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'We have no choice': Former President Yoon's friends are ghosting him, sources say

Published: 21 Jun. 2025, 16:52 Updated: 21 Jun. 2025, 19:27

Ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol attends a court hearing on charges of insurrection and abuse of power at the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul on June 16. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol has almost no visitors from the conservative sphere, sources from the conservative faction said Friday.

Multiple conservative sources said that Yoon’s former aides and conservative People Power Party (PPP) lawmakers have barely visited or called Yoon since the launch of the Lee Jae Myung administration.

It appears that pro-Yoon lawmakers who used to dine out with him near his residence in Seocho District, southern Seoul, before the June 3 presidential election no longer make appearances with Yoon, who was ousted in early April after the Constitutional Court ruled his botched martial law declaration unconstitutional.

While the PPP appears to be undergoing political controversy regarding whether or not to distance itself from Yoon — whom the party backed during his presidency — the reality is that former allies and aides to Yoon say that they have already severed ties with the former president.

Some said that such distancing was inevitable.

A former presidential office official said that Yoon’s visitors have to go through security and police to meet with him, which means the gathering could be directly reported to the current government. “To my knowledge, Yoon’s closest aides have not been communicating with him lately,” the former official said.

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, walk toward their vehicle after casting their ballots for the presidential election in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on June 3. [JANG JIN-YOUNG]

The view among conservative insiders is that Yoon’s former allies are staying away from him due to the sensitive timing of the launch of three special counsel probes related to his martial law declaration, as well as bribery and stock manipulation allegations against former first lady Kim Keon Hee and the death of a marine corporal during Yoon’s presidency.

A source from the PPP said, “The reality is, the only remaining subject of the investigation is Yeouido, so we have no choice but to shrink back." Yeouido, western Seoul, is the neighborhood where the National Assembly in located.

Sources say several PPP lawmakers who played major roles in Yoon’s administration, including those who visited Yoon when he was about to be arrested after his impeachment, have changed their phone numbers and shredded documents at their offices in preparation for a potential investigation.

After Yoon’s martial law imposition on Dec. 3 of last year, presidential office personnel split largely into three factions: hard-liners who firmly insisted on defending Yoon to the end, those who decided to respect the judicial rulings on Yoon’s case and those who left the office feeling disappointed in Yoon.

A former presidential official who served under Yoon said they were enraged after seeing several colleagues laughing on the day of Yoon's arrest.

Some conservative insiders said, "Yoon himself has caused all of this.”

Despite former aides’ objections, Yoon watched a movie about allegations of election fraud with former history lecturer Jeon Han-gil. The suspicion of election fraud was one of the reasons that Yoon relied on to justify his martial law declaration.

The move did not help the PPP, which needed support from swing voters.

“I was told that Yoon went to see the movie out of guilt for Jeon,” the former official said. “However, I was bitter that Yoon seemingly did not care about his former aides who lost their jobs and political futures.”

BY PARK TAE-IN [[email protected]]