Home > Opinion > Columns

Impeachment or reinstatement, the cycle of political retribution must end

Published: 17 Mar. 2025, 00:02

Choi Hoon

The author is the senior columnist at the JoongAng Ilbo.

The Constitutional Court is set to deliver its ruling on President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment. Whether it upholds his removal from office or dismisses the case — allowing his return to power — the nation faces an inevitable crisis in its aftermath. The Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci once described a crisis as a moment when “the old is dying, and the new cannot yet be born.” This definition seems particularly apt.

Whether through revolutions, impeachments, elections or reforms — even in corporate management — removing past injustices, contradictions and abuses is, in itself, a desirable form of progress. However, if the space left behind is not filled with new institutions and cultures that take root, the very same problems will resurface, zombielike, before long. A crisis is when the past’s vicious cycle repeats itself, with no foreseeable hope for the future.

Should Yoon return, the only viable path to overcoming the crisis would be to follow through on the argument he made in his final defense: “My last duty is to pursue constitutional reform without clinging to my remaining term.” A swift constitutional revision, followed by an orderly transition, would be the best course of action. Completing the more than two years left in his presidency in full would be difficult, as public trust in his leadership has already eroded — not solely because of the martial law controversy, but due to his frequent displays of arrogance, lack of wisdom and questionable qualifications for the presidency. With his political momentum drained, the nation would bear the brunt of diplomatic and economic losses.

Even if Yoon is removed from office and a presidential election is held in May, the crisis will not simply vanish — unless something truly new emerges. What, exactly, would make the future different from the political dysfunction that has plagued Korea since Park Geun-hye’s impeachment eight years ago?

Protesters for President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment, left, and protesters against the impeachment rally at central Seoul, on March 15. [YONHAP]

Thus, the most urgent priority is constitutional reform — whether by adopting a four-year, two-term presidency or a parliamentary system in which the National Assembly appoints the prime minister — so that the imperial presidency can be dismantled and power distributed more evenly through a system of checks and balances. Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party and the frontrunner to succeed Yoon, should recognize that his most honorable political legacy lies not in securing the presidency, but in sharing the historic responsibility of institutional reform. If he clings to the old ways without offering anything new, Korea’s crisis will only deepen.

At the same time, there is one old practice that must be eradicated: the vicious cycle of political revenge.

In films like “Kill Bill” (2003-2004) and “The Man from Nowhere,” (2010), audiences cheer for protagonists like Uma Thurman and Won Bin as they take justice into their own hands. Psychologists suggest that the human instinct for vengeance is deeply ingrained, passed down like an emotional gene. At times, retribution even serves a social function by exposing and restraining abuses of power. The problem arises when revenge spirals out of control, unchecked by law or ethics.

Korea’s cycle of political retaliation began in earnest with the special investigation into the Park Geun-hye scandal in 2017, carried out under the banner of “eradicating deep-rooted evils.” More than 1,000 people were investigated, over 200 were arrested, and five took their own lives. During the 1504 Gapja Sahwa purge under King Yeonsan in the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) — considered one of the worst political purges in Korean history — 239 people were punished, including executions. The intensity of political retribution in 2017 was not far off.

It did not take long for the excesses of that period to become evident. Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae, whom then-Seoul Central District Prosecutor Yoon led the charge in prosecuting, was acquitted of all 47 charges in his first trial last year. That number — 47 — lays bare the overreach of those prosecutions.

Protesters for President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment hold their pickets up high at Gwanghwamun, Jongno District, central Seoul, on March 15. [NEWS1]

Adding to the absurdity, after his recent release from prison, Yoon reflected, “As I stepped out of the detention center, I thought about the people I had incarcerated — how they must have endured.” That coming from the very man who led the charge against them is confounding.

In 2018 alone, 7,879 public officials were investigated for abuse of power — more than three times the number from a decade prior. In 2020, the acquittal rate for cases labeled “deep-rooted evils” was 15.8 percent — five times higher than the 3.1 percent acquittal rate for regular criminal cases. The numbers suggest an extraordinary level of politically motivated prosecution that blurred the lines of legality. The political revenge monster unleashed then shows no signs of retreating back into its bottle.

The root cause of this vicious cycle can be traced to a critical miscalculation by the Moon Jae-in administration. It wrongly assumed that the 80 percent of the public who carried candles in support of Park Geun-hye’s impeachment were pledging allegiance to its ideology. That was a historic error. In reality, those demonstrators represented a broad coalition that included moderates and conservatives.

However, Moon’s government equated its administration with reform itself, reducing politics to a battle of good versus evil. The ruling elite of former student activists, eager to strike a blow against the conservative establishment, joined forces with politically ambitious prosecutors, fueling a storm of retribution.

The moment politics ceases to be a space for dialogue, retaliation begins. When politicians abandon negotiation and compromise — the very essence of democracy — they instead weaponize the judiciary to settle every dispute. The result? A landscape where the only tools left are protests outside the courts, impeachment attempts, lawsuits and criminal trials.

This stands in stark contrast to the fundamental principle of democracy outlined by America’s Founding Fathers, as articulated by James Hamilton: “No man should be the judge in his own case.”

Two people walk on the ″special step-on Lee Jae-myung zone″ that was prepared by protesters against the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol on March 15. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Regardless of whether Yoon is removed or reinstated, the toxic cycle of political revenge must stop. One of the “new” changes we must build is eradicating retaliatory politics.

Perhaps the best answer lies with former President Kim Dae-jung, who suffered under regional discrimination and red-baiting throughout his career. As he once said:

“What good does revenge do? Will it bring back the dead or heal our wounds? Forgiveness is not about lacking principles. True vindication is not about settling personal scores — it is about achieving long-awaited dreams, like overcoming our long history of frustrated democracy.”

Korea’s politicians must now ask themselves: What is their ultimate aspiration?

Translated using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.