Suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol (left) and former President Park Geun-hye (Yonhap/Getty Images)
Suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol (left) and former President Park Geun-hye (Yonhap/Getty Images)

South Korea is no stranger to dramatic impeachments and legal battles involving its leaders. Nearly eight years ago in March 2017, then-President Park Geun-hye was removed from office after the Constitutional Court upheld her impeachment on corruption charges. The conservative leader was indicted and jailed soon after, leaving her previous rival, the Democratic Party of Korea's then-chair, Moon Jae-in, the front-runner for the presidency.

However, the case of suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol has been unfolding with some important differences from the similar-sounding previous case, with the possibility of divergent developments leading to unforeseen outcomes.

Following are four points that differentiate Yoon's case from Park's so far.

Ruling party's united front

Similar to Park's Saenuri Party, a precursor to Yoon's People Power Party, the ruling party does not hold a majority of seats in the National Assembly.

This time, however, the conservative ruling party appears to be seeking unity to defend Yoon, whose lawyers claim his Dec. 3, 2024, botched declaration of martial law was just a "warning" to the public, at his latest impeachment trial hearing Thursday. The party's stance contrasts from the ruling party's situation under Park Geun-hye, whose corruption scandal resulted in the fracturing of her party.

In December 2016 during Park’s impeachment vote, the Saenuri Party was deeply divided. Despite holding 128 of the 300 parliamentary seats, only 56 lawmakers total voted against her impeachment via secret ballot. The impeachment vote showed a significant split within the conservative bloc, and dozens of its lawmakers defected in the following weeks.

This time, however, the People Power Party seems to have learned from that experience. Following the Dec. 14 parliamentary motion in which Yoon was impeached with 204 of the 300 members voting in favor, the party has worked to avoid major internal fractures, particularly after dissenting party leader Han Dong-hoon stepped down. While at least a dozen People Power Party lawmakers voted for his impeachment, many ruling party representatives have even been attending rallies to support Yoon, underscoring and amplifying his message of defiance.

Contrary to the case with Park, whose crimes of bribery and coercion drew widespread condemnation as personal scandals, the insurrection and abuse of power charges against Yoon have galvanized the majority of his party as political issues. The People Power Party has leveraged Yoon's combative stance against political rivals to rally support and present a united front, enticing many to back Yoon’s narrative.

"Now that we have succeeded in politicizing these issues, each supporter group has something of their own to say and their own logic to develop to defend Yoon," an official of the People Power Party said on condition of anonymity.

Former President Park Geun-hye (left) and since-suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol bow during an address to the nation before their impeachment votes, respectively in December 2016 and December 2024. (Getty Images/Presidential office)
Former President Park Geun-hye (left) and since-suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol bow during an address to the nation before their impeachment votes, respectively in December 2016 and December 2024. (Getty Images/Presidential office)

Yoon being vocal

Even after Yoon was impeached and suspended from his role as the nation's top executive, he has remained vocal, attempting to justify his martial law declaration and allegedly illegal orders to the military, unlike Park, who largely remained silent after the impeachment vote.

In various messages to the public, Yoon repeatedly stated he would "fight until the end" and never succumb to the "tyranny of the dictatorship of the National Assembly," as he put it in his 2,042-word handwritten letter released via Facebook on the day of his arrest, Jan. 15.

On Jan. 1, close aides to Yoon handed out signed copies of letters to celebrate New Year's Day at a rally of his supporters near the presidential residence. Yoon encouraged his supporters by saying he "was watching (them from inside the residence) via livestreaming on YouTube." He has repeatedly invoked rhetoric that he is fighting "pro-North Korea, anti-state forces," such as when he said his martial law declaration had been to "inform the people of the anti-state evils of the main opposition party" in his Dec. 12 public address.

The moment he was arrested on Jan. 15, Yoon released a prerecorded video in which he characterized the joint probe team as being "unlawful" and coercive, claiming Korea's justice system and all laws had "collapsed." Yoon's lawyers have echoed this stance.

Meanwhile, over the weekend a South Korean court twice refused the prosecution's requests to extend the period of Yoon's detention before indictment.

Most recently on Friday, Yoon's legal representative conveyed his Lunar New Year's greetings via a transcription of an oral statement posted on Facebook.

This comes after Yoon on Tuesday and Thursday appeared at his Constitutional Court trial to defend his justification for the martial law declaration. His remarks were televised.

"I think that Yoon believes that Park made a political mistake by remaining silent and allowing the opposition and other groups to set the agenda during her impeachment process," Ramon Pacheco Pardo, a professor of international relations at King's College London, told The Korea Herald.

The week after his arrest, both Yoon and his party's approval ratings, which had previously hit rock bottom, rebounded somewhat.

"Yoon also has the example of Trump, who has been very vocal throughout his legal travails," Pacheco Pardo said. "This is why I think Yoon will continue to try to communicate his position in the coming weeks and months."

Protesters with a puppet of then-South Korean President Park Geun-hye parade through Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul in a rally against Park on Dec. 10, 2016. (Getty Images)
Protesters with a puppet of then-South Korean President Park Geun-hye parade through Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul in a rally against Park on Dec. 10, 2016. (Getty Images)

Rival party turf war

Peaceful mass candlelight vigils took place for weeks in late 2016 and early 2017, leaving then-President Park Geun-hye with no other choice but to accept her fate.

The candlelight vigils soon gave rise to momentum for South Korea's liberal bloc to sweep away past remnants of the conservative administration, in the name of "eradicating the evils of the past."

This situation enabled the Democratic Party to garner popularity over time from December 2016 to March 2017, according to monthly polls conducted by Korea Research, while support for the split conservative parties -- the Liberty Korea Party, after Saenuri's rebranding, and the spinoff Bareun Party -- remained stagnant, each falling below 10 percent in 2017.

"Right-leaning people appear to have been haunted by the memory of the liberal bloc that 'eradicated past evils,'" Lee Jae-mook, a professor of political science at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, told The Korea Herald.

Fast-forward nearly eight years, polls in the past week indicate that the ruling party's popularity was rebounding quickly just a month after his impeachment, to the degree that the ruling party's support exceeded that of the main opposition party. Denying the poll outcomes, Democratic Party lawmakers introduced a bill to strengthen regulation of pollsters.

"A turf war between rival parties is at play," Lee said. “The short-term factors influencing the opinion poll -- for example, a president's impeachment or martial law imposition -- are giving way to long-term trends such as political polarization."

The poll outcomes cannot be taken lightly, as neither party has yet absorbed moderates in the middle, he added.

Protesters with a puppet of President Yoon Suk Yeol call for the impeachment of Yoon in front of the National Assembly in Seoul on Dec. 14, 2024. (Getty Images)
Protesters with a puppet of President Yoon Suk Yeol call for the impeachment of Yoon in front of the National Assembly in Seoul on Dec. 14, 2024. (Getty Images)

Yoon facing dual trials

As the prosecution indicts the president in custody, Yoon faces a separate criminal trial. Such was not the case for Park, as she faced her criminal trial for corruption charges only after her immunity to indictment was removed by the Constitutional Court's confirmation of her impeachment.

With Yoon being indicted for leading an insurrection — one of two exceptions to a sitting president's immunity — his presidential immunity no longer applies.

Yoon's indictment will make him the first South Korean public official to face an impeachment trial and a criminal trial simultaneously, once the prosecution indicts the president on charges of insurrection related to his alleged self-coup attempt.

The prospect of Yoon facing two simultaneous trials is likely to prompt his legal counsel to request the Constitutional Court to delay its ruling. According to the Constitutional Court Act, the court’s full bench has the authority to defer an impeachment trial if a criminal proceeding is already underway against an impeached official for the same charges as cited in the impeachment request.

Jeong Gye-seon, considered a liberal-leaning Constitutional Court justice, however, downplayed the possibilities at her parliamentary confirmation hearing in December when she was a nominee. She said an impeachment trial suspension in case Yoon is indicted "will trigger massive confusion," because the court would not likely wait the years it could take for the top court's ruling on Yoon's criminal insurrection charges, and if otherwise, the South Korean president would remain suspended for years.

The Constitutional Court is likely to give its ruling on impeachment earlier than the mandated deadline in June, as two of its justices are set to retire in April.