Posted on 08/18/2025 6:35:12 AM PDT by Red Badger
President of the Republic of Korea Yoon Suk Yeol and first lady Kim Keon-hee (Credit: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class John Bellino) Guest post by Kim Yu-jin, Citizen of South Korea
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Can you imagine a former president and first lady jailed at the same time — and the personal data of 5 million citizens seized by the regime?
In 2025, this nightmare has become my reality. This is not justice.
It is a planned political purge that should alarm everyone who values freedom, the rule of law, and the U.S.-Korea alliance.
A First in History — and a Dangerous Precedent
On January 19, 2025, former President Yoon Suk-yeol was arrested on vague “evidence tampering” charges.
Prosecutors alleged he tried to conceal certain records, yet presented no clear evidence or case outline.
He was detained for 52 days until March 8, when a court ruled his detention had “seriously violated his right to legal defense” and ordered his release.
But the authorities ignored this ruling. On July 10, Yoon was arrested again on nearly identical charges. The court rejected his appeal and sent him back to prison — raising serious concerns of double jeopardy and judicial abuse.
Then, on August 12, something never before seen in South Korea’s democracy occurred. Former First Lady Kim Keon-hee was immediately jailed on the order of the Seoul Southern District Court.
The warrant was issued without sufficient investigation or evidence — based solely on a claim of “possible evidence destruction.” Legal experts inside and outside Korea agree this decision fails to meet both domestic and international standards of justice.
The simultaneous jailing of a former president and first lady is no coincidence. It is a political move to eliminate all opposition.
Targeting the Lifeline of the Opposition — 5 Million Party Members
On the same day, prosecutors raided the headquarters of the People Power Party (PPP), the main opposition, and demanded the full membership list of roughly 5 million people — including names, political affiliations, and joining records.
This brazen act directly violates:
* The South Korean Constitution, which guarantees party independence
* The Personal Information Protection Act, which bans processing political affiliation data without consent
* The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which protects freedom of association and privacy
Such data could be exploited for election surveillance, personal intimidation, and targeting of political dissidents. In effect, it lays the foundation for a surveillance and intimidation regime designed to silence citizens.
Cruel and Inhumane Detention Conditions
The persecution does not end with arrest.
Former President Yoon is confined in a tiny 5.6㎡ (60 sq. ft.) solitary cell with no air conditioning during a brutal heatwave. Lights are kept on 24 hours a day, and ventilation is extremely poor.
His health is deteriorating. His doctor warned of “imminent risk of blindness” from an untreated eye condition, while his diabetes has worsened. Yet he has been denied timely medical treatment. Care has been restricted and delayed, and even during external hospital visits he was forced to wear electronic shackles and handcuffs.
He has also been denied access to Mors H. Tan, a human rights lawyer and former U.N. ambassador.
Such treatment meets the U.N. definition of “cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.” Under the Mandela Rules, the state is obligated to provide proper medical care, humane living conditions, and access to legal counsel — all of which have been blatantly ignored in Yoon’s case.
The Political Intent Is Clear
This is not an accident, nor an isolated case. Analysts call it nothing less than a “roadmap to authoritarianism.”
The strategy is clear:
Remove Yoon from the political stage before the next election. Neutralize Kim Keon-hee as a symbol of resistance. Intimidate the conservative base by seizing the data of 5 million party members. Every step points to a coordinated plan to eliminate the opposition.
Voices of Warning Inside Korea
This is not only my view. Prominent figures across South Korea are sounding the alarm.
Conservative leaders such as Kim Moon-soo and Na Kyung-won have condemned the detentions as “grave human rights violations” and “political retaliation.”
The People Power Party leadership declared the demand for the full membership list illegal. Legal scholars are calling for Global Magnitsky sanctions to bring international pressure on the regime.
Why the World Must Act
South Korea is America’s frontline ally in the defense of freedom. Yet its government is now employing the same authoritarian tactics we have seen elsewhere — arbitrary detention, suppression of opposition, and intimidation of political supporters.
This is not just a Korean problem. In Turkey, Erdogan’s regime repeatedly jailed opposition politicians to rig elections. In Hungary, Viktor Orbán has crushed media and party independence to entrench one-party rule. If such a precedent is allowed to stand in South Korea, authoritarian tactics will spread across Asia.
And make no mistake: political prosecutions of opponents is a trend that resonates beyond Asia. Many Americans fear similar abuses of power at home. What happens in Seoul should serve as a warning to Washington.
A Plea to the International Community
I urge governments, the media, and human rights organizations around the world:
Demand the immediate release of former President Yoon Suk-yeol and First Lady Kim Keon-hee.
Bring this case to the U.N. Human Rights Council.
Shine international media attention on these abuses.
Silence will be read as consent. If this becomes normalized in South Korea, it will soon be exported elsewhere.
As a citizen of South Korea, I watch with outrage, shock, and fear for my country’s future. But I also believe that international attention can bring change.
That is why I speak now. And I ask you to raise your voice as well.
Freedom does not survive on its own. It survives only when defended. The time to defend it is now.
We have already had Jan. 6 2021 demonstrators jailed in similar conditions. If the democrats ever regain control of the government, we will see a lot more of it, and they won’t wait to do it.
SOP MO for communists.
Houston, we have a problem
These goons will reunify, fold into, Communist North Korea next.
If the democrats ever regain control of the government, we will see a lot more of it, and they won’t wait to do it.
/
Yup
They will go full commie and they will have all us doing their
laundry , gardening and cotton picking, i.e. replace their illegal alien slaves with us political slaves.
Kim is coming ...
I think most of us here could imagine it if Harris had won the election last year.
A true republic and democratic system only works in conjunction with certain societal values.
Those have to be taught and truly believed in by the majority of people and inculcated in the policies and bureaucrats enforcing them!
Is this ethnocentric thinking? Yes.
But is it wrong? No.
That is also why you will NEVER see a true democracy or a constitutional republic that both affords equality before the law and certain unalienable rights to its citizens in a nation run by Muslims.
Do not snicker at S. Korea. We are not far from that.
Playing the "substitution game," if one reads the story from last December, with President and Mrs. Trump in the lead roles, it reads one way.
If one reads the same story again from last December, with the Bidens in the lead roles, it reads quite another.
So, some references, given that the article is written by "Guest post by Citizen of South Korea," i.e. an unnamed source.
Interesting, that a back story on this mentions a "martial law decree" ( December 3 ) and subsequent impeachment of, as AP reported, "impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol ."
"The discussions highlighted the obstacles facing the criminal investigation into Yoon’s Dec. 3 martial law decree, which led to his impeachment on Dec. 14. The one-week detention warrant was set to expire at midnight, but the agency requested a new court warrant to extend the timeframe for taking Yoon into custody.So, with the impeached president removed, one finds his wife in trouble, in part for stock manipulation and other issues.The Seoul Western District Court last week issued a warrant to detain Yoon and a separate warrant to search his residence after he defied authorities by refusing to appear for questioning over his brief power grab. Executing those warrants is complicated as long as Yoon remains in his official residence.
South Korean anti-corruption agency and police debate tougher measures to detain impeached president AP, January 6, 2025
"The investigation into Kim Keon Hee is one of three separate special prosecutor probes launched under Seoul's new liberal government targeting the presidency of Yoon, who was removed from office in April and rearrested last month over his brief imposition of martial law in December.We are treated in media to "unnamed" and "on condition of anonymity" as well as "experts say" and "scientists say" each day.The conservative's abrupt and poorly planned power grab on Dec. 3 came during a seemingly routine standoff with the liberals, whom he described as “anti-state” forces abusing their legislative majority to obstruct his agenda. Some political opponents have questioned whether Yoon’s actions were at least partly motivated by growing allegations against his wife, which hurt his approval ratings and gave political ammunition to his rivals.
Wife of South Korea's ousted ex-President Yoon appears for questioning over corruption allegations AP, August 6, 2025
I suspect that an article-cum-editorial written by "no name" is suspect, to begin with. What is without a doiubt, and is missing from the article is mention of the "martial law decree," which was attempted without a doubt, and overturned also without a doubt.
Such an action -- were it here -- would seem something the Bidens, Obamas or Clintons would have attempted, if they could have. I do NOT see it as something that President Trump would ever do. Transparency, as it comes to the Russiagate hoax and subsequent impeachment of our President Trump by the likes of all those Democrats makes me suspicious of this "Guest post by Citizen of South Korea."
In terms of stock manipulation, there one finds a "former first lady" but the actions seem quite like those of a Pelosi.
In terms of that martial law decree, it was a "former president," and such an attempt to overthrow a nation smacks far more of the Brennan/Clapper/Comey game under the watchful eye of Obama ( a "former president", simple grammar reminds us ), and of course a Clinton/Steele dossier links a "former first lady."
So it surely depends on how one reads a story, and considers a narrative.
Especially when our true patriots signed their REAL names to our Declaration of Independence, risking life and wealth in doing so.
Something about a "Citizen of South Korean" seems just plain off.
After all, reading the Gateway Pundit comments, one finds "Sounds kinda like what Joey's administration did to Trump supporters." And "Same playbook Biden's cabal used here. Ask yourself why it didn't work?"
Worth playing that "substitution game" when considering the storytelling in media today. This one comports with 1) an anonymous "victim" editorial, coupled to 2) our real life adventures dealing with our own recent impeachment attempts which failed. South Korea's did not. Something about which to think.
Best wishes.
If the new leader of S. Korea is on board with those making the money in S. Korea, if he doesn’t disrupt the international balance and plays along with the globalists, there won’t be much push-back on him.
We’re totally fine with despots.
Terms like “democracy, human rights and sovereignty” are just silly slogans we use when convenient.
The democrats set in motion the destruction of that presidency in S.Korea in April 2024 when presidential and DOD emmissaries from the US approached the regime in Korea for weapons to go to Ukraine. S.Korea being a trade based economy could not afford to choose sides or be seen supporting Ukraine against Russia. Korea has laws against doing just such things to ensure exports are never interrupted by personal decisions - yet the president and his cronies in the military set about sending arms to Ukraine. When the government sniffed this out, rather than pubically admit this was over Ukrainian arms shipments and corruption, they choose to make it an internal problem. To do otherwise would alienate the US or the trade partners for picking sides or not picking sides.
This is more fallout from the failure of the west to produce weapons in quanities necessary for Ukraine. Syria and Afghanistan both saw those weapons shipped to Ukraine and spent, on top of the carefully stockpiled arms between 2012 and 2022.
S.Korea was the one country that could have backfilled all the weapons NATO needed for Ukraine. Already the Korean tanks are being exported to Poland... will they show up in Ukraine?
Korea has provided some fighters and pilots for F-16s and it was an easy draw to recruit Koreans for Ukraine after N.Koreans were found supporting Russia - funny how that works. S.Korea could not jsut N.Korea alone in Ukraine, they actually went after them - never let a good war go to waste.
This Korean president is just a cherry on the top. Since Ree was killed on orders from the CIA in 79, every president has been put in jail. The Korean presidency enriches the powerful but puts the individual at known loss of freedom or life.
So it surely depends on how one reads a story, and considers a narrative.
World traveler presents a good analysis, read it, not the headline.
From my perspective:
http://learntocarry.com/files/On-Sheep-Wolves-And-Sheepdogs.pdf
What is the difference between a wolf and a sheepdog? They look and act the same.
The difference is the heart. look at the evidence and words to reveal the heart.
Can’t speak to the Korea situation. we don’t know enough and all we know is from the media, but many will make snap judgements.
Trump is a sheep dog from all evidence presented.
Do you remember South Koreans would have riots over politics back in the 1980s? Comedians used to joke about how Korea had the best riots of any country, complete with Taekwondo kicks.
They don’t seem to be as politically stable as Japan and Taiwan.
Are we headed to reunification of Korea with the winner being Pyeongyang?
WIKI
Yoon Suk Yeol (... born 18 December 1960) is a South Korean politician and former prosecutor who served as the 13th president of South Korea from 2022 until his removal from office in 2025. A member of the People Power Party during his presidency, he was the shortest-serving directly elected president in the country’s democratic history since 1987. Yoon previously served as the prosecutor general of South Korea from 2019 to 2021.
Born in Seoul, Yoon received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in law from Seoul National University. In his capacity as chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office, he played a key role in convicting former presidents Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak for abuse of power.
On 29 June 2021, Yoon announced his candidacy in the 2022 presidential election. He joined the People Power Party (PPP) in July and won its nomination in November. Considered a conservative and economically liberal politician, Yoon ran on a platform promising economic deregulation and measures such as abolishing the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. He narrowly defeated Democratic Party nominee Lee Jae Myung by less than a percentage point on 9 March 2022 and assumed office as president on 10 May, becoming the first elected president to be born after the end to fighting in the Korean War. During his presidency, Yoon’s foreign policy has been described as both more hawkish toward North Korea and friendlier to Japan compared to previous South Korean presidents. His handling of the Seoul Halloween crowd crush in 2022 and the ongoing medical crisis has attracted criticism.
On 3 December 2024, Yoon declared martial law, the first time it had been declared in South Korea since the military dictatorship of Chun Doo-hwan in 1980. He accused members of the National Assembly of supporting North Korea, but lifted martial law after the Assembly passed an emergency motion nullifying the declaration a few hours later. Amid widespread criticism and mass protests, an impeachment motion was introduced against Yoon the next day, though it fell short of the 200 votes needed to pass.
On 7 December, Yoon apologized for declaring martial law, describing it as a “desperate decision made by me, the president, as the final authority responsible for state affairs” and saying that it would not be repeated
Yoon was successfully impeached and suspended from his presidential powers in a second vote ten days later, with 204 voting in favor, including 12 members of his own party. Yoon subsequently became the first sitting president in South Korean history to face an arrest warrant and, in January 2025, the first to be arrested and incarcerated. During his impeachment trial, it was revealed that Yoon had been planning the martial law declaration alongside Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun, a fellow graduate from Yoon’s alma mater, for several months. On 4 April, the Constitutional Court unanimously upheld Yoon’s impeachment by the National Assembly, officially terminating his presidency. Yoon announced his departure from the PPP in May. Yoon is currently being investigated for heading an insurrection, and may face either life imprisonment or the death penalty if convicted. In July 2025, Yoon was again detained and indicted on additional criminal charges, and remains in custody at this time.
The trial of Yoon for insurrection charges began on 14 April 2025. Yoon denied the charges, saying his attempt to impose martial law did not amount to an insurrection
In a Reuters interview on 19 April 2023, Yoon hinted at supplying lethal aid to Ukraine, stating that “If there is a situation the international community cannot condone, such as any large-scale attack on civilians, massacre or serious violation of the laws of war, it might be difficult for us to insist only on humanitarian or financial support.” Previously, South Korea had only provided humanitarian and economic aid to Ukraine. Yoon linked the struggle in Ukraine to the Korean War when the international community supported South Korea.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoon_Suk_Yeol
NOTE: I don’t follow events in Korea, so I quite probably missed something important.
“Prosecutors say Kim, 52, made over 800 million won ($577,940; £428,000) by participating in a price-rigging scheme involving the stocks of Deutsch Motors, a BMW dealer in South Korea.”
“She allegedly also accepted two Chanel bags and a diamond necklace as bribes from the controversial Unification Church in exchange for business favours.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz71rp7yn05o
“It [a video] appeared to show Mr Choi walking to a store to purchase the [Dior] greyish-blue calfskin bag, with a receipt putting its cost at 3m won ($2,200; £1,800). Mr Choi then visits Covana Contents, a company in Seoul owned by the first lady, where Ms Kim then asks the pastor, ‘Why do you keep bringing me these things?’”
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68090638
Answer: 28,500
Peace Time annual cost for South Korea?
Close to $15 billion.
Peace Time military assistance for Israel?
About $3 billion - plus, zero risk for USA boots-on-the-ground.
I have reviewed the photographic evidence of former first lady, Kim Keon-hee, and declare he Not Guilty
Sorry - that is 24 karat Hard Left Baloney!
Orban, Bolsonaro (Brazil), Trump, Netanyahu, and the recently deposed President of South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol, are all Conservatives and all support free enterprise capitalism.
All of them were - or still are - under relentless pressure from totally corrupt Hard Left politicians and news media.
The CCP is in control.
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