Asia | Democracy on trial

Photograph: Getty Images

Apr 4th 2025|Seoul and Tokyo

SOUTH KOREA’S constitutional court ruled unanimously on Friday to oust Yoon Suk Yeol, the country’s embattled president. This marks the third time in less than a month that a G20 country has banned a prominent politician from high office, the others being Turkey and France. Yet although the cases seem superficially similar, they are morally different. The front-runner for Turkey’s presidency, Ekrem Imamoglu, was arrested on trumped-up charges. Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s hard right, was lawfully convicted of financial offences, but many think the court that barred her from running for office was too harsh. In Mr Yoon’s case, the offence was against democracy itself, and his ousting seems entirely appropriate, even if his supporters disagree.

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