Every day this past week, Kim Kwon-seop, 72, joined thousands of other people who gathered near the home of ousted South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol. They were determined to protect Mr. Yoon from prosecutors who wanted to imprison him on treason charges stemming from his temporary declaration of martial law last month.
For them, it was the opposition parties who staged a coup d’état, abusing much of their power in the Assembly—repeatedly thwarting the efforts of Mr. Yoon is political. For them, most of the opposition parties in the parliament were invalid because the elections last April were rigged. And to them, to protect Mr. Yoon was like defending South Korea from “North Korean sympathizers” who have taken root in every corner of their society, from the judiciary to schools to the media.
South Koreans tend to dismiss such conspiracy theories as little more than online hype spread by right-wing YouTubers with the help of social media algorithms. But as the political tensions in the country have become entrenched, they have fueled the unrest over Mr. Yoon’s situation, which has made fanatic believers like Mr. Kim come out in large numbers on the streets demanding that the president return to office.
“Every time I leave home to go to this meeting every day, I tell my wife that this may be the last time she sees me alive, because I am ready to die for my life,” said Mr. Kim. “This is not just to protect President Yoon. It is about saving my country for my descendants.”
If President-elect Donald J. Trump has the “Make America Great Again” movement behind him, Mr. Yoon has a “taegeukgi budae” (literally, “national flag army”). It features mainly elderly South Koreans, churchgoers revitalizing their gatherings with patriotic songs, a wave of South Korean and American flags in support of their country’s alliance with Washington, and a powerful attack on the nation’s leftist, fearful politicians. they will surrender their country to China and North Korea
“We won!” The supporters of Mr. The flag-waving Yoon shouted on Friday as investigators retreated to the president’s home after failing to submit a court order to detain him for questioning.
“Yoon Suk Yeol depends on the South Korean version of MAGA to hold on to power,” said Ahn Byong-jin, a political science professor at Kyung Hee University in Seoul.
Mr. Yoon invoked fear and anger when he declared martial law on Dec. 3 to “eliminate pro-North Korean forces and anti-North Korean forces at the same time.” But his attempt to bring his country under military rule for the first time in 45 years lasted only a few hours. The opposition-dominated National Assembly voted to impeach him and later installed him.
Suspended from office, Mr. Yoon is now facing a case in the Constitutional Court, which will decide whether to legally extradite him. He is also being investigated separately by prosecutors, charged with treason when he ordered the military to seize the Council and arrest his political enemies during his martial law.
With public opinion polls showing a majority of South Koreans want him out, the staunchest defenders of Mr. Yoon’s flag-waving fans and right-wing YouTube fans hail him as a champion of promoting an alliance with Washington. These YouTube users, some of whom have close to a million subscribers, want the return of Mr. Yoon and pro-Yoon rallies broadcast live, where speakers called efforts to remove him a “coup d’état” at the behest of North Korea. They also strengthen the political divide by spreading conspiracy theories against Mr. Yoon ongoing.
Right-wing YouTubers have long boasted of their friendship with Mr. Yoon, after a number of them were invited to his inauguration in 2022. After his martial law imprisonment, Mr. Yoon left little doubt that he was a huge fan.
“I’m watching your struggle in real time via live streaming on YouTube,” said Mr. Yoon in a message to his supporters who gathered outside his home on New Year’s Day. “Our country is in danger because of the anti-government forces driving the smoke, and the internal and external forces that are violating our sovereignty.”
During Wednesday’s meeting, Seok Dong-hyeon, a lawyer acting as Mr. Yoon, thanked right-wing YouTubers there and called out the investigators trying to arrest Mr. Yoon is the “front” of the opposition.
“This is war,” he said. “And you are heroes.”
Like other democracies, South Korea has grappled with the role of social media in shaping politics. About 53 percent of South Koreans say they consume news on YouTube, higher than the average of 30 percent in the 46 countries surveyed, according to a 2023 report by the Korea Press Foundation. .
Analysts worry that algorithm-driven information bubbles, where people continue to provide the kind of content they’ve shown interest in by viewing, are helping to divide the nation. Language and conspiracy theories Mr. Yoon and his supporters have been mirrored by right-wing YouTubers, said Hong Sung-guk, a former judge and columnist.
“Yoon’s may be the world’s first revolution fueled by algorithm addiction,” Mr. Hong.
The dozen participants at a recent pro-Yoon rally interviewed for this article were all staunch believers in conspiracy theories, saying right-wing YouTubers were their main or only source of news.
“They are telling the truth,” said Kim Jae-seung, 72. “I no longer read newspapers or turn on the TV. They are full of bias.”
Kim Yong-son, 70, took out his battered smartphone to show a video clip showing progressive leaders willing to undermine South Korea’s alliance with the United States and cooperation with North Korea and China – viral content created by popular right-wing pastor, Reverend Jun Kwang-hoon .
In 1980, Chun Doo-hwan, the leader of the country’s ruling military at the time, justified the imposition of martial law by citing threats from “North Korean puppets” and “dangerous elements” at home.
As his political problems grew after scandal and disaster, Mr. Yoon clearly aligned himself with the entrenched political right. He accused unfriendly journalists of spreading “fake news” and called his political enemies subscribers to the “Communist dictatorship.” He even appointed a right-wing YouTuber as the head of a training center for government officials.
A long time before Mr. After Yoon declared martial law, some right-wing YouTubers had urged him to take such action to confront his domestic enemies. They also spread sinophobia, pointing out that China is the secret manipulator of South Korea’s domestic politics, including its own elections. The gatherings of his supporters are often filled with calls to “kick out the Chinese.” Mr. Yoon raised fears about Chinese spies while defending his martial law.
Mr. Yoon and right-wing YouTubers also argue that election results in South Korea are no longer trustworthy. Pro-Yoon supporters often carry signs that say “Stop Stealing,” borrowing a term made famous by people in the United States who lied about the number of votes in the 2020 presidential election being used for Mr. of them, Shin Eun-ju, 52, said she believed the vote-rigging theory, citing “YouTube” as her source.
Police and prosecutors, as well as election authorities, have long dismissed the allegations as baseless. But when Mr. Yoon declared martial law, and sent the military to the National Election Commission—to investigate allegations of vote fraud. Military officials involved in his martial law program had orders, prosecutors said, to seize the commission’s servers and arrest senior election monitors, handcuff them, blindfold them and take them to a military bunker to question them about election fraud. (Martial law ended before any computers or people were taken.)
Mr. Yoon and his lawyers have not commented on the specific allegations, and have widely denied allegations of treason, calling his actions a legitimate exercise of presidential power.
“It is clear that the president has lost his mind because of the strange ideas of vote rigging while watching low-quality YouTube channels,” said Cho Gab-je, a prominent conservative journalist.
The lawyer of Mr. Yoon, Yoon Kab-keun, said the allegations of election fraud are so strong and divisive that they must be investigated.
Google Korea said it handles YouTube content according to its community guidelines.
The strange thing is that it is YouTube that helped the news of the announcement of Mr. Yoon called for martial law to spread on the night of December 3, prompting citizens to rush to the National Assembly to delay the military advance and buy opposition lawmakers time to vote. under martial law.
“It was a conflict between the different roles of the algorithms,” said Mr. Hong. “Algorithms help data to move more, but they also help make you a slave to it.”
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