Lars Vargö, who was ambassador to South Korea 2006-2011, describes South Korean domestic politics as infected with a conservative and a liberal faction that shun each other like the plague.
When a new president has been elected in democratic elections, there has been a tendency for the prosecution authorities to go quite hard on the representatives of the previous regime, despite South Korea being a genuine democracy without electoral fraud and the like, says Vargö.
Clear Confrontation
The polarization has increased lately as the conservative President Yoon Suk-Yeol has taken several steps to the right on the political scale.
As a result, the opposition has taken one or more steps to the left, and there has been a clear confrontation in parliament, leading to Yoon having difficulty getting his state budget through, says Vargö.
The decision to introduce a state of emergency may very well have been about the president wanting to call new elections, in the hope of increasing the chance of getting the state budget through, which has been blocked in parliament, according to Vargö.
Risks Impeachment
The former ambassador explains Yoon Suk-Yeol's announcement that the state of emergency will be lifted by the pressure on the president finally becoming too strong.
He ran into the democratic wall and realized it didn't work. I also believe that signals have come from the police leadership and high-ranking military officers that they are not going to do anything, says Vargö.
Lars Vargö says it is likely that the president will be brought to trial as a result of his actions during the past 24 hours.
It's enough if a smaller part of parliament signs on to him being brought to trial, and the largest opposition party has enough seats for that.
