Pained cries could be heard in front of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s official mansion on Friday, after Constitutional Court judges approved his impeachment. I came here with hope in my heart, confident that we would triumph… “It’s so unfair,” 64-year-old Won Bog-sil told BBC Korean from the event, where thousands had gathered to support Yoon.
These moments were live streamed to thousands more on YouTube, a popular platform among Yoon’s followers and the president himself. Yoon, a humiliated leader, is now deposed, but he leaves behind an increasingly divided South Korea.
Yoon’s unexpected proclamation of martial law in December cost him the trust of many people. However, among his admirers, his continual legal troubles have only reinforced the image of a mistreated saviour.
Many of them replicate storylines pushed by influential right-wing YouTubers who support Yoon, such as the need for martial law to safeguard the country from pro-North Korean MPs and a dangerously powerful opposition, as well as the claim that Yoon’s conservative party was the victim of election fraud. This has resulted in a fringe movement that has grown both energised and extreme, spilling out from behind computer screens onto the streets.
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