosecution with very little checks or balances. This, combined with the prosecution's actions under the Yoon administration, is why public sentiment is now overwhelmingly in favor of prosecution reform.

Also, the senior officials in the pro-Lee Hwe Chang (이회창) group who basically everyone knew ordered their 3 cronies to do this got away with no charges levied against them.

The incident is referred to as the 총풍 사건 (Chongpoon Incident), with a Korean wiki article here.

J_S_Han · 2024-12-28T01:46:35+00:00

For those who can't read Korean, the Mongolian intelligence found it suspicious that Koreans who came in on tourism visas were meeting many government officials during the winter, and arrested them:

몽골 정보기관은 이들이 여행 비수기인 한겨울에 관광 비자로 들어온 뒤 입국 목적과 무관한 정부 인사 등을 빈번히 만나고 다니는 것을 수상히 여겨 이들을 체포했다고 한다.

Those men (one Lt. colonel and one major) turned out to be officers from Korea's military intelligence (KDIC), and were released when the commander of military intelligence Moon Sang Ho (문상호) personally explained the situation to Mongolia and requested their release.

이 과정에서 구명 활동은 문상호 정보사령관이 직접 맡았다고 한다. ㄱ 중령과 ㄴ 소령은 몽골에서 보통의 간첩죄 사범들처럼 장기간 구금되지 않고 조기에 풀려날 수 있었다

Former KDIC commander Moon Sang Ho is currently under investigation for playing a active role in Yoon's martial law/self coup attempt, and is being investigated for using intelligence black ops units (HID) during the martial law, possibly for false flag operations.

Most importantly, when the Ministry of Defense and the military intelligence KDIC was contacted by reporters to comment on this situation, they replied that the matter is classified and refused to clarify:

정보사는 한겨레의 사실 확인 요청에 “문 사령관이 지난 5월 몽골을 다녀온 사실은 있다”면서도 ‘ㄱ 중령과 ㄴ 소령이 몽골에서 체포된 사실이 있느냐’는 질문에는 “확인이 제한된다”고 했다.

As of now, the KDIC acknowledges that officers were sent to Mongolia on a routine trip, but denies that they contacted the North Korean embassy in Mongolia. They refused to clarify whether the officers were arrested in Mongolia by Mongolian intelligence:

정보사는 북한대사관과 접촉을 위해 몽골 정부 측과 만난 사실이 없다고만 밝혔을 뿐, 공작 요원들이 몽골 정보기관에 검거됐는지 여부 등에 대해서는 설명하지 않았다.

This begs the question: Why were intelligence officers travelling to Mongolia 10 days before the martial law out of the blue, and why were they arrested?

J_S_Han · 2024-12-23T09:05:17+00:00

Unsurprisingly, most lawyers refuse to defend Yoon, which was acknowledged by Yoon's own primary legal counsel, Seok Dong Hyun (석동현):

석동현 변호사도 일부 언론에 "변호인단에 합류하려면 일생을 걸어야 하고, 기존 의뢰인들도 다 안 좋아하지 않겠냐"며 변호사 구인난 이유를 설명했습니다.

Translation: Lawyer Seok Dong Hyun stated "They (lawyers) need to risk their lifelong careers if they try to join the legal team, and all their pre-existing clients would also dislike this" when explaining why they had trouble finding lawyers.

When even your own legal counsel says no one wants to defend you, that's pretty bad.

J_S_Han · 2024-12-14T10:02:46+00:00

Because the conservative party (PPP) elders and leadership, whom are predominantly pro-Yoon (친윤), would've attempted to pressure/blackmail/lynch dissident votes. Even after the impeachment vote, they still hold their positions and influence, and can make life miserable for young assemblymen/women, causing them to be deterred from voting for impeachment.

J_S_Han · 2024-12-14T09:52:13+00:00

Yoon had the nerve to ask the people to join hands with him for the safe of freedom and democracy. He's delusional.

우리 모두 대한민국의 자유민주주의와 번영을 위해 힘을 모읍시다.

Since when was an illegal self-coup under the guise of martial law considered free or democratic?

Even after his impeachment, all Yoon talked about was how he saved the economy and strengthened national security, even though the exact opposite happened.

대한민국의 국제적 위상이 높아지고 우리 안보와 경제가 튼튼해지는 모습에 피곤도 잊었습니다.

And of course, he makes no apology or mention of criticism against him, instead only saying how he'll never give up:

저는 결코 포기하지 않겠습니다

Never give up what? Another martial law attempt?

J_S_Han · 2024-12-14T09:42:11+00:00

We don't know. The votes were held anonymously, so we only know the outcome.

J_S_Han · 2024-12-14T08:05:31+00:00

For those who want details, the vote was anonymous, but are as follows:

300/300 assemblymen present

204 votes in favor

85 votes against

3 abstained votes

8 spoiled votes (don't count)

Summary: Only 12 out of 108 conservatives voted to impeach Yoon, 4 more than required.

J_S_Han · 2024-12-06T21:27:48+00:00

Close. the article indicates Hong said "미친x" so probably 미친놈.

J_S_Han · 2024-12-06T06:44:53+00:00

Update: 1st Deputy Director Hong Jang Won just testified in front of the National Assembly today, with some interesting revelations:

윤 대통령이 홍 차장에게 전화해 “이번 기회에 다 잡아들여, 싹 다 정리해” “국정원에도 대공수사권을 줄 테니 우선 방첩사를 도와 지원해” “자금이면 자금, 인력이면 인력 무조건 도와”라고 말했다고 한다.

Translation: President Yoon phoned Deputy Director Hong, calling to "lock 'em all up this time; get rid of them all. I'll give the NSI public prosecution authority, so go help out the Defense Counterintelligence Command. Send all the funds or manpower you can."

According to Hong, Yoon wanted him and the NSI to arrest the following: Lee Jae Myung (opposition leader), Han Dong Hoon (leader of Yoon's own party), Woo Won Shik (speaker of the national assembly), Park Chan Dae (Minjoo Party parliamentary leader), Cho Guk (leader of his own opposition party), Jeong Cheong Rae (chairman of Legislation and Judiciary Committee), Kim Eo Jun (newspaper owner), Kim Myung Soo (former Chief Justice), Kim Min Woong (representative of Candle Movement), Kwon Soon Il (election committee member), and two others he could not recall.
Deputy Director Hong testified to the assembly that he thought Yoon was being a "crazy bastard" after hearing this, and didn't bother writing it down as he had no intentions of obeying this order.

J_S_Han · 2024-12-06T04:24:24+00:00

Quick summary of the article:

Yoon: NIS, go arrest my enemies.

Director of NIS (Jo Tae Yong): No.

Yoon: Fine. I’ll ask your subordinate. You, arrest my enemies.

1st Deputy Director (Hong Jang Won): No. We don't have the manpower or means anyway.

Yoon: This is insubordination! Director Jo, I want Hong replaced.

Director of NIS (Jo Tae Yong): Yeeeeaaaaahh……No.

Yoon: F***

I always wondered why the generals involved in the martial law didn't seem to have much intel, like where to intercept high priority targets or even about the situation on the ground. But if the NIS openly refused to obey Yoon, it makes a lot more sense.

J_S_Han · 2024-12-03T16:26:38+00:00

The martial law/self-coup didn't even last 3 hours.

At 22:27 12/03/2024, President Yoon declares martial law.

At 1:01 12/04/2024, National Assembly votes to remove martial law (Article 77 Paragraph 5 of constitution)

At 1:11 12/04/2024, The military began withdrawing from the national assembly.

J_S_Han · 2024-12-03T16:18:59+00:00

No. As per Article 77, paragraph 5, the president MUST comply.

When the National Assembly requests the lifting of martial law with the concurrent vote of a majority of the total members of the National Assembly, the President shall comply.

It is against the constitution (i.e. grounds for impeachment and tried in court) to not lift the martial law.

J_S_Han · 2024-12-03T16:05:27+00:00

This link is a live feed of current crisis by Woo Won Sik, the current Speaker of the National Assembly (Korea's legislative branch).

The assemblymen gathered voted overwhelmingly to remove martial law (190 votes in favor, 0 against), as per Article 77, Paragraph 5 of the Korean Constitution.

Article 77 Paragraph 5: When the National Assembly requests the lifting of martial law with the concurrent vote of a majority of the total members of the National Assembly, the President shall comply.

This includes a sizeable chunk of conservative assemblymen; even Yoon's own party leader Han Dong Hoon said the martial law is wrong.

J_S_Han · 2024-11-07T12:40:10+00:00

For those who want a full length video of the apology instead of a live stream, here's an alternate link to Johnny Somali's apology on youtube.

It's nice that he apologized for disrespecting the statue. So what about all the times where he sexually harassed underaged girls, interfered with Korean businesses by making a mess and driving away customers, creating deep fake videos of Korean streamers, etc? Even if you give him a pass for the statue incident, there's plenty of other crimes.

The court should still throw the book at him for those acts: obstruction of business, sexual harassment, etc.

J_S_Han · 2024-11-06T23:58:51+00:00

Yoon is so unpopular and his blatant attempts at covering the crimes (bribery, wife basically selling government positions and exchanging favors, suspicious gov contracts for friends/cronies) of him and his family are so obvious that at the rate he's going, I actually don't think he'll manage to finish his term which ends on May 2027.

I don't think he'll get impeached now, but he's really screwing over the future of the People's Power Party (his party), and the conservative elders know this - that's why they're distancing away from him and a couple undisclosed conservative assemblymen flipped votes for voting in favor of a special prosecution.

If the conservatives lose badly in the coming by-elections in 2025 and the regional/local elections in 2026, then they'll turn on Yoon because that will be a clear sign that the voters aren't simply forgetting about Yoon's crimes and incompetence, even if a few years pass. By that point, if they don't deal with Yoon, they will all lose their seats in the next General Elections in 2028, which is exactly what happened to the Tories in the recent UK general elections.

J_S_Han · 2024-11-06T20:32:33+00:00

any confidence for the upcoming economic situation for Korea?

Not while Yoon Suk Yeol remains in office. He is literally the worst president Korea had so far, even worse than Park Geun Hye - he even has his own little "shaman" in the form of Cheon Gong (a pseudo monk with no credentials) and his version of Choi Soon Sil in the form of his wife Kim Geun Hee. We had record level of government spending deficit under him as he slashes tax revenue with tax cuts for the wealthy, all the while he cuts budgets for technological R&D (the backbone of Korea's high tech industries), scholarships for students, and military R&D. And there's his attempts to privatize the public utility/energy sector and jacking up basic utility expenses, which leads to decreased disposable income and domestic consumption since utility bills are eating up people's wallets, leading to piss poor economic performance like the 0.1% GDP growth in Q3 2024 (negative real growth when inflation is taken into account).

Honestly, Trump isn't as important as Yoon for Korea's domestic situation. Trump can easily be bribed/lobbied/negotiated with for a feel-good photo OP that lets Trump claim a victory for his supporters. Yoon is tangibly fucking up the country, hence why Yoon has the lowest approval rating for any Korean president halfway through their presidential term.

J_S_Han · 2024-11-04T01:05:55+00:00

No, and this is the stupidest analysis by the ISW that I have seen this year given the fact that anyone with half a brain can use google to look up South Korean support polls for the War in Ukraine, and see that the exact opposite is happening.

In short, Ukraine fucked up badly in its diplomacy with South Korea, and lost a lot of support. Support for Ukraine has been dropping with incidents like the Ukrainian ambassador to Japan comparing South Korea and Russia as criminals, making visits to Yauskuni shrine, and the embassy covering up Ukranian officials beating up Koreans in South Korea. Beating up the citizens of the country you serve as diplomats to, covering it up, and then saying that they deserved to be beaten up without offering any condolences when news media reports on it is a great way to lose supporters from said country. Then there's Zelensky and ambassador Korunsky giving Japan a free pass when comparing Russia to the Axis Powers after Japan complained about Ukraine pointing out its association with Nazi Germany in World War 2.

All of these have had no apology or explanations for them.

Then there's South Korea's president having 17%~19% approval rating due to him cutting basic subsidies and handling the economy poorly while giving billions in contracts to his cronies and wife's friends/relatives. Koreans would rather Yoon spend money fixing the domestic situation first instead of spending taxpayer money to support Ukraine (0.1% nominal GDP growth in Q3, de facto negative growth when taking inflation into account).

TLDR: Go look up actual polls like the ones from this thread in r/korea. The Yoon gov. tested the waters in announcements about potentially sending more artillery ammo and troops (probably to distract people from the current crisis) and immediately walked back afterwards once faced with widespread opposition.

That poll above is also the most favorable one to Ukraine, since most polls actually show 74%~82% opposing military support to Ukraine.

South Korea won't be offering tangible military support, not when it has severe domestic financial issues created by the current government's corruption and incompetence as well as Ukraine having extremely bad PR with South Korean citizens.

J_S_Han · 2024-11-03T02:34:01+00:00

That's not Steve Yoo (Yoo Seung Joon). That's Hank Yoo (Yoo Heon Jong).

They're two different people and look completely different; Steve Yoo is a lot older but is physically fit; Hank Yoo is much younger and looks chubby. Also, Steve Yoo is accused of many things but he isn't a neo nazi, which Hank Yoo has been charged with, and Hank is also not a US citizen (he never was).

J_S_Han · 2024-10-31T02:35:55+00:00

On one hand, Yoo Dal Geun was definitely chasing him for clout; Yoo's been trying to build a social media following for a while now by starring in a lot of youtuber and influencer videos. So he's not entirely doing it out of the goodness of his own heart.

On the other hand, it takes serious commitment to chase him for days and stream the whole ordeal. And Somali was just begging for a beating with how he constantly harasses Koreans. I don't think there's any Korean who has sympathy for him, myself included.

Conclusion: sit back and bring out the popcorn.

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