SEOUL, South Korea (AP) 鈥 Thousands have braved the frigid January weather in Seoul protests, waving South Korean and American flags and shouting vows to protect their embattled conservative hero, the impeached South Korean president facing imprisonment over potential rebellion charges.
The swelling crowds in South Korea鈥檚 capital are inspired by President Yoon Suk Yeol's defiance, but also by the growing power of right-wing YouTubers who portray Yoon as a victim of a leftist, North Korea-sympathizing opposition that has rigged elections to gain a legislative majority and is now plotting to remove a patriotic leader.
鈥淥ut with fraudulent elections and a fake 春色直播 Assembly!鈥 read one sign, brandished by an angry man in a fur hat during a recent protest near Yoon鈥檚 presidential residence, the site of a massive law enforcement operation Wednesday that made Yoon the country鈥檚 in a criminal investigation.
Many at the which are separated by police from are significantly influenced by fictional narratives about election fraud that dominate conservative YouTube channels 鈥 claims that Yoon has repeatedly referenced in his attacks on election officials.
A placard hanging from an overpass read: 鈥淢artial law was declared to investigate election fraud; lawmakers impeached (Yoon) to stop it.鈥 There were also 鈥淪top the Steal鈥 signs, a slogan associated with the U.S. Capitol attack by a mob of Donald Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, who were angry over false claims that Joe Biden had stolen the election.
There have long been worries about Yoon's close ties with right-wing YouTube personalities, some of whom were invited to his inauguration ceremony. One has even boasted that Yoon listens to his show 鈥渆ven while sleeping.鈥
Those worries, however, have been heightened since Yoon鈥檚 shocking martial law declaration on Dec. 3, which led to the dispatch of hundreds of troops to encircle the legislature and the country's election commission 鈥 and which dredged up memories of military-backed dictatorships that ended in the 1980s.
Hundreds of citizens converged on parliament that night to help lawmakers break through the blockade so they could vote to lift martial law, a dramatic display of the
The opposition-dominated 春色直播 Assembly voted to suspending his powers and putting his fate with the Constitutional Court, which will decide whether to formally remove him from office or reinstate him.
But the ensuing have laid bare the nation鈥檚 stark ideological divide and revealed the growing popularity of bizarre conspiracy theories that are now being amplified by mainstream conservative politicians, starting with the president himself.
In a message posted on his Facebook account following his detainment Wednesday, Yoon claimed that there鈥檚 鈥渟o much evidence of election fraud in our country.鈥 It's the latest of his erroneous claims meant to discredit the country鈥檚 election process while defending his martial law decree.
Observers worry it might undermine future elections.
Reality shattered by martial law
Lawmakers from Yoon鈥檚 People Power Party are frequently seen at pro-Yoon rallies in close contact with far-right YouTube personalities.
Kim Min-jeon, a member of PPP's leadership council, went on YouTube to defend the president's decision to send troops to 春色直播 Election Commission sites, saying that election integrity worries made 鈥渨ar-like emergency鈥 steps necessary.
It鈥檚 unclear whether Yoon and his loyalists genuinely believe the claims of rigged elections or are leveraging conspiracy theories to justify his imposition of martial law and rally his support base. It鈥檚 also unclear whether those voicing the theories at protests represent mainstream conservative voters.
Conservatives, however, have been emboldened by recent polls, which show that Yoon and his party's approval ratings have risen since the martial law imposition.
The recent precedent of politicians undermining reality for their own personal gains threatens democracy because it adds false claims to already intense policy disagreements that make compromise unlikely, said Jinman Cho, a politics professor at Duksung Women鈥檚 University in Seoul.
鈥淧arties are using conspiracy theories not to attack each other but to destroy each other,鈥 said Cho, who predicts that chaos will persist until Yoon鈥檚 political fate is determined in court.
Yoon鈥檚 actions could also scar a possible upcoming presidential by-election and legislative elections in 2028 by increasing voters鈥 unwillingness to accept election results, said Han-Wool Jeong, director of the Korea People Research Institute.
Metal bats, cable ties and ropes
On the , as TV showed heavily armed soldiers backed by Blackhawk helicopters and armored vehicles swarming the 春色直播 Assembly, a separate military operation, also involving hundreds of troops, was quietly underway at the headquarters of the 春色直播 Election Commission in Gwacheon and two other NEC facilities.
According to prosecutors鈥 indictment of Kim Yong Hyun, Yoon鈥檚 now-arrested former defense minister, a search-and-seize squad was meant to arrest 30 NEC officials and find evidence of election fraud, a claim that remains unsubstantiated in South Korea. The soldiers were equipped with metal baseball bats, cable ties, ropes, blindfolds and head covers.
Other soldiers were instructed to copy data from NEC鈥檚 computer servers and, 鈥渋f difficult, just remove the servers themselves,鈥 according to the 83-page indictment obtained by The Associated Press. The plans weren't carried out because lawmakers first forced Yoon to lift martial law.
Kim鈥檚 indictment says Yoon began floating the idea of using his emergency powers around late March or early April, shortly before the general elections, in which the liberals won by a landslide to extend their legislative majority.
In a fiery TV speech on Dec. 12, during which he defended his use of martial law against an 鈥渁nti-state鈥 Yoon said he needed to send troops to the NEC to investigate alleged vulnerabilities to its computer systems.
He referenced a debunked YouTube claim that NEC鈥檚 status as an independent electoral body meant it could not be subjected to searches and seizures by law enforcement investigators.
When Seoul鈥檚 spy agency examined government networks for possible North Korean cybertheft in 2023, it found no signs of NEC computer breaches. Even if hackers somehow gain access, rigging an election would still be virtually impossible, officials say, as it would require overriding the entire election management system, tampering with physical ballots and collusion among thousands of election workers.
鈥淓very single allegation of election fraud raised during past elections was concluded as groundless in courts,鈥 the NEC said in a statement.
Yoon Kab-keun, one of the president鈥檚 lawyers, said Yoon Suk Yeol was determined to 鈥渞esolve suspicions and inadequacies鈥 linked to the NEC鈥檚 operations.
Some PPP lawmakers who met Yoon at his residence before his detention told reporters that the president urged the party to win future elections by embracing the voices of protesters, and to focus on the 鈥渨ell-organized information on YouTube鈥 rather than the 鈥渂iased鈥 legacy media.
Yoon on Facebook accused the NEC of refusing to take accountability for huge numbers of fake ballots that had been discovered in unspecified past elections and for a network vulnerable to hacking and manipulation. NEC was possibly operating a 鈥渃omprehensive election fraud system,鈥 he said.
While none of those claims are substantiated, the president maintained that, 鈥淲e cannot dismiss this as a conspiracy theory."
