1 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:04,880 Speaker 1: All Zone Media. 2 00:00:05,040 --> 00:00:07,960 Speaker 2: Welcome to It Could Happen Here, a podcast about the 3 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:11,560 Speaker 2: worst coups in all of history. I'm your host, Bia Wong, 4 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:15,440 Speaker 2: and we are returning to one of the worst coups 5 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:18,759 Speaker 2: I have ever seen, because a whole bunch more stuff 6 00:00:18,880 --> 00:00:23,040 Speaker 2: has happened in our most recent, unbelievably dogshit coup in 7 00:00:23,239 --> 00:00:27,080 Speaker 2: South Korea, the six hour coup of which President Yun 8 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:30,840 Speaker 2: declared martial law and tried to shut down the National Assembly, 9 00:00:30,920 --> 00:00:34,479 Speaker 2: and then the National Assembly got together and voted to 10 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:40,479 Speaker 2: end the martial law, and then it stopped. Extremely bizarre 11 00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:44,159 Speaker 2: in baffling series of events. And you know, when we 12 00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:47,400 Speaker 2: last left our intrepid heroes, the people of South Korea, 13 00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:49,920 Speaker 2: they had just successfully overturned a coup. No one quite 14 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:51,720 Speaker 2: knew what was gonna happen. In the aftermath, we knew, 15 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:55,960 Speaker 2: and impeacha vote was coming, a vote to impeach President Yun. 16 00:00:56,960 --> 00:00:59,200 Speaker 2: The reason we're coming back to this, though, is that 17 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:02,160 Speaker 2: the aftermath of all of this has been absolutely baffling, 18 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:05,280 Speaker 2: and I think this has all been lost in the 19 00:01:05,319 --> 00:01:08,280 Speaker 2: news cycle because about a trillion things are happening right now, 20 00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:13,600 Speaker 2: But the situation in South Korea has been unbelievably weird, 21 00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:16,160 Speaker 2: and so we're now going to take a look at 22 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:20,560 Speaker 2: the actual impeachments of President Yun and the unbelievably bizarre 23 00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:24,600 Speaker 2: path that led to it, because oh my god, the 24 00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:26,399 Speaker 2: more I talk to people, the more I realize that 25 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:30,880 Speaker 2: people don't know how unbelievably unhinged everything has been since 26 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:33,160 Speaker 2: since the military coup, because everyone has moved on. So 27 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:36,679 Speaker 2: we're going back. So immediately after the coup, there was 28 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:39,559 Speaker 2: this whole wave of military guys going like, we didn't 29 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:43,160 Speaker 2: know we were taking part in the COUU, We're totally innocents, Like, oh, 30 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:45,560 Speaker 2: they just let us out of the trucks and suddenly 31 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:46,959 Speaker 2: we were at the National Assembly. 32 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:48,640 Speaker 3: We were like, oh, what are we doing? 33 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:51,000 Speaker 2: And there's also been this whole thing of all these 34 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:53,960 Speaker 2: special forces guys going like oh yeah, no, no, yeah, 35 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:56,520 Speaker 2: we totally could have taken the National Assembly in twenty 36 00:01:56,600 --> 00:01:59,080 Speaker 2: minutes if we wanted to. We just uh, we just 37 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:02,000 Speaker 2: like didn't want to take a National Assembly, Like we 38 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:03,640 Speaker 2: didn't we didn't really want to do it, man, Like 39 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:07,160 Speaker 2: our heart wasn't in this coup, and like, really, I 40 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:09,560 Speaker 2: have seen the videos of that shit, man, Like I 41 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:11,880 Speaker 2: didn't see you like going in there and kicking ass 42 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:13,839 Speaker 2: and taking names. I saw you getting your ass kicked 43 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:16,560 Speaker 2: by a guy just like blowing your ass up with 44 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:19,600 Speaker 2: a fire extinguisher and like not being able to break 45 00:02:19,639 --> 00:02:21,960 Speaker 2: a bunch of very well constructive barricade set up by 46 00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:26,760 Speaker 2: like fucking Senate aids. So that's been extremely funny. So 47 00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:29,600 Speaker 2: you like vanished for the entire time this coup was 48 00:02:29,639 --> 00:02:31,880 Speaker 2: going on, and like nobody knew where he was and 49 00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:35,400 Speaker 2: no one had seen him, and things were kind of 50 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:36,440 Speaker 2: fiasco e. 51 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:37,840 Speaker 3: He was just gone. 52 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 2: So he finally like reappeared, right, And as he started reappears, 53 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:47,040 Speaker 2: he tries to like do this explanation of why he 54 00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:49,840 Speaker 2: did the coup. It goes about as badly as you 55 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:52,200 Speaker 2: would expect from someone who just failed the worst coup 56 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:56,200 Speaker 2: that we've ever seen. Here's from MPR quote in his 57 00:02:56,240 --> 00:03:00,680 Speaker 2: speech on Thursday June, a former chief prosecutor attempt justify 58 00:03:00,760 --> 00:03:04,040 Speaker 2: his actions and downplay its significance. He argued that the 59 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:09,320 Speaker 2: opposition's quote legislative dictatorship unquote paralyzed state affairs and disturb 60 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:12,440 Speaker 2: social order. Now this this is going back to the 61 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:15,600 Speaker 2: thing you know he did at the time, Right, he 62 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:17,840 Speaker 2: has this thing where he keeps calling the Parliament which 63 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:19,760 Speaker 2: is controlled by the Democratic Party, which is like the 64 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:24,079 Speaker 2: liberal opposition party. He kept calling the parliaments like opposition 65 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:28,239 Speaker 2: anti state forces, and like, my brother in Christ, what 66 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:32,680 Speaker 2: the fuck is a legislative dictatorship? I mean, like, you know, 67 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:36,040 Speaker 2: you could be really strictly anarchist about it and be like, well, yeah, 68 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:39,520 Speaker 2: all legislatives are dictatorships. But my dude, you are not 69 00:03:39,800 --> 00:03:43,840 Speaker 2: living under a dictatorship because the parliament that your country 70 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:46,640 Speaker 2: elected hates you and refuses to pass your dogship budget 71 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:50,760 Speaker 2: because no one likes you. That is simply not what 72 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:53,120 Speaker 2: the word dictatorship means. It reminds me of this thing 73 00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:55,400 Speaker 2: where like, you know, if you go back and you 74 00:03:55,480 --> 00:03:59,280 Speaker 2: read like people in the eighteen hundreds talking about or 75 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:04,440 Speaker 2: like like seventeen hundreds too, you'll read them talking about monarchies, right, 76 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:06,880 Speaker 2: and they'll be like, ah, if the king can like 77 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:09,440 Speaker 2: overrule the will of the nobles, we would be living 78 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:12,360 Speaker 2: in a peer dictatorship. It's like, what the fuck are 79 00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:15,000 Speaker 2: you talking about? Like Suri, you live under a monarchy, 80 00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:17,239 Speaker 2: like you are already in a dictatorship. You are also 81 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:19,839 Speaker 2: like part of the authoritary and apartans of the dictatorship, 82 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:21,320 Speaker 2: and this is just like the inverse of that, where 83 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:24,760 Speaker 2: it's like, ah, the legislature won't let me do whatever 84 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:27,000 Speaker 2: the fuck I want, so this is now a dictatorship 85 00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:31,880 Speaker 2: and so like, you know, that's simply not what the 86 00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:34,520 Speaker 2: word dictatorship means, and you can't get away with that 87 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:37,919 Speaker 2: shit as much in a country where people like in 88 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:41,080 Speaker 2: living memory, have lived through an actual military dictatorship and 89 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:44,720 Speaker 2: understand what that's like. The parliament refusing to pass your 90 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:48,640 Speaker 2: terrible budget, that's not an excuse to institute martial law 91 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:52,599 Speaker 2: and try to shut down the legislature. So this was 92 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:57,080 Speaker 2: not received well as you would expect from whatever unhinged 93 00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:00,360 Speaker 2: speech that was. He did apologize for imposing Marshall Law, 94 00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:03,560 Speaker 2: which is a very funny place to end up, is 95 00:05:03,640 --> 00:05:04,960 Speaker 2: like you try to do a coup and then you 96 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:07,120 Speaker 2: have to go on TV and apologize for trying to 97 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:09,159 Speaker 2: do the coup and also try to argue you didn't 98 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:10,039 Speaker 2: just try to do a coup. 99 00:05:11,279 --> 00:05:14,279 Speaker 3: So this is received very poorly, as we sort of predicted. 100 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:18,080 Speaker 2: Immediately, the opposition Democratic Party immediately tries to impeach Youn, 101 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:20,880 Speaker 2: and from the way the headlines kind of work in 102 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:22,760 Speaker 2: the West, and from the way this is being talked about, 103 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:24,680 Speaker 2: and even from the way this episode sort of opened, 104 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:28,800 Speaker 2: you'd think that this impeachment vote was how we got impeached. 105 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:33,040 Speaker 2: But no, no, the first impeachment vote is not how 106 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:34,000 Speaker 2: un gets impeached. 107 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:37,599 Speaker 3: Everything is way way weirder than that. 108 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:42,799 Speaker 2: Now, June's party, the People's Power Party, which is henceforth 109 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:44,760 Speaker 2: going to be called the PPP because I am not 110 00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:47,040 Speaker 2: going to say the words People Power Party over and 111 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:47,520 Speaker 2: over again. 112 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:50,080 Speaker 3: Good lord. The PPP get a lot of. 113 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:52,640 Speaker 2: Credit from people outside of South Korea for, like, you know, 114 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:56,080 Speaker 2: some of their members legitimately did show up to parliament 115 00:05:56,120 --> 00:05:59,360 Speaker 2: to vote against the martial law declaration, and at the 116 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:01,640 Speaker 2: time in the last episode, I said, that's bullshit. You 117 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:04,640 Speaker 2: don't get credit for voting against martial law. And also 118 00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:08,159 Speaker 2: like most of them weren't there, and I kind of 119 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:10,920 Speaker 2: got shited for this. And I have been absolutely one 120 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:13,520 Speaker 2: hundred percent vindicated because the. 121 00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:15,400 Speaker 3: Piece are vote, the first one rolls around. 122 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:17,440 Speaker 2: The first one happens very quickly after the first coup, 123 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 2: right well, the first que hopefully the only cue, hopefully 124 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:22,880 Speaker 2: it is not a second cue. But this happens very quickly, 125 00:06:23,279 --> 00:06:26,479 Speaker 2: and Okay, so the vote rolls around, and the entire PPP, 126 00:06:26,839 --> 00:06:31,040 Speaker 2: the entire party except maybe like two people, just walk 127 00:06:31,080 --> 00:06:33,200 Speaker 2: out of the chambers. And because they walk out of 128 00:06:33,200 --> 00:06:35,039 Speaker 2: the chambers, the vote fails because they don't have they 129 00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:36,640 Speaker 2: don't have quorum. But if you don't have a quorum 130 00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:38,760 Speaker 2: is like there's like a minimum number of members that 131 00:06:38,839 --> 00:06:41,760 Speaker 2: has to be in attendance for for whatever you're doing 132 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:43,599 Speaker 2: to be legal to stop like two people from showing 133 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:45,400 Speaker 2: up in the middle of the night and being like, aha, 134 00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:48,240 Speaker 2: I am the parliaments. We've just passed this like order 135 00:06:48,279 --> 00:06:51,800 Speaker 2: that makes me dictator or whatever. And again, the entire 136 00:06:51,839 --> 00:06:55,000 Speaker 2: PPP just walks out and they leave, and the vote 137 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:57,880 Speaker 2: fails because the PPP managed to whip basically its entire 138 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:10,760 Speaker 2: membership into into trying to keep union power. And here 139 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:13,760 Speaker 2: begins the what the fuck is going on part of 140 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:17,280 Speaker 2: this episode, because A all reports we have suggest that 141 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:19,360 Speaker 2: Yun was planning to have the leadership, but the PvP 142 00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:23,160 Speaker 2: arrested and b he just literally tried to do a 143 00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:26,840 Speaker 2: coup and they're still backing him. And see we stumble 144 00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:30,680 Speaker 2: into a very very thority question that I saw from 145 00:07:30,880 --> 00:07:33,640 Speaker 2: people in Korea, Like the moment after all this stuff happens, 146 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:35,960 Speaker 2: but didn't really hit the western press until later, if 147 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:39,960 Speaker 2: at all, and didn't really hit like the mainstream consciousness. 148 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:42,040 Speaker 2: And this question will become a parent in a second. 149 00:07:42,120 --> 00:07:46,160 Speaker 2: So here's from the Guardian. Senior PPP politicians have claimed 150 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:49,840 Speaker 2: you can continue as president while delegating his powers to 151 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:50,640 Speaker 2: the Prime Minister. 152 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:52,160 Speaker 3: An arrangement. 153 00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:55,000 Speaker 2: Park that's Park Seoan Day, who's a very powerful Democratic 154 00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:58,880 Speaker 2: Party politician. An arrangement Park described as quote a blatant 155 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:00,600 Speaker 2: constitutional violence with. 156 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:03,360 Speaker 3: No legal basis. Now, this is true. 157 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:06,520 Speaker 2: What Parky is saying is right right, And the fact 158 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:09,080 Speaker 2: that the Guardian is saying like that their way of 159 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:13,480 Speaker 2: framing this is Oh, the opposition party person says that 160 00:08:13,560 --> 00:08:16,720 Speaker 2: this is a blatant violation of constitutional law with no 161 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:19,520 Speaker 2: legal basis. That's not just a thing that he says like, 162 00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:23,080 Speaker 2: this is true, like there is no legal mechanism for well, 163 00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:25,920 Speaker 2: we don't want to impeach our presidents. But also he 164 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:27,720 Speaker 2: just tried to do a coup, so is said, we're 165 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:29,080 Speaker 2: going to take his powers away and give it to 166 00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:30,800 Speaker 2: the Prime minister so he can still serve withou us 167 00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:32,480 Speaker 2: impeaching him like that, that's not a thing you can't 168 00:08:32,520 --> 00:08:35,840 Speaker 2: do this. There's no mechanism for this. The Democratic Party 169 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:38,440 Speaker 2: people are just completely correct here. But because for some 170 00:08:38,480 --> 00:08:40,320 Speaker 2: reason the Guardian feels it, I mean, it's the Guardian 171 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:42,400 Speaker 2: right like, but they feel it necessary to sort of 172 00:08:42,440 --> 00:08:44,840 Speaker 2: both sides again, a fucking coup. 173 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:49,439 Speaker 3: This is where we are. Here's more from the Guardian quote. 174 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:53,120 Speaker 2: The leader of the PPP, On Dung hun said at 175 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:56,080 Speaker 2: the weekend that Yun would not be involved in foreign 176 00:08:56,120 --> 00:08:59,600 Speaker 2: and other state affairs, with control of the administration shifting 177 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:03,920 Speaker 2: to the prem Minister. Hon Duk sue Hans said Yun's 178 00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:07,320 Speaker 2: televised apology was effectively a promise to leave office. 179 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:10,040 Speaker 3: Now, no, it wasn't. It was not a promise to 180 00:09:10,120 --> 00:09:12,280 Speaker 3: leave office. What the fuck are you talking about? Like 181 00:09:12,320 --> 00:09:14,600 Speaker 3: everyone could just go listen to his apology. He didn't 182 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:16,160 Speaker 3: say that. He did not say he was gonna. 183 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:18,760 Speaker 2: Leave office, right and no, hell he says it's effectively 184 00:09:18,760 --> 00:09:19,800 Speaker 2: a promise to leave office. 185 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:22,040 Speaker 3: But it simply isn't right. Everyone could just like see 186 00:09:22,040 --> 00:09:23,880 Speaker 3: this and again. 187 00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:25,320 Speaker 2: Like you know, okay, so like the thing that the 188 00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:27,160 Speaker 2: thing that the PvP is trying to do, right, the 189 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:30,400 Speaker 2: PvP is trying to have their prime minister like gain 190 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:34,040 Speaker 2: control of the administration. Now, there is a mechanism to 191 00:09:34,080 --> 00:09:36,880 Speaker 2: do this under the constitution. It's called impeachment. The thing 192 00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:38,959 Speaker 2: it happens where you get impeached is that you get 193 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:40,920 Speaker 2: kicked out of office. And we're gonna get to this later, 194 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:42,720 Speaker 2: but you get kicked out office and the Prime Minister 195 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:45,480 Speaker 2: gets put into power, and this happens until this pre 196 00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:48,319 Speaker 2: court decides whether whether whether your impeachment should go through 197 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:50,400 Speaker 2: or not. Right, So, like there's a mechanism for this, 198 00:09:50,480 --> 00:09:52,960 Speaker 2: but the PvP doesn't want to like impeach un but 199 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:57,120 Speaker 2: they also don't want him seemingly running the country because 200 00:09:57,120 --> 00:09:59,959 Speaker 2: he appears to be like absolutely unhinged and just again 201 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:02,520 Speaker 2: declared martial law and tried to knock off the legislature. 202 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:04,920 Speaker 2: So you have this, You have this whole sort of 203 00:10:05,520 --> 00:10:08,120 Speaker 2: steaming mess of a situation where the PvP is trying 204 00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:10,760 Speaker 2: to like have it both ways of like not having 205 00:10:10,920 --> 00:10:14,280 Speaker 2: union power but also not impeaching him. But this also 206 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:19,680 Speaker 2: begs one very important question. Hula fuck was running the 207 00:10:19,679 --> 00:10:21,880 Speaker 2: country between the first. 208 00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:25,120 Speaker 3: Appeachment vote and the second one. No one knows. No 209 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:26,880 Speaker 3: one knows who was running this fucking country. 210 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:29,520 Speaker 2: This is a country with fifty one million people and 211 00:10:29,559 --> 00:10:32,920 Speaker 2: nobody knew who was fucking running the country, and this 212 00:10:32,920 --> 00:10:34,360 Speaker 2: this barely made the news. 213 00:10:34,480 --> 00:10:37,520 Speaker 3: I'm going insane, How how? Why? Why? 214 00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:39,880 Speaker 2: Why is this a thing that just like completely disappeared 215 00:10:39,880 --> 00:10:40,920 Speaker 2: beneath the fucking. 216 00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:42,880 Speaker 3: Like chatter of the news waves. This just this just 217 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:43,760 Speaker 3: vanished entirely. 218 00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:49,120 Speaker 2: And speaking of vanishing entirely, we were gonna vanish entirely 219 00:10:49,400 --> 00:11:10,240 Speaker 2: to do these ads. 220 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:04,959 Speaker 3: And we are back. 221 00:11:05,640 --> 00:11:08,520 Speaker 2: So, as you would imagine from a situation where again 222 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:11,880 Speaker 2: you have a country, you're fifty one million people, where 223 00:11:12,080 --> 00:11:15,000 Speaker 2: no one knows who is running the country, things have 224 00:11:15,160 --> 00:11:18,280 Speaker 2: been extremely chaotic. So you know, we covered in the 225 00:11:18,360 --> 00:11:20,920 Speaker 2: last episode that like a bunch of ministers were resigning, 226 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:24,000 Speaker 2: right because you know, they had just taken part in 227 00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:26,880 Speaker 2: a coup and they were like, well shit, the ex 228 00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:28,880 Speaker 2: defense minister, who's one of the people who's been sort 229 00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:32,319 Speaker 2: of implicated as being like saying that he's to a 230 00:11:32,360 --> 00:11:34,160 Speaker 2: large step behind the coup like is true. 231 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:35,000 Speaker 3: But I mean this was a. 232 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:39,079 Speaker 2: Cooperative effort between Yun the defense minister, and a bunch 233 00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:41,280 Speaker 2: of the people in the army, and the defense minister 234 00:11:41,320 --> 00:11:44,560 Speaker 2: who resigned in disgrace like got thrown in jail. So 235 00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:48,760 Speaker 2: that's fucking wild, like you just got like arrested by 236 00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:52,240 Speaker 2: the police. A bunch of testimony also has come out 237 00:11:52,280 --> 00:11:56,280 Speaker 2: from the National Assembly investigation, which I'm not covering much 238 00:11:56,400 --> 00:12:01,760 Speaker 2: of the testimony from the National Assembly investstigation because it's 239 00:12:01,880 --> 00:12:07,320 Speaker 2: really unclear exactly how reputable all this stuff is because 240 00:12:07,360 --> 00:12:11,400 Speaker 2: a lot of people are just saying shit, right, and 241 00:12:11,480 --> 00:12:13,560 Speaker 2: some of it may be real. Some of it maybe 242 00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:15,920 Speaker 2: some of the people have you know, obtained their sources, 243 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:20,040 Speaker 2: but some of it's probably not. But like to get 244 00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:22,280 Speaker 2: a sense of like the kind of stuff that is 245 00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:25,640 Speaker 2: coming out in this investigation. One of the big claims 246 00:12:25,800 --> 00:12:27,760 Speaker 2: was from I think it's some like a TV host 247 00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:30,439 Speaker 2: who claimed he got texted it by a guy in 248 00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:33,520 Speaker 2: the army. But apparently he was saying that the plan 249 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:35,760 Speaker 2: by union the army, the plan was to have the 250 00:12:35,800 --> 00:12:39,840 Speaker 2: head of the PPP killed and then drop a North 251 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:43,400 Speaker 2: Korean uniform nearby to like do a false flag and 252 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:51,640 Speaker 2: implicate North Korean special forces. Now this is unbelievably unhinged, right, 253 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:57,080 Speaker 2: what the fuck? And it probably isn't true, but you know, 254 00:12:57,120 --> 00:13:01,200 Speaker 2: the source isn't great, But like who knows, right, we 255 00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:03,040 Speaker 2: don't actually know if they're playing to do this and 256 00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:04,720 Speaker 2: fucked it up, or if they weren't playing to do this, 257 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:06,720 Speaker 2: or if this person is this person just lying, this 258 00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:09,760 Speaker 2: person did get this text, but the person was misinformed. 259 00:13:09,800 --> 00:13:11,640 Speaker 2: We don't know if this is just like misinformation that's 260 00:13:11,679 --> 00:13:15,000 Speaker 2: being spread around. This is a good demonstration of what 261 00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:19,679 Speaker 2: the sort of chaos of this moment has been. And 262 00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:21,600 Speaker 2: you know, and there's been a lot of other stuff 263 00:13:21,640 --> 00:13:25,679 Speaker 2: that I think in any other time and place probably 264 00:13:25,760 --> 00:13:29,920 Speaker 2: would have been like front page news. So one of 265 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:32,080 Speaker 2: the things that happens in this whole process is that 266 00:13:32,120 --> 00:13:34,720 Speaker 2: the South Korean police tried to raid the house of 267 00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:38,480 Speaker 2: the president, and you know, like as part of their investigation, 268 00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:42,040 Speaker 2: there's a whole thing where Union's been ordered by like 269 00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:45,560 Speaker 2: the investigatorial services to not leave the country because he's 270 00:13:45,559 --> 00:13:49,160 Speaker 2: just actively under investigation for this military coup being illegal 271 00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:52,200 Speaker 2: by just like the regular ass police. And so South 272 00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:54,360 Speaker 2: Korean police like try to raid his house and they 273 00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:56,640 Speaker 2: can't do it because the South Korean equivalent of the 274 00:13:56,640 --> 00:13:59,880 Speaker 2: Secret Service stops them from doing the raid. And this 275 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:03,760 Speaker 2: in and of itself is something that like again would 276 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:08,160 Speaker 2: be a giant news headline at any other point in time, 277 00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:10,560 Speaker 2: and it's just been completely lost, and it's like it's 278 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:14,800 Speaker 2: not sort of clear right now how this is all 279 00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:18,080 Speaker 2: sort of going to play out, and whether the police 280 00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:20,840 Speaker 2: are going to be able to do this and you know, 281 00:14:20,920 --> 00:14:24,040 Speaker 2: what's actually gonna happen to you And after he presumably 282 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:25,840 Speaker 2: leaves office, I mean, I guess the Streme Court could 283 00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:28,520 Speaker 2: save him, but like, you know, there's there's a real 284 00:14:28,640 --> 00:14:30,520 Speaker 2: chance that he and we're going to get into this 285 00:14:30,560 --> 00:14:32,320 Speaker 2: morning a second, there's a real chance that he just 286 00:14:32,360 --> 00:14:35,400 Speaker 2: like fucking goes to prison, right And unlike the last 287 00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:37,400 Speaker 2: president who was going to move from office, like, I 288 00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:41,480 Speaker 2: can't imagine him getting pardoned by the next administration because 289 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:45,920 Speaker 2: that was merely an unhinged corruption scandal involving the president 290 00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:49,800 Speaker 2: of South Korea being under the influence of a shaman 291 00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:52,760 Speaker 2: and doing a bunch of corruption that did a bunch 292 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:55,960 Speaker 2: of horrible shit. But this is, you know, this is 293 00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:59,760 Speaker 2: like he tried to do a coup, right, So it's 294 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:01,720 Speaker 2: sort of unclear if he's going to get saved from that. 295 00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:05,160 Speaker 2: It does seem very likely that he's going to face 296 00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:08,160 Speaker 2: a bunch of charges for this because everyone is unbelievably 297 00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:13,120 Speaker 2: pissed off. Here's from dw On Monday, former head of 298 00:15:13,160 --> 00:15:17,600 Speaker 2: Special Warfare Command Kwak Jung Gwyn and former head of 299 00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:21,680 Speaker 2: the Capitol Defense Command Lie Jin Wu were arrested on 300 00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:27,000 Speaker 2: charges of deploying military personnel to the parliament. Former chief 301 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:31,360 Speaker 2: of the Defense Counterintelligence Command Yo En hung has been 302 00:15:31,400 --> 00:15:35,000 Speaker 2: accused of orchestrating the implementation of marshal law, and Army 303 00:15:35,080 --> 00:15:39,280 Speaker 2: Chief Park Ensiou has been suspended from his role. Yun's 304 00:15:39,320 --> 00:15:43,160 Speaker 2: former Defense Minister Kim Yong yun, who stepped down immediately 305 00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:46,800 Speaker 2: following the board in martial law declaration, and former Interior 306 00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:51,040 Speaker 2: Minister Lee Song min also face investigations. So what we're 307 00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:53,720 Speaker 2: seeing here effectively, right, is the house cleaning of the 308 00:15:53,800 --> 00:15:56,280 Speaker 2: ranks of the Korean military who've been involved with this 309 00:15:56,320 --> 00:15:58,480 Speaker 2: whole thing, right, And they're going through a lot of 310 00:15:58,520 --> 00:16:01,960 Speaker 2: different people. This is also clearing out some of like 311 00:16:02,040 --> 00:16:05,720 Speaker 2: the clicks in the military who've been sort of backing 312 00:16:05,760 --> 00:16:08,560 Speaker 2: you and and who people have suspected have been a 313 00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:10,760 Speaker 2: bunch of the people behind a lot of this stuff, 314 00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:14,840 Speaker 2: And this is a good and necessary process. The entire 315 00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:17,560 Speaker 2: time this has been going on, everyone has been terrified 316 00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:20,720 Speaker 2: of the possibility of a second coup, and the only 317 00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:22,680 Speaker 2: way to avoid that in the short term is to 318 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:26,040 Speaker 2: remove the senior leadership with the military and get them 319 00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:28,200 Speaker 2: away from their troops. They don't have the ability to 320 00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:30,680 Speaker 2: sort of plan anything, and sometimes this can make people 321 00:16:30,760 --> 00:16:33,280 Speaker 2: just go for it, right like that that's what happens 322 00:16:33,400 --> 00:16:37,560 Speaker 2: in Bolivia. It looks like where the failed Bolivionque was 323 00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:39,520 Speaker 2: a product of you know, people trying to do house 324 00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:42,160 Speaker 2: cleaning and get rid of military guys before they did 325 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:43,720 Speaker 2: a coup, and so that this makes them go off 326 00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:47,960 Speaker 2: half cocked, and like, you know, that's a bad situation 327 00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:49,840 Speaker 2: for I mean, it's that situation for everyone that says 328 00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:51,440 Speaker 2: that there's a coup happening. But it's a bad situation, 329 00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:54,560 Speaker 2: especially for the military because they don't have their coup 330 00:16:54,600 --> 00:16:57,400 Speaker 2: preparations in place, so it's easier to knock them off. 331 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:00,840 Speaker 2: But what's interesting about this too is to a large extent, 332 00:17:00,920 --> 00:17:04,720 Speaker 2: we're seeing other parts of the Korean state like really 333 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:09,359 Speaker 2: go after the military, right, and this I don't know, 334 00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:13,000 Speaker 2: I mean, like I'm hoping this kind of like has 335 00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:15,920 Speaker 2: a precedent inside of the sort of Korean like liberal 336 00:17:15,960 --> 00:17:21,240 Speaker 2: democratic societal norms that like, you can't let this just 337 00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:26,440 Speaker 2: unhinged military do all of this stuff that the precedent 338 00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:28,760 Speaker 2: of this sort of like military house cleaning, I think 339 00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:31,879 Speaker 2: is a good one. Right, this is going to be 340 00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:36,280 Speaker 2: a rare, a rare Mia agrees with the people who 341 00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:39,160 Speaker 2: founded the US moment because oh my god, those people 342 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:42,440 Speaker 2: suck shit like a bunch of slave owning, gedicidal bassards. 343 00:17:42,520 --> 00:17:44,760 Speaker 2: But you know, one of the things that they were 344 00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:48,439 Speaker 2: right about is the political danger to any democratic system 345 00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:52,000 Speaker 2: of having a standing army, right, and especially when you 346 00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:54,800 Speaker 2: have a standing army that's like permanently on a semi 347 00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:57,640 Speaker 2: war footing the way the South Korea is is there's 348 00:17:57,720 --> 00:18:00,679 Speaker 2: always a real political risk that they attempt sees power 349 00:18:00,760 --> 00:18:03,600 Speaker 2: and you have to fucking stop them from doing that. 350 00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:07,480 Speaker 2: And ideally you just fucking acts as much of it 351 00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:09,600 Speaker 2: as you possibly can, right, I mean, I think you 352 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:11,479 Speaker 2: should act. You acts the entire political system to make 353 00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:13,960 Speaker 2: sure this doesn't happen. But you know, this is a 354 00:18:14,080 --> 00:18:17,160 Speaker 2: this is hopefully a good first step. I also want 355 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:20,680 Speaker 2: to mention that the specific charge of insurrection is being 356 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:22,720 Speaker 2: thrown at a lot of these people and also at 357 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:28,320 Speaker 2: Un himself, and like he absolutely did it right, Like 358 00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:30,640 Speaker 2: there's not much of a dispute that he did in 359 00:18:30,640 --> 00:18:35,560 Speaker 2: fact do uh An insurrection under under sort of Korean law, 360 00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:38,639 Speaker 2: and this technically like carries the death penalty, but I 361 00:18:39,359 --> 00:18:41,879 Speaker 2: don't think they're gonna kill him, but you know, this 362 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:45,960 Speaker 2: is the sort of severity of this stuff under the 363 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:49,080 Speaker 2: Korean legal system. And Okay, so, like all of this 364 00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:52,679 Speaker 2: fucking chaos happening, right, and eventually there's a second impeachment vote, 365 00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:56,240 Speaker 2: and this time the public pressure is enough that the 366 00:18:56,240 --> 00:19:00,479 Speaker 2: PvP stays in the chamber to vote no, and only 367 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:04,000 Speaker 2: about a dozen, like per MPR, only about a dozen 368 00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:07,840 Speaker 2: tpp lawmakers actually vote to impeach the guy who just 369 00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:10,880 Speaker 2: tried to have their fucking parliament disbanded. 370 00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:11,399 Speaker 1: You know. 371 00:19:11,600 --> 00:19:13,400 Speaker 2: And this is like one of the really depressing things 372 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:15,679 Speaker 2: about this, right, even after everything, right, and this is 373 00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:17,920 Speaker 2: something that we can trace back to sort of the 374 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:21,920 Speaker 2: roots of the conservatism of the PPP, even after all 375 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:25,040 Speaker 2: of this shit, right, like, these people still backed him. 376 00:19:25,440 --> 00:19:31,239 Speaker 2: And that's a really really grim and depressing thing. And 377 00:19:31,359 --> 00:19:32,920 Speaker 2: part of the reaction to this has been from the 378 00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:35,119 Speaker 2: South Korean trade Union Movement, which has been calling for 379 00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:37,320 Speaker 2: just to straight up the disbanding of the PPP as 380 00:19:37,359 --> 00:19:40,360 Speaker 2: a political party, right, And that's something that I think 381 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:44,320 Speaker 2: is extremely reasonable. Again, if your party's president tries to 382 00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:47,160 Speaker 2: do a military coup, I think I think you shouldn't 383 00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:49,639 Speaker 2: be allowed to have a party anymore. This is the 384 00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:54,879 Speaker 2: liberal opinions, right, Okay, So like eventually this vote does 385 00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:59,159 Speaker 2: go through, and the stage that we're at right now 386 00:19:59,240 --> 00:20:01,280 Speaker 2: is that. Okay, So once you get impeached by the 387 00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:04,919 Speaker 2: National Assembly, you're suspended from all your duties and the 388 00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:07,480 Speaker 2: Prime Minister takes power. So it's happening right now is 389 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:10,639 Speaker 2: he doesn't have any power formally, but we're still in 390 00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:12,840 Speaker 2: this sort of holding period. We're waiting for the Supreme 391 00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:15,520 Speaker 2: Court to weigh in and either like approve the impeachment 392 00:20:15,640 --> 00:20:19,199 Speaker 2: or not. And that's kind of where things stand now. 393 00:20:19,280 --> 00:20:24,479 Speaker 2: After an unbelievably unhinged wee get a half of just 394 00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:28,400 Speaker 2: everything being extremely unboud two weeks, I guess everything being 395 00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:33,399 Speaker 2: just unbelievably extremely weird. And yeah, but I think I 396 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:36,359 Speaker 2: think there is a mild hopeful note, which is that like, 397 00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:40,080 Speaker 2: if you fight back against these people, they can be defeated. 398 00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:42,560 Speaker 3: It sucks, but you can eventually get them to crumble. 399 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:45,879 Speaker 2: And all I can really say for this is I 400 00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:50,000 Speaker 2: hope the South Korean people prevail over the shitty military dictators, 401 00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:53,680 Speaker 2: and I hope that we too are able to sort 402 00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:57,240 Speaker 2: of prevail in the US against our sort of equivalents 403 00:20:57,240 --> 00:20:57,920 Speaker 2: of these forces. 404 00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:03,800 Speaker 1: It Could Happen Here is a production of cool Zone Media. 405 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:07,000 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website 406 00:21:07,119 --> 00:21:10,720 Speaker 1: coolzonmedia dot com, or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, 407 00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:14,360 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can 408 00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:16,719 Speaker 1: now find sources for It Could Happen Here, listed directly 409 00:21:16,760 --> 00:21:19,040 Speaker 1: in episode descriptions. Thanks for listening.