South Korea Is Badly Exposed to the Risk of Political Paralysis

Compromise and unity, not division and strife, are what it needs

- KARISHMA VASWANI

South Korea's prolonged political crisis appears to have no end in sight. It's just over a month since President Yoon Suk Yeol declared, then lifted, martial law, and since then, the domestic and regional challenges have been multiplying.

To manage the chaos, citizens need to set aside their differences and find a way out of the impasse. That won't be easy.

Animosity between factions runs deep. Attempts to arrest Yoon, impeached on 14 December, have so far ended in vain. His supporters marched in the streets, calling for authorities to "Stop the Steal," a reference to the chant that Trump's camp echoed against President Joe Biden in the 2020 election, alleging his victory was rigged.

Yoon has remained defiant. He's also under criminal investigation for insurrection, but has vowed to "fight until the end," hiding out in his Seoul home protected by a blockade of buses, barbed wire, crowds of supporters and his own armed security guards.

It's unclear whether authorities will be able to arrest him without risking a violent confrontation.

His fate has become a lightning rod for South Korea's growing political divisions. The gap between loyalists and those who want him out is widening, a worrying development in a relatively young democracy.