[Column] A yr after botched coup, Yoon stays as remorseless as ever

By Kim Jong-dae, former Justice Occasion lawmaker

In March 1945, Adolf Hitler left his final will and political testomony within the ruins of an underground bunker in Berlin. Its message was constant from starting to finish: Nazi Germany was not defeated because of his faults, however due to Jewish conspiracy and betrayal of navy management. 

There was no point out of structural causes, corresponding to the basic error of waging a battle of aggression or strategic failures. This doc demonstrates the severity of Hitler’s cognitive dissonance as he sought to keep up a regime that had already collapsed intact in his thoughts. It’s a delusional try at self-justification that denies actuality and duty to the very finish.

The 880-character assertion launched by the at present on-trial Yoon Suk-yeol via his lawyer on the primary anniversary of his tried riot on Dec. 3, 2024, bears many similarities to Hitler’s will. Although this “Message to the Folks on Dec. 3” takes the type of an apology, Yoon is solely centered on defending himself via this missive. 

In his assertion, Yoon claims that his declaration of emergency martial regulation that fateful day final yr was a choice to defend the Structure in opposition to an “try to overthrow the system” — a patriotic response to the Democratic Occasion’s impeachment makes an attempt and funds cuts, the corruption of the election fee, the Korean Confederation of Commerce Unions’ espionage actions, and the agitation of pro-China and pro-North Korea forces. 

The assertion concludes by urging the general public to “unite in opposition to the unjust dictatorial regime,” because it argues that legislative dictatorship, judicial takeover, and the collapse of the rule of regulation are nonetheless ongoing. 

“Please step upon me so that you could be stand up,” Yoon implores in its remaining sentence, portray a picture of heroic sacrifice. It appears Yoon has no contrition to supply, solely the conception of himself as a frontrunner martyred whereas attempting to guard the nation and constitutional order.

But this narrative crumbles immediately earlier than a single query: if he actually sought to defend the Structure, why did the record of individuals to be arrested on the time embody former Folks Energy Occasion chief Han Dong-hoon, former Supreme Courtroom Chief Justice Kim Myeong-soo, and different judges? These people had no direct connection to the Nationwide Meeting funds cuts or the impeachment of public officers. 

The identical applies to the declare that the Nationwide Election Fee’s voting and counting system is weak to hackers. Although this idea has repeatedly been confirmed to be baseless, Yoon remains to be parroting the conspiracies unfold by far-right YouTubers close to verbatim. The mere truth {that a} nationwide chief’s judgment leaned on YouTube conspiracy theories is grave sufficient. The place goal self-awareness and the capability for reflection have collapsed, delusions and victimhood abound.

That is why Hitler’s remaining days come to thoughts. With Berlin encircled and no discipline military forces of substance remaining, Hitler ordered a counterattack by calling on phantom items just like the Military Detachment Steiner. It was a second of war-waging so totally divorced from materials foundations and goal actuality, a delusion so unrealistic even the management may acknowledge it as such. 

Jang Dong-hyuk, the chief of the Folks Energy Occasion, speaks at a rally in Daegu on Nov. 28, 2025. (Yonhap)

Yoon’s current assertion equally clings to the assumption that he’s the one one in the appropriate, even after his try at riot was uncovered in courtroom and the vast majority of the general public witnessed its risks. The assertion is steeped within the expectation that Yoon will someday be acquitted and reinstated as a political authority. Primarily based on this perception, Yoon urges the PPP and its supporters to wage a remaining battle. Actuality can’t assist his delusion, but his inner narrative stays trapped in a misguided worldview. The world has modified, but he nonetheless believes the solar revolves round him.

The PPP is in an much more pathetic state. Forward of the one-year mark of Yoon’s self-coup, social gathering chief Jang Dong-hyuk said that the Dec. 3 riot aimed to “counter parliamentary tyranny,” successfully refusing to challenge a transparent apology for the declaration of martial regulation and defending Yoon’s determination. Though first- and second-term lawmakers belatedly expressed remorse, these apologies have been made on the particular person stage, with every lawmaker fending for themselves whereas the social gathering didn’t announce a transparent stance separating its standpoint from Yoon’s. 

The essential challenge is that this social gathering was as soon as the mainstream energy governing this nation. Their angle so far evokes reminiscences of Germany’s conservative elite after defeat in WWII. These elites have been those who, intoxicated by delusion and dogmatism, pandered to a dictator, led the nation to break, and didn’t confront their very own duty to the very finish. We needn’t look far for such examples. Even of their Liberty Korea Occasion period, the precedent to the PPP, these lawmakers by no means clearly took accountability for Park Geun-hye’s influence-peddling scandal. Nonetheless unresolved, this challenge continues to plague Korean society because the accountable social gathering has solely modified in title.

What actions should this social gathering, and its supporters, take to snap out of their delusions? This isn’t merely a matter of including “We have been within the fallacious” to an announcement. The group should confront its deep-rooted cognitive dissonance — the very psychological construction that turns a blind eye to actuality when it feels uncomfortable, shifts blame onto others, but nonetheless perceives itself because the sufferer. The present political construction, which has disregarded therapeutic and reflection for this challenge, will inevitably sow the seeds of one other disaster.

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