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Event flyer: fireside chat with Pita Limjaroenrat. Image: speaker headshot.

Join Pita Limjaroenrat, former leader of Thailand’s dissolved Move Forward Party, for a discussion on contemporary Thai politics and society. In this fireside chat, Pita will address audience questions on topics such as Thailand’s political and economic landscape, inequality, and democratic movements, as well as the country’s evolving relationships with ASEAN and major global powers. The discussion will also touch on broader regional challenges and the state of democracy on a global scale.

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Pita Limjaroenrat formerly led the Move Forward Party (MFP) in Thailand’s May 2023 general elections, where his social democratic platform won the most votes and seats in the Parliament. Despite this mandate, his attempts to form a government were blocked by institutional mechanisms, and the Constitutional Court dissolved the MFP on August 7. Pita’s policy focus centers on addressing grassroots issues, welfare improvements, and human rights, while advocating for the demilitarization of politics and economic de-monopolization. Currently, he is a Visiting Senior Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School. He holds a joint MPA-MBA from Harvard Kennedy School and MIT Sloan and has been named on the TIME 100 Next List. Today, Pita continues to champion transparent and equitable governance on a global scale.

Lunch will be served.

Kiyoteru Tsutsui
Kiyoteru Tsutsui, Co-Director, Southeast Asia Program at Shorenstein APARC
Pita Limjaroenrat, Visiting Senior Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School
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In the February 2025 issue of The Diplomat magazine, APARC and Korea Program Director Gi-Wook Shin, professor of sociology and the William J. Perry Professor of Contemporary Korea, discusses the political crisis in South Korea following President Yoon's ill-fated attempt to impose military rule and its implications for the country's future.

On January 26, 2025, the impeached and arrested Yoon was formally indicted on insurrection charges. Separately, the Constitutional Court has begun deliberations on whether to dismiss him as president or reinstate him. The national reaction to Yoon’s martial law declaration "underscores how South Koreans’ hard-won democracy is not taken for granted,” Shin, an expert on social movements and democracy in South Korea, says. "This episode highlights both the fragility and resilience of Korea’s young democracy."

In this interview with The Diplomat's Editor-in-Chief Shannon Tiezzi, Shin explains how sharp political polarization in Korea set the stage for the marital law episode of December 2024 and how the country can start bridging these gaps, how the prolonged political upheaval is impacting Korean economy and society, and what's ahead for the ruling People Power Party and the opposition Democratic Party.



How did South Korea’s history as a dictatorship – and past experiences of martial law – inform both Yoon’s decision to declare martial law and the public response?

South Korea’s painful history with dictatorship and martial law casts a long shadow over contemporary politics. I entered college in 1979, a year marked by the assassination of Park Chung Hee in late October and a period of intense political instability ensued under martial law. In fact, President Yoon Suk Yeol entered a college in the same year as me and it is hard to understand how he could forget these shared experiences and decided to declare martial law.

When Yoon declared martial law last December, it triggered an immediate and decisive public backlash, driven by a collective memory of decades of struggle against autocratic regimes. This reaction underscores how South Koreans’ hard-won democracy is not taken for granted. Civic groups, citizens, and lawmakers mobilized swiftly, reversing the martial law decision within six hours and passing the motion to impeach Yoon 10 days later. Despite recent backsliding, proactive civic engagement demonstrates that their experiences have informed strong commitment to safeguarding democratic principles.

Read the complete interview in The Diplomat magazine (subscription) >



Additional Media Commentary and Analysis

In recent weeks, Professor Shin has commented on and analyzed the evolving political situation in Korea via the following media outlets:

“For a United States that Remembers the Capitol Riots, Korea’s Turmoil Isn’t Someone Else’s Business”
Shindonga, January 8, 2025 (interview – Korean)

South Korea Needs to Move On from This Crisis
Bloomberg, January 8, 2025 (quoted)

It’s a Challenge for a Weakened Political Leadership in South Korea to Handle Trump Presidency
CNBC Squawk Box Asia, January 7, 2025 (interview)

South Koreans Adopt Trump's “Stop the Steal” Slogan for Impeached Yoon
AFP, January 6, 2025 (quoted)

South Korea: “The Crisis Risks Lasting Beyond the Next Presidential Election”
Les Echos, January 6, 2025 (interview)

South Korea Divided Over Yoon Standoff
BBC News - The Context, January 3,  2025 (interview)

Is South Korea a Beacon of Global Democracy?
The Korea Times, December 30, 2024 (author - Korean)

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The martial law episode — and all that followed — “reflects a broader global pattern of democratic erosion but also showcases Korea’s unique strengths," Stanford sociologist Gi-Wook Shin says in an interview with The Diplomat magazine.

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This post was originally published by the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance.

TikTok’s travails under the Trump and Biden Administrations are typically portrayed as a clash between national security interests and First Amendment protections. This tension is the focus of TikTok’s suit against the U.S. Government over a 2024 law that subjects the video platform to a ban in the United States unless it is divested from Chinese control by January 19, 2025.

But TikTok’s problems in the United States expose another serious tension: between longstanding legal doctrines of corporate identity and separate personality, on one hand, and increasing concerns over Beijing’s use of erstwhile private commercial firms as instruments of state influence, on the other. The divest-or-ban legislation illustrates that corporate law’s answers to the question of corporate identity and separateness are not definitive in a de-globalizing world.

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The TikTok ban case exposes a new reality: Contrary to widespread predictions that globalization would lead to the statelessness of large corporations, weaponized interdependence has heightened the salience of questions about corporate identity and control, as well as informal channels of state influence over commercial enterprises. TikTok’s identity crisis reveals the limitations of standard corporate law doctrines in satisfying policymakers focused on national security and geopolitical rivalry.

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This piece first appeared on the Stanford University Press Blog.


The declaration of martial law on December 3, 2024, in South Korea (hereafter Korea) stunned the world. People are still wondering how such an undemocratic measure could happen in an advanced nation like Korea, long viewed as a beacon of Asian democracy. Simply put, the declaration was President Yoon’s political suicide, based on miscalculations and poor judgment, and he is primarily to blame. His days as Korea’s top leader are numbered, and he may face criminal charges for violating the Constitution and even attempting insurrection.

Still, to understand what has happened and learn any lesson for the future of Korean democracy, we need to consider the larger historical and sociopolitical contexts. As I warned in a 2020 essay, Korea’s democracy had been gradually crumbling in a manner captured by the Korean expression “to become soaked by a light drizzle without noticing.” As I argued in that essay and elsewhere, “the subtle subversion of democratic norms across multiple spheres could one day hit Korea's young democracy with unbearable costs.” This is what we are witnessing today.


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Democratic Rise and Backsliding


Korea’s struggle for democracy has been a long and arduous journey, marked by many challenges and sacrifices. It began in April 1960 with a student movement, the country’s first large-scale, grassroots expression of the desire for democratic change. That student-led movement toppled the authoritarian Syngman Rhee regime but, in the following year, faced a military coup led by Park Chung Hee. Park ruled until his assassination by his intelligence chief in 1979, which was soon followed by another military coup led by Chun Doon Whan. Chun brutally suppressed civilian protests in the city of Kwangju in May 1980. Many Koreans, including myself, still hold painful memories of the martial laws imposed in 1979 and 1980.

Korea finally transitioned to democracy in 1987 after nationwide protests and has been considered an exemplary case of the “third wave” of democratization. Even after the transition, however, the young Korean democracy faced many challenges, including corruption charges against presidential families and even the suicide of a former president.

The real test for Korean democracy came in 2017, when then-President Park Geun Hye was impeached — a first in the nation’s history — after months of “candlelight” protests that drew tens of millions into the streets. I observed these protests firsthand. Some experts saw them as a sign that Korea’s young democracy had succumbed to populist forces and that its institutions had weakened, but I disagreed. Instead, I argued that these protests represented a movement to redress the violation of democratic institutions by the country’s political elite. Far from signaling a crisis of democracy, I further argued, Park’s impeachment was a step forward.

I had high hopes for the Moon Jae In administration that came into power through the following snap elections. President Moon, a former human rights lawyer, promised to create a new nation where “the opportunities are equal, the process is fair, and the result is just.” The public applauded his efforts: his approval ratings soared above 80 percent during his first year in office.

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3D mockup cover of APARC's volume 'South Korea's Democracy in Crisis'

Yet, warning signs did not take long to appear in various corners of Korean society. The Moon administration showed no qualms about embracing populist tactics, presenting itself as the champion of ordinary citizens in a battle against the establishment elite. In particular, this approach included a brutal campaign of political retribution to “eradicate deep-rooted evils,” which shed bad blood among conservatives. Many intellectuals in and outside Korea, including myself, grew increasingly concerned by illiberal and populist trends in Korea’s politics. This diagnosis formed the basis for my co-edited book, South Korea’s Democracy in Crisis (2022), which identifies illiberalism, populism, and polarization as key threats to the country’s hard-won democracy.

Crisis in Political Leadership


Yoon Suk-Yeol came into power in this toxic political environment, where democratic norms such as mutual toleration, coexistence, and compromise have become increasingly rare. Much like the 2020 U.S. presidential election, which was a pitched battle between pro- and anti-Trump forces, Korea’s 2022 presidential election was characterized by extreme confrontation between pro- and anti-regime forces. In both cases, a coalition of opposition groups won a narrow victory after a bruising election campaign. Yoon’s razor-thin margin of victory over his opponent Lee Jae-Myung—a mere 0.73 percentage points—is a sobering illustration of just how polarized Korea has become.

Like Joe Biden, Yoon won the conservative party’s nomination not necessarily because he provided a new vision or possessed appealing leadership qualities, but rather because he was regarded as the candidate best positioned to achieve a transfer of power. As a career prosecutor with little political preparation or experience, Yoon entered politics building on his reputation as a strong, corruption-fighting figure unyielding to political pressures. From the outset, however, his political ascendancy raised concerns. As I wrote in a 2022 column shortly after he was elected president, I felt “more apprehension than hope for the future.”

Korean politics, which is defined by a winner-take-all electoral system and a powerful presidency, further intensified tensions between the executive and legislative branches, especially as the opposition controls the National Assembly (with 192 of 300 seats). The Yoon administration was pressuring the opposition with prosecutorial investigations, and opposition leader Lee is now facing trial on multiple criminal charges, including bribery and corruption. In response, the opposition kept passing bills that the president then vetoed, such as the appointment of a special, independent counsel to investigate allegations surrounding First Lady Kim Keon-Hee.

In this highly contentious, polarized political landscape, Yoon’s declaration of martial law can be understood as a desperate attempt to assert control. Reportedly, Yoon said he made the declaration to send a strong warning to the opposition.

Crisis, Growing Pain, or Opportunity?


Now that both Yoon’s attempt to govern the country through martial law and the opposition’s motion to impeach him failed, Korea will suffer from political turmoil and uncertainties for the foreseeable future. The opposition will continue to press for Yoon’s impeachment, vowing to bring the motion to the floor every week until it is passed, while public anger and protests will only increase. There is no realistic path for Yoon to complete his term, which still has more than two years remaining, but it is uncertain how his presidency will end.

While preparing for a new political leadership, Koreans can reflect on their conflict-ridden journey to democracy and turn this crisis into an opportunity for political reforms. There is broad agreement in Korea that the institutions created by the 1987 democratic Constitution, referred to as the “1987 regime,” have outlived their historical purpose. The 1987 Constitution created an extremely powerful presidency with a single-term limit, giving rise to a host of negative repercussions. All but 47 of the 300 seats in the National Assembly are filled through winner-take-all elections in single-member districts. Constitutional reform is required to address the former, and electoral reform is needed to fix the latter. Political calculations, however, have continued to stymie efforts to overhaul these reforms.

Korea’s political culture must also change. Demonizing opponents, divisive identity politics, and insular political fandoms and populism have no place in a healthy democracy. A pluralistic, democratic society naturally encompasses a wide variety of views.

The turmoil in Korea clearly attests to the urgency of shifting toward a healthier political culture and enacting institutional reform. Without such changes, the country risks facing similar crises in the future.

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The historical and sociopolitical contexts of President Yoon’s declaration of martial law and its aftermath

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The Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC), Stanford University’s hub for the interdisciplinary study of contemporary Asia, invites nominations for the 2025 Shorenstein Journalism Award. The award recognizes outstanding journalists and journalism organizations for their significant contributions to reporting on the complexities of the Asia-Pacific region. The 2025 award will honor an Asian news media outlet or a journalist whose work has primarily appeared in Asian news media. Award nomination entries are due by Saturday, February 15, 2025.

Sponsored by APARC, the award carries a cash prize of US $10,000. It alternates between recipients who have primarily contributed to Asian news media and those whose work has mainly appeared in Western news media. In the 2025 cycle, the award will recognize a recipient from the former category. The Award Selection Committee invites nominations from news editors, publishers, scholars, teachers, journalists, news media outlets, journalism associations, and entities focused on researching and interpreting the Asia-Pacific region. Self-nominations are not accepted.

The award defines the Asia-Pacific region as encompassing Northeast, Southeast, South, and Central Asia, as well as Australasia. Both individual journalists with a substantial body of work and journalism organizations are eligible for the award. Nominees’ work may be in print or broadcast journalism or in emerging forms of multimedia journalism. The Award Selection Committee, comprised of journalism and Asia experts, judges nomination entries and selects the honorees.

An annual tradition since 2002, the award honors the legacy of APARC benefactor, Mr. Walter H. Shorenstein, and his twin passions for promoting excellence in journalism and understanding of Asia. Throughout its history, the award has recognized world-class journalists who push the boundaries of reporting on Asia. Recent honorees include The New York Times' Chief China Correspondent Chris Buckley; India's long-form narrative journalism magazine The Caravan; Burmese journalist and human rights defender Swe Win; and Maria Ressa, CEO of the Philippine news platform Rappler and 2021 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

Award nominations are accepted electronically via our online entry form through Saturday, February 15, 2025, at 11:59 PM PST. For information about the nomination rules and to submit an entry please visit the award nomination entry page. APARC will announce the winner by April 2025 and present the award at a public ceremony at Stanford in autumn quarter 2025.

Please direct all inquiries to aparc-communications@stanford.edu.

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Turmoil in South Korea After Brief Martial Law: Stanford’s Gi-Wook Shin Weighs In

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Sponsored by Stanford University’s Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, the annual Shoresntein Award promotes excellence in journalism on the Asia-Pacific region and carries a cash prize of US $10,000. The 2025 award will honor an Asian news media outlet or a journalist whose work has primarily appeared in Asian news media. Nomination entries are due by February 15, 2025.

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Story last updated December 15, 2024


On December 3, 2024, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol abruptly declared martial law in a dramatic response to the political deadlock that has stymied his tenure, only to rescind the decision six hours later, sparking widespread protests and plunging the nation — one of the United States’ closest allies — into turmoil.

What were Yoon’s motivations? What happens now? What are the implications of the dramatic events for South Korea’s democracy?

Stanford sociologist Gi-Wook Shin, the William J. Perry Professor of Contemporary Korea and the director of APARC and its Korea Program, has written extensively about South Korea’s democratic decay and is the co-editor of the volume "South Korea’s Democracy in Crisis: The Threats of Illiberalism, Populism, and Polarization" (Shorenstein APARC, 2022). This news roundup highlights Shin's commentary on Korea's political turmoil, published in national and international media. We update it as this developing story unfolds.

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Elected in 2022 by a razor-thin margin of less than one percentage point over his left-wing rival, Yoon entered office as a political outsider with an unyielding approach to leadership. “He may have been a successful prosecutor, but he entered politics without much preparation,” Shin told the Financial Times. “He is completely out of touch if he thought he could run the country through martial law.”

Yoon came into power in a toxic political environment, where democratic norms have become increasingly rare. Korean politics, shaped by a winner-take-all electoral system and a dominant presidency, has further heightened the tensions between the executive and legislative branches, writes Shin in a Stanford University Press blog post, explaining the historical and sociopolitical contexts of Yoon’s martial law declaration and its aftermath.

Yoon has been a “lame duck” president since the opposition Democratic Party (DP) secured a landslide victory in the April 2024 National Assembly elections. His audacious martial law declaration was “a surprising last-ditch move to grab political power" in the face of steadily falling approval ratings, Shin told AFP and Vox. But this move “is basically political suicide” that “will only fasten the demise of his political career," Shin added.

On the morning following his short-lived martial law bid, members of the DP submitted a motion to impeach Yoon. “He really has two options: resign or face impeachment,” Shin said in an interview with BBC Newsday. Yoon has lost the public trust, legitimacy, and even his mandate to rule the country. “He should resign, it's better for him and the country, but I doubt that he will,” noted Shin, predicting a political ruckus over impeachment during the coming days and weeks. Watch the complete interview below:

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Gi-Wook Shin speaking to a BBC News host during a video interview.


Should Korean citizens be worried about the future of their democracy? Yes and no, explained Shin in an interview on NPR’s "All Things Considered." In the short term, there will likely be significant political instability and societal uncertainty, with potential economic repercussions, he said. In the long run, however, Shin believes that Korea’s strong democratic institutions will ensure its democracy will prevail. He emphasized that he remains optimistic and encouraged by how swiftly and decisively the martial law attempt failed. Listen to the conversation:

Martial law was last imposed in South Korea in 1980 by Chun Doon Whan, a general who seized power through a coup after the 1979 assassination of President Park Chung Hee — himself a former general who had also used martial law to crack down on student-led dissent during his rule. Chun brutally suppressed civilian protests in the city of Kwangju in May 1980. Many Korean people, including Shin, who was a student at the time, still hold painful memories of this violent episode in Korean history. Shin reflected on that period in an interview on WBUR’s OnPoint program (listen starting 35:24).

But the situation today is very different from when South Korea was fighting against dictatorship, Shin told The Washington Post. “Democracy was not given to the Korean people. It was hard fought and won,” he said. “I believe Korean democracy will come out stronger after this.”

This week’s turn of events has highlighted “both the vulnerabilities and resilience of South Korean democracy”, Shin told the Financial Times. It has exposed challenges and problems including polarization, potential executive overreach, and weakened public trust, "but the swift rejection of martial law by the National Assembly and public outcry demonstrated strong institutional checks, civic engagement, and the opportunity to reinforce democratic safeguards.”

Yoon justified the imposition of martial law as a measure to protect South Korea from the threats of North Korea's communist threat and prevent gridlock by “anti-state” forces, referring to the DP, his liberal opposition.

“I am sure North Korea will be watching the situation very closely and may issue a statement condemning the martial law [...] Other than that, I don't think they will take any immediate action,” Shin told Newsweek in the hours before Yoon reversed course, predicting that Yoon’s ploy would be short-lived as it would face fierce national resistance.

The United States, which has around 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea, was unaware of Yoon's intention to declare martial law. The White House voiced relief over Yoon’s decision to rescind his martial law bid, emphasizing that the United States reaffirms its “support for the people of Korea and the U.S.-ROK alliance based on shared principles of democracy and the rule of law.” Shin believes the alliance is resilient enough to weather Korea’s political turmoil. "I don't think the situation will affect the alliance that much," he remarked on NPR’s "All Things Considered."

This episode is also a stern warning to the world: People should take democratic backsliding in their countries seriously. If such an event can happen in Korea [...] then it can happen anywhere that is experiencing similar democratic challenges.
Gi-Wook Shin, Journal of Democracy

 

A Tumultuous Road Ahead — And Lessons for Democracies Worldwide


What's next for South Korea after the martial law crisis? If Yoon does not resign, then the main opposition party will pursue impeachment. The National Assembly must vote on the motion within 72 hours after it is introduced, and the Constitutional Court has 180 days to make a ruling. A snap election would follow if impeachment is upheld, explains Shin.

The conservative People Power Party (PPP) will need to evaluate carefully the political landscape and their election prospects, and might not necessarily abandon President Yoon. “There is a difference between voting to stop martial law and voting in favor of an impeachment that would likely guarantee an opposition victory in the snap election to follow,” Shin told TIME Magazine.

While PPP leader Han Dong-hoon, once Yoon's protégé, has urged the president to resign, citing “significant risks” to the nation, impeachment poses a tough choice for the ruling party, which remains haunted by the 2017 impeachment of Park Geun Hye, Shin explains in the Journal of Democracy. Conservative leaders lost the snap election following Park's removal and faced intense political retribution under her liberal successor, Moon Jae In. History could repeat itself now, although DP opposition leader Lee Jae Myung is facing trial on multiple criminal charges. "This alternative to Yoon does not appear as promising for Korean democracy as one would hope," Shin notes.

Yoon's doomed power grab is "a stern warning to the world: People should take democratic backsliding in their countries seriously," Shin concludes his Journal of Democracy essay. "If such an event can happen in Korea — an advanced nation long regarded as an exemplary case of the 'third wave' of democratization — then it can happen anywhere that is experiencing similar democratic challenges. This is a critical lesson for democracies worldwide."

As Shin expected, President Yoon avoided impeachment on Saturday, December 7, after PPP lawmakers boycotted a parliamentary vote on the impeachment motion proposed by opposition parties, despite massive public protests outside the National Assembly.

The PPP defended its decision, stating it acted to prevent "severe division and chaos" and pledged to address the crisis "responsibly." PPP leader Han Dong-hoon claimed Yoon had agreed to step down and would be "effectively excluded from his duties," with the prime minister and party taking over governance in the interim.

“I don't think Korean people have the patience to wait for this plan to work out,” said Shin in a BBC News interview. He explained that the ruling PPP is trying to buy time, but Yoon will have to go sooner or later. The opposition parties have declared their intent to file an impeachment motion against Yoon every week until it is passed. With growing public anger and mounting demonstrations, pressure on the ruling party is expected to intensify, Shin said. Watch:

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Screenshot of a live BBC News interview wtih Gi-Wook Shin.


As Yoon clung to power, the National Assembly passed a bill on December 10 mandating a special counsel to investigate insurrection charges against him. The ruling party "might delay the demise of Yoon's tenure but won't prevent it — its road will be messier," Shin told AFP.

Shin is concerned that this crisis in political leadership and the resulting leadership vacuum spell trouble for South Korea on the world stage. The nation already faces mounting foreign policy challenges with President-elect Trump’s anticipated policies and a new prime minister in Japan. It’s unclear how it can effectively navigate critical issues involving the United States, Japan, North Korea, and China amidst such instability, Shin told BBC News.

While preparing for a new political leadership, Koreans can reflect on their conflict-ridden journey to democracy and turn this crisis into an opportunity for political reforms.
Gi-Wook Shin, Stanford University Press Blog

Winds of Change


On December 14, South Korea's National Assembly voted to impeach Yoon, passing the motion 204-85 (including a dozen ruling party members) as jubilant crowds celebrated a triumph for the country’s democracy. Yoon's presidential duties were suspended, and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo will take over as acting president. The Constitutional Court now has 180 days to decide whether to remove Yoon from office or reinstate him. If he is removed, a national election to select his successor must be held within 60 days.

Shin believes the likelihood the Constitutional Court will overturn the impeachment is low, as Yoon’s constitutional violations appear quite clear. “Certainly, Yoon will go down in Korean history as a very poor political leader,” he remarked in the latest interview with BBC News, several hours after the impeachment vote.

The day after the passage of the impeachment bill, Han Dong-hoon announced his resignation as leader of the ruling People Power party, saying his position had become untenable after he backed Yoon’s impeachment. The PPP is in turmoil, attempting to buy time to be better prepared for the potential snap election that could follow than it was in the 2017 scenario, Shin explained, expressing skepticism about the PPP’s chances of success. Watch the interview:

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Gi-Wook Shin speaking to a BBS News host during a video interview.


The crisis offers Korean people an opportunity to reflect on their tumultuous democratic journey and push for necessary reforms stymied by political calculations, Shin writes on Stanford University Press’ blog. He explains that addressing the negative consequences of the nation’s extremely powerful presidency and the winner-take-all voting system requires constitutional and electoral reforms.

“Korea’s political culture must also change,” Shin emphasizes. “Demonizing opponents, divisive identity politics, and insular political fandoms and populism have no place in a healthy democracy.”



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South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung (C) and candidates, watches TVs broadcasting the results of exit polls for the parliamentary election at the National Assembly on April 10, 2024 in Seoul, South Korea.
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“Korea Is Facing a Crisis in Political Leadership”: Stanford Sociologist Gi-Wook Shin Unpacks the Korean Parliamentary Elections

Following the disappointing performance of South Korea’s ruling People Power Party in the April 10 parliamentary elections, Stanford sociologist and APARC Director Gi-Wook Shin analyzes the implications of the election outcomes for President Yoon’s domestic and foreign policies and Korean society and economy.
“Korea Is Facing a Crisis in Political Leadership”: Stanford Sociologist Gi-Wook Shin Unpacks the Korean Parliamentary Elections
Gi-Wook Shin, Evan Medeiros, and Xinru Ma in conversation at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
News

Stanford Next Asia Policy Lab Engages Washington Stakeholders with Policy-Relevant Research on US-China Relations and Regional Issues in Asia

Lab members recently shared data-driven insights into U.S.-China tensions, public attitudes toward China, and racial dynamics in Asia, urging policy and academic communities in Washington, D.C. to rethink the Cold War analogy applied to China and views of race and racism in Asian nations.
Stanford Next Asia Policy Lab Engages Washington Stakeholders with Policy-Relevant Research on US-China Relations and Regional Issues in Asia
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As political chaos plays out in South Korea following President Yoon Suk Yeol's short-lived martial law attempt, Stanford sociologist Gi-Wook Shin, the director of APARC and its Korea Program, analyzes the fast-moving developments.

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