South Korea: A Prosecutorial State?

Yoon Seok-yeol is the current president of the Republic of Korea. At first blush, he may seem to be a conservative. He has worked closely with Washington to strengthen the US-ROK alliance, a mainstay of any conservative South Korean administration. He has also strengthened ties with Japan, which in turn bolsters the US-Japan alliance and helps Washington multiply its shows of force in East Asia. And, domestically, Yoon’s administration is cracking down on leftists, including Moon Jae-in, Yoon’s predecessor in the Blue House. Yoon, it would seem, is a man of the right, in the classic Korean conservative line.

But who is Yoon, really? Eight years ago, he toppled the presidency of Park Geun-hye, daughter of hardline anti-communist conservative hero, President Park Chung-hee. At that time, Yoon was working in the camp of Moon Jae-in, not against him. Is Yoon a conservative, as he now claims to be, or is something else afoot?

In this powerful interview, Byun Hee-jae, founder of South Korean investigative journalism firm MediaWatch, discusses President Yoon Seok-yeol, Yoon’s attacks against Park Geun-hye, and the rise of what Byun calls the “prosecutorial state,” virtually a fourth branch of government in South Korea. Byun is seeking political asylum in the United States because what he reveals in this interview is too damning for the South Korean ruling establishment to pass over in silence.