Braving the winter cold Sunday, a group of Korean-Americans rallied in the shadow of the US Capitol to protest the impeachment of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol.
They represent a growing push back against the effort to impeach Yoon in the wake of his short-lived declaration of martial law on December 3.
Yoon’s approval rating plunged to 11 per cent in the wake of the declaration but has now rebounded to 46.6 per cent, according to a poll by the Penn & Mike polling agency in Korea, published on January 14.
In a statement, the rally organisers said the “Republic of Korea is facing a grave political crisis” that they described as “an ideological civil war.” Their goal was to make Americans aware of the “threat to democracy” in an important US ally.
Yoon was impeached at the second attempt by a vote of the National Assembly, South Korea’s legislature. The Assembly is controlled by the opposition Democratic Party of Korea. The impeachment charges are now being heard by the Constitutional Court.
James Daniel Shin, a speaker at the rally, said that they wanted Americans to understand the nature of the crisis. “South Korea has no functioning government,” he said. “The opposition party brought impeachment charges against over 20 government officials prior to the martial law declaration.”
Speakers also expressed support for a strong US-Korea alliance, which they saw as threatened by the DPK and its coalition allies. The first impeachment charges against Yoon, filed on December 4, included endangering national security through pro-Japanese “diplomacy antagonising North Korea, China, and Russia.” This language was removed from the impeachment charge of December 14 that was passed by the National Assembly.
The rally in DC was organised by a coalition of eight Korean-American non-profits and civil society groups including: America Korea United Society, Alliance for Korea United Washington, Korean Freedom Alliance, One Korea Foundation, as well as Korean Veterans of the Vietnam War. An estimated 200 people attended the event.
It followed similar rallies held over the past month in Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. (UPI)
