South Korea’s impeached President recently arrested could face life in prison or death penalty if charged and convicted of insurrection and treason

Important Takeaways:

  • South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested at his presidential residence on Wednesday morning local time following an hours-long standoff, images from the scene show.
  • It’s the first time an incumbent president has been detained in South Korea and marks the second attempt by anti-corruption investigators to arrest him for questioning related to his brief martial law declaration last month that triggered protests and shocked allies.
    • Yoon’s many guards and supporters prevented the last attempt earlier this month.
  • South Korean police are investigating Yoon for possible insurrection in connection with his declaration that saw him impeached and suspended from presidential duties.
    • He has via lawyers denied the allegations and maintains he took the emergency action to counter “pro-North Korean” elements in the country.
    • Yoon could face life in prison or the death penalty if he were charged and convicted of the offenses he’s accused of as presidential immunity doesn’t extend to insurrection or treason in South Korea.
  • Go deeper: South Korean president hit with travel ban after martial law mayhem

Read the original article by clicking here.

Chinese Communist sympathizers controlling South Korea’s ‘Democrat Party’ are seizing power of the presidency without an election

Police officers entering compound SK presidential residence

Important Takeaways:

  • South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has surrendered himself to police forces of unclear jurisdiction and connection with the South Korean Government.
  • The legacy, corrupt media is often portraying this as a simple, lawful reaction to the “unlawful” Martial Law President Yoon declared in early December.
  • There is a lot more to the story that is being dismissed or not reported.
  • A President can declare Martial Law in South Korea under certain conditions. There has been immense, Chinese-funded election malfeasance in South Korea, which has delivered the National Assembly to the Democrat Party.
  • President Yoon is in a struggle with the opposition “Democrat Party” of South Korea that is under the control of Chinese Communist sympathizers beginning with their leader Mr. Lee Jae-myung who was convicted of crimes in November, which triggered this string of events because his conviction prevents him from running for the presidency.
  • So, the Democrat Party is seizing the Presidency without an Election. The Democrat Party of South Korea is taking a lesson from Jack Smith and waging lawfare against President Yoon and throwing in a coup at the same time.  This hard ball play to arrest Yoon may be backfiring – Yoon’s Party poll numbers are now surpassing the Democrat Party.
  • President Yoon Suk-yeol released this message on the Unlawful Arrest and Search Warrants shortly before he handed himself over:
    • “My Fellow Citizens,
    • I hope this message finds you well.
    • First, let me express my heartfelt gratitude for the unwavering support and encouragement so many of you have shown me. Your belief in our shared principles gives me strength every day.
    • But I come to you today with a heavy heart. We are witnessing the collapse of the rule of law in this nation—a nation built on justice and freedom.
    • When warrants are issued by agencies that have no legal authority to conduct investigations, and when courts that lack jurisdiction issue warrants for arrests and searches, it is clear that the system is being twisted beyond recognition.
    • Even more troubling is the outright deception of the public by those entrusted with power. False documents, unlawful actions, and coercive procedures have no place in a country that values liberty and justice.
    • I have made the difficult decision to appear before the Corruption Investigation Office today—not because I accept their illegitimate authority, but because I am committed to preventing unnecessary violence or harm. Let me be clear: my compliance is not an acknowledgment of their actions’ legality.
    • As President, I have a solemn duty to uphold our Constitution and the principles that bind us as a people. This step is taken solely to protect lives and ensure peace in this troubling moment.
    • I am inspired by the resilience of our youth and the renewed commitment of so many to the ideals of freedom and democracy.
    • Though we face dark times, I firmly believe that the future of this nation remains bright, because it rests in the hands of people like you—who understand the value of liberty and are willing to stand for it.
    • Take heart, my friends. Our nation has faced adversity before, and we have always emerged stronger.
    • With faith, resolve, and unity, we will restore the integrity of our laws and the promise of our democracy.
    • God bless you, and God bless our great nation.”
  • January 20, 2025 can’t come soon enough for the U.S. or our close allies, South Korea.

Read the original article by clicking here.

Arrest warrant for recently impeached President of South Korea sees a standoff between police and presidential security

NEWSMAX SCREENSHOT-South Korea President Impeachment

Important Takeaways:

  • South Korea’s anti-corruption agency said it received a new court warrant Tuesday to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol after its previous attempt was blocked by the presidential security service last week.
  • The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials, which plans to question the embattled president on rebellion allegations over his short-lived martial law decree Dec. 3, did not immediately confirm how long the warrant would remain valid.
  • The agency’s chief prosecutor, Oh Dong-woon, refused to answer when asked by lawmakers when the warrant would expire, saying such information is sensitive as the agency and police contemplate ways to execute it.
  • Detention warrants typically last seven days but can be extended to around 10 days.
  • The Seoul Western District Court last week had initially issued a warrant to detain Yoon and a separate warrant to search his residence after he repeatedly defied authorities by refusing to appear for questioning.
  • About 150 anti-corruption agency investigators and police officers attempted to detain Yoon on Friday but retreated from his residence in Seoul after a tense standoff with the presidential security service that lasted more than five hours. The investigators did not make another attempt to detain Yoon and the previous court warrants expired after a week on Monday.
  • The anti-corruption agency is leading a joint investigation with the police and military into Yoon’s brief power grab, which included declaring martial law and dispatching troops to surround the National Assembly. Lawmakers who managed to get past the blockade voted to lift martial law hours later.
  • Yoon’s presidential powers were suspended after the opposition-dominated Assembly voted to impeach him on Dec. 14, accusing him of rebellion. The Constitutional Court has started deliberations on whether to formally remove Yoon from office or reinstate him.
  • Oh confirmed to lawmakers that the agency was debating with police on whether to arrest members of the presidential security staff if they forcefully obstruct efforts to detain Yoon. Police have said they are considering “all available options” to bring Yoon into custody and haven’t publicly ruled out the possibility of deploying SWAT teams, although it is unclear whether investigators would risk escalating a confrontation with presidential security forces, who are also armed.
  • Park Jong-joon, chief of the presidential security service, has hit back against criticism that it has become Yoon’s private army, saying it has legal obligations to protect the incumbent president. He and his deputy have so far defied summonses by police, who planned to question them over the suspected obstruction of official duty following Friday’s events.

Read the original article by clicking here.

Impeachment: First the President and now the Acting President/Prime Minister of South Korea

GETTY IMAGES Acting President Han Duck-soo

Important Takeaways:

  • Lawmakers on Friday passed a motion to impeach Han Duck-soo, who is also the prime minister, after he resisted pressure to appoint three justices to fill vacancies on the Constitutional Court.
  • It marks the first time an acting president has been impeached in South Korea and comes less than two weeks after President Yoon Suk Yeol was suspended from his duties after his failed attempt to impose martial law shook the nation.
  • Han’s impeachment vote came as the Constitutional Court opened hearings on Yoon’s impeachment over his short-lived attempt to reinstate military rule this month. The court has six months to decide whether to uphold Yoon’s impeachment or reinstate him.
  • Impeaching the prime minister requires a simple majority in parliament, but the ruling party claimed that the voting results were invalid and filed an injunction against Han’s impeachment, arguing that the two-thirds majority needed to impeach a president should also apply to acting presidents.
  • Han said he respected the parliament’s decision and would wait for the Constitutional Court’s ruling on whether to confirm his impeachment.

Read the original article by clicking here.

Developing story: South Korea declares Martial Law over North Korean sympathizers taking control of parliament

South Korea Martial Law

Important Takeaways:

  • President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday said he had no choice but to resort to such a measure to safeguard free and constitutional order in his country.
  • He accused opposition parties for allegedly taking hostage of parliament to throw the country into a crisis and for sympathizing with North Korea.
  • In a televised address to the nation, the president vowed to ‘eradicate pro-North Korean forces and protect the constitutional democratic order.’
  • In response, opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, who narrowly lost to Yoon in the 2022 presidential election, called his announcement ‘illegal and unconstitutional.’
  • It has been reported that the parliament building, the National Assembly, has been shut, with entry and exit blocked to members.
  • Protesters charged towards the building in Seoul, with people breaching the main gate shortly after the announcement.
  • South Korean Democratic Party chair Lee Jae-myung said there is a high possibility military is mobilized to arrest members of National Assembly.
  • Meanwhile, defense minister Shin Won-sik has ordered all military units to strengthen readiness.
  • Martial law involves the temporary rule by military authorities. It is usually invoked in time of war, rebellion, or natural disaster.
  • Curfews are usually introduced, in addition to the suspension of civil law and civil rights. Civilians defying martial law being subjected to military tribunes.
  • It was not immediately clear how the steps would affect governance and democracy.

Read the original article by clicking here.

Could Russia reward North Korea with hi-tech advancements to perfect their nuclear weapons? That’s what officials are concerned about

Could Russia help N. Korea advance nuclear weapons

Important Takeaways:

  • South Korea warned Tuesday it could consider supplying weapons to Ukraine in response to North Korea allegedly dispatching troops to Russia, as both North Korea and Russia denied the movements. NATO’s secretary general said that would mark a “significant escalation.”
  • South Korean officials worry that Russia may reward North Korea by giving it sophisticated weapons technologies that can boost the North’s nuclear and missile programs that target South Korea.
  • The officials agreed to take phased countermeasures, linking the level of their responses to progress in Russian-North Korean military cooperation, according to the statement.
  • Possible steps include diplomatic, economic and military options, and South Korea could consider sending both defensive and offensive weapons to Ukraine, a senior South Korean presidential official told reporters on condition of anonymity in a background briefing.

Read the original article by clicking here.

North Korean troops in Russia has South Korea on edge

N Korean troops in Russia

Important Takeaways:

  • South Korea’s foreign ministry called the Russian ambassador to the carpet Monday over North Korea’s alleged deployments of troops to join the Russian military in its war against Ukraine.
  • The use of North Korean troops in the Ukraine conflict is a violation of the U.N. charter and General Assembly resolutions and threatens South Korea’s security, the ministry said in a statement.
  • “We condemn North Korea’s illegal military cooperation, including its dispatch of troops to Russia, in the strongest terms,” Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun told Ambassador Georgy Zinoviev, the ministry said. “We will respond jointly with the international community by mobilizing all available means against acts that threaten our core security interests.”
  • South Korea’s intelligence service said on Friday that North Korea had shipped 1,500 special forces to train at Russian military bases in the Far East. The troops would likely be deployed to fight in Ukraine, the spy agency said.
  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has also accused North Korea of sending 10,000 troops to Russia.
  • Zinoviev countered that Russian cooperation with North Korea was in line with international law, and was not directed against South Korea, according to a Facebook post from the Russian embassy.
  • Reports that Russia will deploy North Korean troops in its war with Ukraine are unconfirmed. The Kremlin earlier denied them.

Read the original article by clicking here.

North Korea demolishes roads linking the North to the South

Road explosions between North and South Korea

Important Takeaways:

  • North Korea blew up parts of two major roads connected to the southern part of the peninsula on Tuesday, South Korean authorities said, after Pyongyang warned it would take steps to completely cut off its territory from the South.
  • Parts of the Gyeongui line on the West coast and Donghae line on the East coast, two major road and railway links connecting the North and South, were destroyed by explosives at around 12 p.m. Korean local time, according to Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
  • In practical terms, the destruction of the travel routes makes little difference – the two Koreas remain divided by one of the world’s most heavily fortified borders and the roads were not in use for years. But its symbolism comes at a time of particularly fiery rhetoric between the two Korean leaders.
  • North and South Korea have been separated since the Korean War ended in 1953 with an armistice agreement. The two sides are still technically at war, but both governments had long sought the goal of one day reunifying.

Read the original article by clicking here.

NK sending GPS transmitters on balloons to South Korea and the implications aren’t good

South Korean soldiers

Important Takeaways:

  • The purpose for the balloons’ GPS capabilities isn’t clear, but none of the possibilities are good news for South Korea.
  • Among the balloons being sent across the border from North Korea to the South are examples carrying GPS transmitters, according to the Republic of Korea military. Waves of excrement and trash-filled balloons have been sent over South Korea since the summer, but the latest development suggests that the North is also using them for limited intelligence-gathering, perhaps in preparation for future contingencies, or to develop more balloon-based military capabilities. The announcement comes only days after Pyongyang accused the South of sending multiple waves of drones over the North Korean capital to drop propaganda leaflets, as you can read about here.
  • South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff says that GPS transmitters were found in some of the North Korean balloons. Although it’s unclear when exactly these balloons were sent, there have been no previous reports of them carrying such devices, since the current campaign began.
  • A balloon of this kind cannot have its course altered based on returned GPS data, but the equipment could have other implications of varying degrees of impact.
  • Tracking balloon movements over time would show North Korea the kinds of routes they are taking, how far they can travel, and at what speeds.
  • By their nature, the balloons are very likely to be intact once they come down — provided they are not shot down — meaning that the signal can still be transmitted, at least until it descends below the receiving station’s horizon. Local cellular networks could also be leveraged for sporadic communication.
  • However, if the balloons are brought down by South Korean air defenses, resulting in a sudden loss of connectivity, it’s the resulting data could also help to highlight potential strong and weak spots in the country’s defensive coverage.

Read the original article by clicking here.

North Korea taking steps to “completely separate” from South by cutting off all road and rail links; building fortifications in their place

North Koreas military guard post

Important Takeaways:

  • The General Staff of the Korean People’s Army said the move was a “response to the grave situation in which the imminent danger of war is escalating day by day along the southern border”
  • North Korea said it would fortify its side of the de facto border with “strong defense structures,” without elaborating.
  • A “telephone message” communicating its intentions was sent to U.S. forces “to prevent any misjudgment and accidental conflict over the fortification project,” the army said.
  • This week, the North Korean leader twice threatened to use nuclear weapons on the South if provoked.
  • The South Korean defense ministry said the latest announcement likely was a continuation of the North’s efforts to severe inter-Korean connections—physical and symbolic—since April.
  • The North Korean notification was sent via an existing channel to the U.S.-led United Nations Command, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said on Wednesday, citing military sources. Pyongyang said its DMZ fortification project would involve a large number of personnel, heavy equipment and “explosive work,” the report said.

Read the original article by clicking here.