{"id":14270,"date":"2026-05-12T17:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T17:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/14270\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T17:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T17:52:12","slug":"an-enemys-fall-frees-up-south-koreas-leader-now-comes-the-tough-part","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/14270\/","title":{"rendered":"An Enemy\u2019s Fall Frees Up South Korea\u2019s Leader. Now Comes the Tough Part."},"content":{"rendered":"

When a South Korean court sentenced a former president to life imprisonment<\/a> this week, convicting him of masterminding an insurrection, it immediately removed one cloud hanging over the country\u2019s current leader, Lee Jae Myung.<\/a><\/p>\n

Anything less than \u200ba conviction \u200bwould have been a political disaster for Mr. Lee, who was a political opponent of his convicted predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol. If Mr. Yoon had been cleared of\u200b the insurrection charge, he and his hard-right followers<\/a> would have challenged the legitimacy of the impeachment<\/a> \u2014 and by extension, \u200bMr. Lee\u2019s election, which it had made possible.<\/p>\n

Instead, the court\u2019s ruling on Thursday lightens the \u200bpolitical burden on Mr. Lee by justifying \u200bthe impeachment\u200b, which his party\u200b spearheaded. It also brings South Korea a sense of closure to the political turmoil and restores a measure of trust in the system.\u200b\u200b<\/p>\n

Almost certainly, Mr. Lee will have a freer hand as he tries to move beyond the drama and toward other priorities. His party already has a majority in the National Assembly, the country\u2019s Parliament. \u200bAbout 60 percent of the South Koreans approve of his performance as president, according to surveys. If his party wins a landslide victory in the June elections of city mayors and provincial governors, as many analysts predict, it will make Mr. Lee more confident in pushing his domestic agenda, \u200blike curbing housing prices.\u200b<\/p>\n

But Mr. Lee\u2019s toughest challenge remains how to heal the \u200bsocial fracture in his nation, deepened by political tribalism and differences over ties with North Korea and China, that was exposed by Mr. Yoon\u2019s abrupt martial law declaration in December 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that the legal judgment has come down on who\u2019s right and wrong about Yoon\u2019s martial law, it\u2019s time for Lee to leave behind political strife and push more confidently for national unity,\u201d said Kang Won-taek, a professor of political science at Seoul National University\u200b.<\/p>\n

With or without Mr. Lee\u2019s efforts, political polarization is still intense, fueled by hyper-partisanship, internet-generated disinformation<\/a> and the rise of a far-right movement. Outside the courthouse on Thursday, rival camps<\/a> shouted \u201cdeath\u201d for Mr. Yoon and \u201cprison\u201d for Mr. Lee.<\/p>\n

Mr. Lee has vowed to heal the divided country and not to indulge in political revenge.<\/a> But he also promised to \u201celiminate the insurrection forces,\u201d whom his supporters cast as enemies of democracy.<\/p>\n

Mr. Yoon\u2019s guilty verdict could dim the prospects for a small yet persistent army of Yoon supporters who have been rallying in downtown Seoul, calling for his reinstatement, however unrealistic that may be, some analysts said.<\/p>\n

But others warned it could aggravate the political polarization. In a message released to his followers through his lawyers on Friday, Mr. Yoon called himself a victim of \u201cpolitical revenge\u201d and said, \u201cOur fight is not over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jang Dong-hyeok, the leader of Mr. Yoon\u2019s former bloc, the People Power Party, on Friday expressed \u201csadness\u201d at Mr. Yoon\u2019s conviction. He refused to cut ties with him or his followers, and it is still unclear what path the party will take in regards to Mr. Yoon\u2019s outraged supporter base.<\/p>\n

\u201cYoon\u2019s far-right followers will become angrier and more vindictive,\u201d said Choi Jin, director of the Institute for Presidential Leadership in Seoul. \u201cThe People Power Party, in order to compensate for its weakened position, will likely escalate an all-consuming political offensive against President Lee.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Lee must reckon with the hard-liners within his own party, as well. They were angry that Mr. Yoon had escaped the death penalty they had demanded. And they vowed to enact a new law curtailing the president\u2019s right to pardon criminals convicted of treason or insurrection \u2014 a potentially potent political tool that has fallen into Mr. Lee\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n

Mr. Lee has been silent on Mr. Yoon\u2019s conviction except for his call on the military on Friday to \u201celiminate the remnants of the illegal martial law,\u201d a reference to officers who may have supported Mr. Yoon.<\/p>\n

Moving ahead, Mr. Lee is likely to push harder on his domestic agenda. He has sought punitive measures against news outlets for spreading what he characterizes as malicious falsehoods. He wants South Koreans to concentrate less of their wealth in real-estate and more in stocks, and wants to change real estate taxes to make homes more affordable, especially for the newly married.<\/p>\n

Mr. Lee\u2019s government has also launched investigations into Protestant churches \u2014 long a powerful force in Korean politics, and a major source of support for his predecessor \u2014 to cut what he has condemned as corrupt ties between churches and politicians.<\/p>\n

Mr. Lee has proved pragmatic in negotiating a trade deal<\/a> with the Trump administration and managing relations with his country\u2019s neighbors, China and Japan. Despite repeated snubs from North Korea, he is trying to rebuild trust with the North, taking unilateral measures<\/a> to ease tensions along the border.<\/p>\n

But the success of his policy endeavors will depend on whether he can learn lessons from Mr. Yoon\u2019s downfall and appear as more of a uniter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the president who holds the key to building a cooperative relationship with the opposition,\u201d Mr. Choi said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When a South Korean court sentenced a former president to life imprisonment this week, convicting him of masterminding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[10579,31,146,6775,191,1863,5300,33,32],"class_list":["post-14270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-south-korea","tag-impeachment","tag-korea","tag-lee-jae-myung","tag-martial-law","tag-people-power-party","tag-politics-and-government","tag-religion-state-relations","tag-south-korea","tag-yoon-suk-yeol"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}