The complex and ever-changing South Korean political scene has always been one of the focuses of attention of the international community, in addition to the "Blue House curse" related to previous presidents, the fierce political disputes have also attracted attention from all walks of life.
Especially at present, Lee Jae-myung, leader of South Korea's largest opposition party, the United Democratic Party, went on hunger strike and was sent to the hospital, which has aroused widespread attention.
In South Korea, nonviolent expressions of dissent, such as hunger strikes, shaving heads, and sit-ins, have always been part of the country's political culture, and the situation is often highly variable as to whether it can achieve the desired effect of protesters.
This time, Lee Jae-myung's hunger strike mainly included demanding that Yoon Seok-yue comprehensively reshuffle his cabinet, apologize to the people for "undermining democracy and people's livelihood", and asking Yoon Seok-yue to clearly express his opposition to Japan's discharge of nuclear sewage.
But at present, until Lee Jae-myung was admitted to the hospital, Yoon Seok-yue's government has not responded and compromised.
It is worth noting that this is not the first time that Lee has gone on hunger strike.
In 2016, when Lee Jae-myung was mayor of Seongnam, he went on a 10-day hunger strike in Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul due to strong opposition from then-President Park Geun-hye due to strong opposition to the implementation of welfare policies.
Shortly after that, Park Geun-hye was exposed to the scandal of "cronies interfering in politics", and Lee Jae-myung once again raised his arms and raised the banner of opposition to Park Geun-hye, the first person in South Korean politics at that time to demand Park Geun-hye's resignation.
From this point of view, Park Geun-hye and Lee Jae-myung still have a certain holiday. It is also because of these events that Lee Jae-myung has won the favor of Moon Jae-in, and will also represent the Democratic Party in the presidential election in 2022, and is regarded as Moon's "successor". But in the end, Lee Jae-myung lost the election to Yoon Seok-yue.
In addition, Yoon Seok-yue's National Power Party is the largest conservative party in South Korea, and the party's top and backbone are also from the party of former presidents such as Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak, and Yoon Seok-yue's rise to power also indicates that Moon Jae-in, Lee Jae-myung and the Democratic Party will be more targeted, or retaliated and "liquidated".
At present, Lee Jae-myung has been investigated and prosecuted by the prosecutor many times, and Moon Jae-in and many of his former old subordinates have also been targeted by the prosecutor.
Now, Lee Jae-myung has launched a counterattack against Yoon's government through hunger strikes, exacerbating political turmoil in South Korea and further prompting Yoon Seok-yue to launch a more intense offensive.
On the 19th, the South Korean President's Office said that Yoon Seok-yue approved the request for consent to Lee Jae-myung's arrest on the eve of going to the United States to attend the United Nations General Assembly, and then the bill on the arrest of Lee Jae-myung will be submitted to the South Korean National Assembly for a vote on the 21st.
It can be seen that Yin Xiyue is trying to interrupt the hunger strike process by arresting Lee Jae-myung, and at the same time, he also has the intention of further retaliating against Lee Jae-myung through this move.
On the 20th, according to Korean media reports, Li Zaiming has woken up after being sent to the hospital for treatment, but still refuses to eat anything, relying only on infusions to survive, seemingly planning to carry out the hunger strike to the end.
You know, an adult hunger strike for a few days is indispensable, and 60-year-old Li Zaiming has been on hunger strike for 21 days, you can imagine the grim situation.
To this end, Moon Jae-in also left his hometown and returned to Seoul again, first visiting Lee Jae-myung, persuading him to stop his hunger strike, and praising him for having fully demonstrated the sincerity and perseverance of the hunger strike, and now it is time to cheer up and fight as soon as possible.
Later, Moon attended the ceremony marking the fifth anniversary of the 9/19 Pyongyang Joint Declaration, where he strongly criticized Yoon's foreign policy as "seriously off track" and said that his "bias toward cooperation with the United States and Japan and neglect dialogue with China, Russia and North Korea" would cause South Korea to lose its "diplomatic balance" and expose South Korea to more security and economic losses and blows.
In addition, at the same time that Moon Jae-in lashed out at Yoon, the Korean independence movement memorial group also held a meeting to severely criticize the Yoon government's "denial of the history of the independence movement."
Prior to this, the Yoon Seok-yue government not only did not ask the Japanese government to apologize for historical issues such as labor cases, but also demolished the investigation of famous anti-Japanese generals in the Ministry of Defense and other places, and replaced them with statues of pro-Japanese generals in South Korea, coupled with Yoon Seok-yue's repeated "platform" for Japan's "sewage discharge" incident, which caused strong anger and difficulty among the people, and Yin Xiyue's support rate also continued to decline.
Now, with Moon Jae-in coming out again and speaking out against Yoon Seok-yue, South Korean circles have expressed dissatisfaction and criticism, and Yoon Seok-yue's situation will be even more worrying.
Finally, let me make three superficial observations.
1, the worse Yoon Seok-yue's situation is, the fiercer the battle in South Korean politics will be.
On the one hand, Yoon Seok-yue has been in power for a long time, the situation of South Korea's "big Ono" has not changed, and the Democratic Party still has the largest number of seats in the National Assembly, which will restrict Yoon Seok-yue's administration everywhere.
On the other hand, Yoon Seok-yue, Park Geun-hye, and the Kuomintang have new and old grudges between the Kuomintang and Moon Jae-in and Lee Jae-myung, and now that Lee Jae-myung is mired in a judicial dispute, Yoon Seok-hye will naturally not miss this opportunity to fight back.
Even, if Lee Jae-myung is arrested, Yoon Seok-yue may use this matter to ferment and divert the public's attention from his poor governance. Of course, if Lee Jae-myung is arrested, it will be equivalent to revenge in disguise for Park Geun-hye.
2, Lee Jae-myung's refusal to stop the hunger strike is a huge challenge for both the Korean government and the opposition.
For the Democratic Party, a hunger strike for more than 20 days is no small matter, and if it fails to achieve the desired results, what measures will be taken to continue the protests?
For Yoon Seok-yue's government and the Kuomintang Party, if Lee's hunger strike recurs, combined with Yoon Seok-yue's criticism of Lee Jae-myung, South Korean public opinion can easily blame it on Yoon Seok-yue's continued pressure on Lee Jae-myung.
At that time, Yin Xiyue will also face severe public opinion pressure and political pressure.
3. As Moon Jae-in said, Yoon Seok-hyeol now ignores various crises in South Korea by focusing on foreign policy and courting the United States and Japan, which will not only put South Korea's diplomacy in a serious situation, but also further escalate the turmoil and crisis in South Korea. At that time, Yoon Seok-yue, whose support rate has fallen endlessly, will also usher in a greater political crisis, and the presidential throne will become more and more shaky.
Where to go, Yin Xiyue really had to think twice.