“The Conservatives’ Fate Is Finished” — Written at Dawn the Night Yoon Detonated a ‘Nuclear Bomb’

[Choice Times=Bo-Sik Choi, Publisher]

A year ago, some people must have woken up to find the world changed, utterly bewildered. That night, half of the nation likely went to sleep as usual — and if they were not watching TV, they might have missed the live broadcast scenes that looked almost like a virtual reality. It was sometime after 11 p.m.

Under my usual routine, I also would have woken up the next morning, surprised, thinking:“What happened while I was asleep?”

But that night happened to be the broadcast day of Steel Troops, a Channel A survival show I often watched — and the episode to determine the final winner. The program usually aired late at night, so I typically watched it later on Netflix. But that evening, by chance, I was watching it live.

At some moment, a headline flashed at the bottom of the screen: “Martial Law Declared.”
At first, I thought it was part of the entertainment show itself.
What followed — how we rushed almost at the speed of light into newspaper production — hardly needs explanation.

After catching a short nap, I wrote an article the next morning at dawn, in the midst of confusion, titled “A Reasonable Question: Is President Yoon Under Some Kind of Spell?”
It was a piece written by instinct, while everything was still unclear. At that moment, no one knew how things would unfold, and I would be lying if I said I felt no sense of personal danger.

I wrote:

“Whether resignation or impeachment, President Yoon now has no choice but to step down. It will be impossible for him to endure in that position.”

“A reasonable question arising from this event is whether President Yoon is in his right mind — whether he is under some kind of spell.”

“Having experienced 1980 as a college student and watched the world change since then, how could Yoon believe that such a clumsy attempt at martial law could succeed in this era?”

“The martial law proclamation may have ended as a bizarre winter-night commotion, but the conservative bloc is finished. Who would support a conservative party after seeing such a president? Conservatives should no longer even think of governing again.”

“Yoon will uproot the foundations of the conservative camp and exit the stage. The conservatives’ fate is finished.”

Most of the predictions I wrote at dawn on the night of martial law have since come true.
President Yoon was impeached, imprisoned, and uprooted the conservative base so thoroughly that it is doubtful the conservative party will ever regain an opportunity. Even now, judging by the behavior of the People Power Party, the “fate of the conservatives” indeed seems to have run out.

After the column was published, I was struck by how many people around me — people well-educated, people who spoke of democratization or liberal democracy — defended Yoon’s absurd, delusional attempt at martial law. They argued for the lofty cause and necessity of this archaic measure.

As someone who had observed many administrations as a journalist, I found such logic incomprehensible.
If that reasoning justifies martial law, then what authoritarian or totalitarian regime wouldnotbe permissible?
If one supports Yoon’s martial law, then one loses the moral basis to oppose President Lee Jae-myung’s now-emerging signs of despotism. The only reason Lee’s premature authoritarian impulses cannot be tolerated is because Yoon’s martial law could not be tolerated.

Below is the full text of the column written at dawn

(“A Reasonable Question: Is President Yoon Under Some Kind of Spell?”)
(Reproduced as originally written in a confused, under-informed moment.)

President Yoon’s midnight “martial law proclamation” fiasco ended after just six hours — but not before bringing enormous disgrace to the Republic of Korea before the entire world.

People who went to bed early or did not see the breaking news must have awakened the next morning to a world suddenly altered.

Yoon now has no choice but to resign or be impeached. Remaining in office will be impossible.

The most reasonable question arising from this episode is whether President Yoon is in his right mind — whether he is under some kind of spell.

Some mocked:
“Did Yoon blurt this out after a drink?”
“Trump only pretends to be crazy — but Yoon is actually crazy.”

Having lived through 1980 as a university student and watched the world change, how could Yoon believe that such an amateurish attempt at martial law could succeed today?
Even the ruling party leadership said, “We learned about it from the news,” and no one — conservative or liberal — stood with him.

We do not know with whom Yoon discussed martial law, but the decision itself proves he is no better than a fool. It makes one realize that the nation’s fate had been entrusted to such a foolish person all along.

For example, Martial Law Proclamation No. 1 included press and publication controls — as if the media landscape were still that of 1979, when only newspapers, radio, and broadcast TV existed.
In a world dominated by SNS, YouTube, and the internet, how could martial law authorities ever control information? Yoon and the defense minister’s minds seem frozen in some bygone era.

Those who stayed awake and watched the National Assembly broadcast that night must have felt certainty rising within them: “Yoon is no longer the president.”

Yoon said the martial law was to “eradicate shameless pro-North anti-state forces and defend the liberal constitutional order,” but many surely saw Yoon himselfas the destroyer of that order.
The opposition prepared to accuse him of insurrection, and citizens chanting “Arrest Yoon Seok-yeol!”outside the National Assembly may well see that demand become reality.

The martial law proclamation ended as a winter-night farce — but the conservative bloc is finished. Who would support conservatives after seeing such a president? Conservatives must stop dreaming of governing again.

Yoon will rip out the conservative roots and exit. Their fate is finished.

On the same day: The Economist’s analysis

The Economistdescribed Yoon’s late-night martial law as a“bizarre decision.”

It wrote:

Yoon’s bizarre move shocked citizens and even members of his own administration.

Perhaps he believed acting first would restrain the opposition, but his action far exceeded the bounds of normal democratic politics, evoking the tactics of military dictator Park Chung-hee.

Quoting Victor Cha: “He’s used the nuclear bomb.”

By detonating that “bomb,” Yoon may have intended to save his administration, but instead hastened his downfall.

As dawn broke on the 4th, South Korea awoke to a profound crisis.

Yoon hinted the National Assembly was collaborating with “North Korean communist forces,” but offered no evidence of conspiracy or Northern involvement.

Despite constitutional amendments that weakened the presidency and strengthened the National Assembly, South Korea remains a presidential system — but no president since the late-1980s democratization has taken such extreme actions.

#SouthKoreaPolitics #MartialLawCrisis #ConservativeCollapse