South Korea’s opposition Democratic Party (DPK) and left-leaning labor groups have stepped up pressure on the conservative bloc, including the People Power Party (PPP), labeling them as forces behind an “insurrection” following the Constitutional Court’s decision to remove former President Yoon Suk-yeol from office.
The DPK and its allies argue that not only the six-hour martial law declared on Dec. 3 — which the court ruled unconstitutional — but also Yoon’s entire three-year term amounted to “insurrectionary governance.” They are calling for a sweeping rollback of his policies and a broader investigation into decisions made during and after his presidency.
Acting President Han Duck-soo has also come under fire, with DPK lawmakers accusing him of enabling what they call an unconstitutional regime by continuing Yoon-era governance. Some in the party argue that the upcoming presidential election should serve as a turning point to end the “insurrection era.”
The PPP dismissed the accusations as an attempt to frame the Yoon administration as unlawful in order to gain an advantage ahead of the election. “They are trying to cast Yoon’s entire presidency in the light of an insurrection for political gain,” a PPP official said.
DPK lawmaker Boo Seung-chan said in a party meeting on April 8 that Yoon’s removal “was not the end of the Dec. 3 insurrection, but the beginning.” He called for investigations into key institutions — including the public prosecutor’s offices, the National Intelligence Service, the presidential office, and the Presidential Security Service — in what many interpret as a push for a full-scale probe into former power structures.
The DPK has introduced a bill to revise the Act on the Management of Presidential Archives, which would allow records related to impeachment to be disclosed immediately, bypassing the standard protection period. Critics say the move is intended to enable real-time access to Yoon-era documents.
On April 9, senior DPK official Jeon Hyun-heui called Han’s nominations “a plot by insurrectionary forces” to control the court. The DPK accused Han of attempting to “seize” the Constitutional Court by nominating two new justices to replace outgoing members set to retire on April 18.
The party had earlier warned Han that refusing to confirm a court justice approved by the National Assembly would make him a “ringleader of an insurrection.”
The PPP has criticized these claims as “politically motivated insurrection rhetoric.” Meanwhile, left-leaning unions and civic groups have joined the DPK in targeting officials appointed during Yoon’s term, including Lee Jin-sook, chair of the Korea Communications Commission (KCC); Ryu Hee-lim, head of the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC); and KBS President Park Jang-beom. Demands for their removal have intensified following Yoon’s impeachment.
Broadcast policy changes implemented under Yoon’s administration — such as the privatization of YTN and changes to the KBS license fee structure — have also been described as “insurrectionary actions” by some groups. A PPP official pushed back, noting that even the Constitutional Court had identified the DPK’s failure to nominate a KCC member as a factor behind the commission’s two-member operational crisis.
Meanwhile, a civic group that advocated for Yoon’s impeachment, Candle Move, has launched a petition campaign to enact a special law to investigate and punish individuals involved in the alleged insurrection. The group is calling for the creation of a special investigation committee and court to prosecute what it describes as the masterminds, participants, and propagandists of the Dec. 3 martial law attempt.
Observers say the campaign signals the opposition’s intent to pursue legal and political accountability against conservative figures if it wins the upcoming presidential election.
