Conservative South Korean lawmaker Kim Sang-wook has received so many threats since December that his children no longer tell classmates who their father is.
Already sidelined in the ruling party, many colleagues want Kim expelled altogether. In his home district of Ulsan, he finds himself shunned by former friends and allies.
Welcome to the life of a conservative politician who has chosen to break ranks with the People Power Party, or PPP, which has swung sharply to the right as it rallies around impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Once a low-profile figure, the 45-year-old first-term lawmaker has emerged as one of the most vocal critics of Yoon, whose short-lived martial law declaration in early December triggered South Korea’s worst political crisis in decades.
At times, Kim has quite literally stood alone. Ahead of Yoon’s impeachment, he staged a one-man protest on the top steps of the National Assembly, holding a giant placard imploring fellow conservatives to abandon the president. Hours later, the impeachment motion passed with the support of just 11 other conservatives, out of a total of 108.
If fully implemented, Yoon’s decree would have outlawed all political activity and required journalists to report to martial law command – measures not seen since South Korea emerged from a military dictatorship in the 1980s.
That hasn’t prevented the overwhelming majority of the PPP from defending Yoon — a trend Kim blames on “extreme partisan logic” that has come to define both sides of the country’s politics.
“It’s like everything is justified by the belief that ‘we’ are right and ‘they’ are wrong,” Kim told VOA in an interview at his National Assembly office. “Is that conservatism? I don’t think so.”
Kim’s defiance highlights a broader reckoning within the PPP. As the Constitutional Court decides Yoon’s fate, the party must decide whether to uphold his populist legacy or choose a different path.
Fighting back
Few would deny that Yoon’s more combative approach has galvanized the conservative base, as indicated by the size and intensity of street protests.
Throughout the frigid Seoul winter, large crowds, including many young people, have rallied in Yoon’s defense. His arrest for alleged insurrection, which carries a possible death penalty, only added to their outrage.
That anger deepened when the opposition, using its legislative supermajority, ousted acting President Han Duck-soo less than two weeks after impeaching Yoon, reinforcing conservative concerns about political overreach.
The result was a scene unthinkable just months ago — Koreans packing streets in support of a leader who, however briefly, had just attempted to restore military rule.
“The whole situation just naturally evolved in a way that Yoon Suk Yeol became the symbol of this movement of freedom and liberal democracy, vis-a-vis communism, socialism, and tyranny,” said Lee Jung-hoon, a conservative legal scholar and dean at Seoul’s Yonsei University.
Lee served in the administration of the country’s last conservative president, Park Geun-hye, who was removed from office in 2017 and jailed on corruption-related charges.
In Lee’s view, Park was too passive in challenging her impeachment, which may have contributed to her downfall. By contrast, former prosecutor Yoon has vowed to “fight to the end,” further energizing his supporters, Lee said.
Yoon has defended his martial law decree as a tough but necessary response to an opposition he says crippled his administration with budget cuts and repeated impeachments of senior leaders.
At his final impeachment hearing this week, Yoon argued the decree was never meant to be enforced as written — insisting that if he had intended to follow through, he would have deployed more troops and used greater force.
Yoon has also defended martial law as necessary to investigate what he claims is election fraud.
Those comments helped bring once-fringe allegations into the conservative mainstream, where many now openly question the integrity of South Korea’s electoral system.
Some have gone further, attacking the credibility of judges they see as left-leaning, with a small group of conservative protesters even ransacking a court that had issued an arrest warrant for Yoon.
Underlying fears
Some of the hardening behind Yoon stems from deep distrust of opposition leader Lee Jae-myung. Lee is seen as the likely successor if Yoon is removed from office.
Conservatives view Lee as too soft on China and likely to pursue what they see as futile engagement with North Korea. Others fear he is seeking the presidency to shield himself from legal battles, as he faces five separate trials on corruption and other charges.
Hahm Sung-deuk, a professor of political science at Kyonggi University outside Seoul, said many conservatives are also eager to prevent a repeat of Park’s impeachment, which fractured the party and paved the way for a left-leaning president to take power.
“Conservatives have a painful memory. They feel that if they let this situation get out of hand, they might not regain power for not just five years, but maybe 10, 15, or even 20 years,” Hahm told VOA.
That anxiety may help explain the fierce backlash against lawmakers like Kim, the renegade conservative who has been accused of betraying conservative values after breaking with Yoon.
But Hahm insists the party’s divide isn’t about ideology but is about loyalty.
“This is not a policy debate,” he said. “It’s centered around whether … you support or oppose Yoon Suk Yeol.”
If Yoon is impeached, some fear that protests will once again turn violent. But in Yoon's absence, party moderates may likely prevail, said Hahm, who is well-connected among elite conservatives.
“Deep down, both the far-right and moderates know that Yoon Suk Yeol made mistakes,” said Hahm, who believes the party will eventually unite around a steadier candidate to block Lee from taking power.
Uncertain future
As he withstands attacks from fellow conservatives, Kim is less confident about the party’s future. Once a rising figure in local conservative politics, he now acknowledges he may not win reelection.
But even if his stance costs him his political career, Kim says he will keep making decisions based on his principles, convinced this is what conservatism should be about.
“I have no regrets,” he said of voting to impeach Yoon. “I believe this was the best decision I have made in my entire life.”
