S8 Ep176: Martial Law in South Korea and the Shadow of the North: Colleagues Morse Tan and Gordon Chang discuss South Korea facing severe political turmoil following President Yoon's declaration of martial law, a move his supporters argue was a constitutional respo

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🗓️ 9 December 2025

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

Martial Law in South Korea and the Shadow of the North: Colleagues Morse Tan and Gordon Chang discuss South Korea facing severe political turmoil following President Yoon's declaration of martial law, a move his supporters argue was a constitutional response to obstructionist anti-state forces; the opposition, led by figures previously sympathetic to North Korea, has been accused of attempting to paralyze the government, while accusations of "insurrection" against President Yoon are dismissed as nonsensical, with the political infighting fracturing the conservative party and leaving South Korea vulnerable to the North Korean regime in a way not seen since the Korean War.
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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is CBSI on the world. I'm John Batchel. Gordon Chang, at Gordon G. Chang, my colleague and co-host, and we're headed to the Korean Peninsula. Puzzles. And we welcome Morse Tan, former U.S. ambassador at large for global criminal justice, and a man who leads the international election monitoring team for South Korean election earlier this year.
0:28.0	Oh, yes, earlier this year, because we have questions now about the doubts about the result of the election,
0:36.5	having to do with how the previous president, President
0:39.4	Ewan, was moved from office in order to make room for President Yee, who raises his own questions.
0:46.1	Morris, I'm glad you're here because Gordon and I are both puzzled about South Korea for some time.
0:52.0	President Yee is understood to be left of center. President Ewan was understood to be left of center. President Ewan
0:55.7	was understood to be right of center. I'm speaking diplomatically. You are. President Eun now and
1:01.8	his party, the conservative party, out of power, are said to be disputing the events of the
1:08.9	prior to the election during the crisis known as martial law crisis.
1:14.5	There was all kinds of headlines and finger pointing and demonstrations in the street.
1:19.5	As I understand it, reflecting back, there was very much for years an effort by the left in South Korea to dislodge the right in some
1:30.7	fashion whatever and once they got hold of the blue palace, blue house, they would hold on to it
1:36.1	for reuniting with North Korea, which seemed strange to me why anybody would want to do such a
1:43.0	thing. But that was what I was told. It hasn't happened.
1:46.2	President Yi is in power. It hasn't happened. But he said things that are sympathetic to the
1:51.6	idea. Now, I raised this only because since then, North Korea has been involved, deeply involved,
1:59.9	in the unlawful and outrageous conduct in Ukraine,
2:04.4	both sending soldiers, combat soldiers, millions of tons of its arsenal, and now is said
2:11.3	to be contributing to workers to build drones to attack Ukrainians.
2:15.5	We're not talking about reuniting with a desperate, starving country
2:20.4	that needs help. We're talking about reuniting with a member of the adversaries of freedom.
2:27.7	So please help me understand the doubts and the conservatives out of power and the confidence
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