Australia National University Professor Kyung Moon Hwang joins TaiwanPlus News to discuss the Korean constitutional court ruling upholding the impeachment of now former president Yoon Suk Yeol, which comes amid extreme polarization in the country.
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00:00Following the constitutional court's ruling, President Un is now former President Un.
00:04What does this mean for Korea?
00:07I think South Korea has been through a lot in terms of the polarization of the country
00:14along political lines, along ideological lines, along generational lines, and regional lines
00:20as well.
00:21Those were there beforehand, but the last four months since the coup attempt of December
00:273rd have really raised those levels of polarization to extreme heights that I think are unprecedented.
00:39And so it's a matter of trying to recover from that following this verdict by the constitutional
00:46court.
00:48The country, I think, will remain polarized, but at least there will not be any more fear
00:56or, on the other side, hope that President Un will come back to office.
01:02So with that polarization of the country in mind, how does Korea move forward politically
01:08with a snap election that must be held in the coming 60 days?
01:12It's tough to imagine that the country will be more polarized than it is right now.
01:17I think the trial for the impeachment really did heighten things and maybe to an extreme
01:24extent.
01:27It might be that the upcoming election, which will take place on June 3rd at the latest,
01:32the presidential election will move very swiftly into the campaign stage.
01:38And if precedent is followed, then perhaps within a month, the two major parties will
01:45have selected their candidates.
01:48And I hope that whoever comes out as the candidate for the former ruling party, there will be
01:59somewhat of a moderation of tone between that person and almost certainly the candidate
02:06for the Democratic Party, who will be Lee Jae-myung.
02:12Although that's not a certainty, I would be stunned if Un's party candidate wins the
02:21presidential election.
02:23But I've been stunned repeatedly over the past four months.
02:30You mentioned that there are events that shocked you over the past four months.
02:34Aside from the surprise declaration martial law, what was the most shocking event to you?
02:39I was shocked most by the vocalization, the expression of authoritarian sentiment in South
02:50Korea as the political polarization increased following the impeachment by the National
03:01Assembly in mid-December, and then the beginning of the constitutional court trial to verify
03:08that impeachment soon thereafter at the end of December, the process which came to a close
03:15today.
03:18And more specifically, I was stunned at the positions and expressions of the leaders of
03:26Un's party, the main conservative party, which was in the overwhelming minority.
03:32These people had more responsibility to uphold, you would think, the very institutions that
03:39gave them their authority, and yet they behaved and said things that were stunning, and they've
03:46been all put to shame by today's verdict.