Host Kim Ou-joon in a studio in Seoul, January 9, 2023. JUNG YEON-JE / AFP Kim Ou-joon played, despite himself, a central role in the vaudeville of martial law in South Korea. Famous and popular political commentator, head of News Factory, a media group with several YouTube channels and the polling institute called “Flower”, Mr. Kim was targeted by the military once martial law was declared in the evening from December 3. “I was at home on the evening of martial law. As soon as I heard the news. I went to hide,” explains to Le Monde, from what was his “hide” for two days, the journalist as famous for his messy hair and his audacity as for his incessant battles against conservative leaders, Lee Myung-bak ( 2008-2013), Park Geun-hye (2013-2017) and therefore Yoon Suk Yeol, and the corruption of the South Korean elites. Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers In South Korea, demonstrators are demanding the arrest of their president, Yoon Suk Yeol Read later Great good for him to hide. Shortly after his departure, the soldiers stationed themselves in front of his house. At the same time, around twenty soldiers were setting up in front of the News Factory offices. “It took me a while to understand why. But Yoon’s plan was to make it appear that the April legislative elections had been fraudulent, arrest opposition deputies and organize elections to have a National Assembly under his command. That’s why he sent the military there to prevent MPs from meeting to vote on lifting martial law, as well as to the Electoral Commission and my offices. He wanted to arrest Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party [PD, opposition] but also Han Dong-hoon, leader of his party, the People’s Power Party. However, explains Mr. Kim, “my polling institute had predicted the tidal wave in favor of the Democratic Party for the April election. It was easy to accuse me of having engineered the fraud, by setting up a scenario saying that I was under the orders of North Korea.” Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers South Korea: The opposition wins the legislative elections and places President Yoon Suk Yeol in a bad position Read later In fact, Kwak Jong-geun, the commander of the special forces mobilized during the night, confirmed, the December 6: “I received orders to deploy elite unit 707 to the National Assembly, the electoral commission and News Factory. » The soldiers sent to Kim Ou-joon’s offices were apparently ordered to seize his institute’s servers. Rapid mobilization of citizens and deputies The president justified martial law by invoking the need to protect South Korea “from the threats of North Korean communist forces, to eradicate the pro-North Korean anti-state forces which brazenly destroy the freedom and happiness of our people, and to protect our free constitutional order.” The Minister of Defense, Kim Yong-hyun, considered the mastermind of the martial law project and now resigned, told the press on December 4: “There was fraud during the April vote. » You have 35.56% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
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