Opinion
South Korea confirms representative government and rule of law
Arthur I. Cyr
January 21, 2026
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung salutes military generals during a ceremony in Seoul on Sept. 1, 2025. (South Korean presidential office)
Arthur I. Cyr is the author of “After the Cold War — American Foreign Policy, Europe and Asia.”
South Korean government prosecutors have recommended that former President Yoon Suk Yeol be punished with death for his stunning effort early in December 2024 to return to dictatorship. This is an important story regarding wrenching developments in an extremely close strategic ally of the United States.
Separately, he was sentenced to five years in prison for obstruction, but a range of other charges are still pending. Yoon also has various options. He could seek a reduction in sentence at an appeal trial, and carry the effort all the way to the Supreme Court of South Korea.
The entire process likely will take years. South Korea today is judicially careful.
Conservative Yoon served as a career prosecutor before election as president of South Korea in 2022. That relatively narrow background may explain his sudden and surprising declaration of national emergency and attempt to impose strict martial law.
Yoon’s rationale was that the nation had somehow grown weaker and was vulnerable to the communist forces of North Korea. He declared emergency rule was in effect, and ordered the military to seize control of parliament.
This was a crucial, pivotal moment and military leaders reacted responsibly — and shrewdly.
Under this presidential directive, South Korean army soldiers did go to the parliament building, surrounded and entered the premises — but then went no further.
Militaries by definition are heavy-handed. South Korea for many years was ruled by harsh military dictatorship. That on this occasion senior officers chose a very light touch, preserving still-new representative institutions while not directly disobeying a direct presidential order, is extraordinary — and deserves far more comment and commendation than has been received.
Armed soldiers refrained from interfering with the business of the people’s elected representatives. That was the key moment and decision. Had the Army seized control, even temporarily, the still relatively new democratic institutions of South Korea would have been put in serious jeopardy.
Later in December 2024 Yoon was impeached by parliament. An arrest warrant was issued. An attempt to serve the warrant led to a tense, hours-long standoff with the president’s bodyguards at the presidential residence, where Yoon had confined himself. Finally, on Jan. 15, 2025, Yoon surrendered to authorities.
Yoon’s troubled presidency mercifully came to an end on April 4, 2025. The nation’s Constitutional Court formally ruled that he had exceeded his authority and overstepped the law in declaring martial law and attempting to use the special powers thereof to maintain control of the government.
Following the country’s constitution, a presidential election was held in June. The winner was Yoon’s rival Lee Jae Myung. Lee and supporters are on the political left. For example, he quickly moved to improve relations with China.
The recent decision of the court has confirmed that parliament was justified in voting to impeach Yoon, who was charged with insurrection. He is the first president to be charged with a crime while in office, though not the first to face prosecution.
No less than four former presidents of South Korea have been imprisoned following indictment, trial and conviction. However, no one has been executed in South Korea since 1997, and leniency characterizes appeals results.
A peasant society, the entire Korean Peninsula was devastated by the Korean War of 1950-53. Today, South Korea ranks among the world’s top economies.
This remarkable nation has fully vindicated strong U.S. support, during the Korean War and since. Our special relationship began with that war, and was greatly reinforced by strong direct South Korean troop commitments during the Vietnam War.
The growing network of economic and security agreements in the Pacific region provides for opportunities for collaboration.