Yoon Suk-yeol, stooge president of occupied south Korea (aka the ‘Republic of Korea’ or ROK) has been impeached by his parliament just 11 days after trying to impose martial law. Yoon’s martial law declaration was countermanded by his own cabinet and then by the ROK parliament within six hours.
On 3 December, Yoon took to national television to announce that he would be declaring martial law and would mobilise the army to “maintain order”, while accusing the main opposition party, the liberal Democratic Party, of carrying out “anti-state activities” and sympathising with the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea.
“To safeguard a liberal south Korea from the threats posed by north Korea’s communist forces and to eliminate anti-state elements … I hereby declare emergency martial law,” Yoon said in his address to the nation. Whilst short-lived, the declaration allowed the state to make arrests without a warrant and restricted political and journalistic activity, euphemistically described as “manipulating public opinion” and creating “fake news”.
Yoon’s declaration followed an unsuccessful attempt to provoke war with the DPRK by flying drones over Pyongyang in October. And it seems this was not his only attempt. On 13 December, a political broadcaster testified to the national assembly that he had received tip-offs regarding another plot to restart the Korean war, this time by staging the false flag assassination of a ruling party politician and then presenting it to the public as a plot between DPRK operatives and local opposition politicians.
All of which has underlined the total subservience of the regime to US imperialist interests and the deep rot within ROK elite circles.
South Korean workers in rebellion
Yoon has become deeply unpopular in the three years since his election. South Korean trade unionists have repeatedly accused him of repressing workers’ rights and, in the case of the railways, of compromising safety.
The Korean Public Service and Transport Workers’ Union (KPTU) responded to his declaration by calling an indefinite strike on 5 December, demanding wages owed, improved safety and, crucially, Yoon’s resignation.
The union mobilised not only public transport workers, but also its affiliates in the haulage industry, who joined their comrades and thousands of Koreans in a mass rally in Seoul on 14 December – the same day as parliament debated, and subsequently voted, on President Yoon’s impeachment.
Meanwhile, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) called for a general strike until such time as Yoon should resign or be removed.
Truck drivers have for some time been objecting to the Yoon regime’s abolition of the country’s ‘safe rates’ system in 2022. This system helped to support the pay and manage the hours of truck drivers, including those who owned their own rigs. Against this backdrop, compounded by the boundless corruption of the ruling clique, Yoon’s martial law declaration brought forth a huge and organised reaction from the working class.
Yoon’s is the second impeachment in the ROK eight years. In December 2016, then-president Park Guen-hye was impeached following a political scandal involving her aide, Choi Soon-sil, who was subsequently sentenced to 25 years in prison for corruption and improper influence. In fact, south Korean politics are repeatedly beset by political scandals, and its people continue to suffer the consequences of a deregulated and depressed economy.
Terrible working conditions and a general cultural and economic decline consequent upon US colonisation have led to a rapidly declining birthrate and by far the highest suicide rate in the OECD group of 38 countries (three times higher than Britain’s, for example). The already declining birthrate dropped by a further 8 percent in 2023 and stands now at an average of just 0.72 births per woman – far below the 2.1 births required to maintain population levels.
If that trend were to continue unchecked, the country would soon suffer the same demographic crisis as that of Japan, where the population is disproportionately weighted towards older and retired over younger working people. In fact, on the current trajectory, the ROK’s population, which stands now at 51 million, would halve over the next 75 years.
Despite attempts by the state to counter this by offering financial incentives to women who have children, the ROK’s brutal work environment, with its culture of long hours and routine ignoring of working-time legislation, continues to leave potential mothers feeling that becoming a parent is incompatible with earning a living.
Many among the protestors who lined the streets of Seoul on 14 December proclaimed that their country’s democracy was at stake. The truth is, however, that there is no democracy in the Republic of Korea. The people’s will has been consistently subverted by eight decades of United States occupation and their aspirations are stifled by the constraints of a social and economic system that is in a steady and inexorable decline.
It is little wonder that, despite all the hysterical propaganda against the DPRK and a legal framework in which mere ‘sympathy’ for the north is a crime, an increasing number of south Koreans are looking toward their socialist compatriots for inspiration and answers to the questions that their own rulers are unable to answer.
We offer our full support and solidarity to the Korean Public Service and Transport Workers’ Union and all Koreans struggling for workers’ rights and genuine democracy in conditions of US occupation and fascistic comprador rule.
