‘Shame on S. Korean presidential couple’: Yoon and wife condemned by alma maters
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Students at President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon Hee’s former schools have condemned Mr Yoon's botched declaration of martial law on Dec 3.
PHOTO: AFP
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SEOUL - Students at President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon Hee’s former schools have joined in the nationwide condemnation of what is being seen as the president’s act of insurgence via declaration of martial law on Dec 3.
The student council of Chungam High School said in an official statement that the government declaring martial law was a wrongful action that plunged the nation into chaos.
President Yoon, commander of the Defence Counterintelligence Command Yeo In-hyung, then-Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun and then-Interior Minister Lee Sang-min are all graduates of the same school, earning the nickname “Chungam Faction” based on their loyalty to the president.
“Chungam High School’s student council wholeheartedly agrees with the nation’s furore sparked by the Dec 3 incident. However, the president and the individuals in question graduated from Chungam some 40 years ago. They have but passed briefly through this school, and have no association whatever with the current students,” the student council said.
In the aftermath of the martial law incident, Chungam students have been subject to insults and threats, with school staff receiving a barrage of phone calls in protest against the president’s actions. The school even permitted students to not wear the school uniform
Students at Myungil Girls’ High School, where First Lady Kim graduated from in 1991, put up posters decrying Ms Kim for her alleged unlawful involvement in state affairs. Ms Kim has long been suspected of political interference without authority, which has not yet been proven by an official investigation.
“Dear Kim Keon Hee. How are you? We are not well. When we take a taxi, when we go to school events, we say in a shameful voice that (our destination) is Myungil,” reads one of the posters. “We will continue to be more ashamed of Myungil the more you interfere with state affairs, and the less you feel ashamed of the president’s martial law.”
The students concluded by urging for Mr Yoon’s impeachment and Ms Kim’s arrest.
Both of Mr Yoon and Ms Kim’s old universities – Seoul National University (SNU) and Kyonggi University, respectively – were among dozens of universities across the country to denounce the martial law decree and the president’s actions. SNU and Kyonggi University both said Mr Yoon’s impeachment is the only way for democratic order to be restored in the country.
A second National Assembly vote for Mr Yoon’s impeachment is slated for Dec 14, with a handful of ruling party lawmakers expressing the intent to vote for Mr Yoon’s ouster, or at least participate in the vote. The last impeachment vote took place on Dec 7, but was thwarted when 105 members of the ruling People Power Party boycotted the process.
At least 200 of the 300 members of the Parliament must vote in favour for the impeachment motion to be passed by the National Assembly, after which the Constitutional Court must reach a decision on the matter within 180 days. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
