After Yoon Suk Yeol’s military coup attempt backfired badly, the right is desperate to control the situation. They want to buy time to manage the “post-Yoon” transition.

Han Dong-hoon, the leader of the People’s Power Party (PPP), and Han Duck-soo, the prime minister, have announced that they will run the country together. They made a bizarre statement arguing that “the president has been removed from office”, although Yoon had neither resigned voluntarily (stepping down) nor had a bill to impeach him passed the National Assembly.

The right is trying to avoid at all costs ceding the initiative to the opposition, but is struggling to find the way to control the situation. For the time being, the right is divided on the issue of Yoon’s impeachment.

The right-wing media JoongAng Ilbo and the Dong-A Ilbo criticised the Han-Han plan to govern the country together as a “stopgap” and “shallow political engineering’. They believe that impeachment is inevitable to bring the situation under control.

On the other hand, other right-wing media, The Chosun Ilbo and Maeil Business Newspaper, seem to be leaning towards an “orderly exit”.

The Democratic Party, which currently controls the government, said Yoon’s only options is to resign or be impeached.

PPP, however, opposes both resignation and impeachment. PPP abstained from voting on the first impeachment bill, effectively killing it. They did not vote at all, fearing defections from within.

The Democratic Party then announced that they would push for impeachment until it passes.

The political landscape is unlikely to unfold in a linear fashion in favor of the Democrats. There is so much uncertainty and fluidity that things could change quickly.

Even Yoon’s returning to the forefront is not entirely out of the question. Even the JoongAng Ilbo (Dec. 9 editorial) worried that ”there is no guarantee that President Yoon will comply.“ In fact, Yoon has never admitted that he was wrong to declare martial law.

Moreover, the control of the military is still within Yoon’s hands. The Ministry of Defense has also confirmed that he is in control of the military. Therefore, as long as Yoon remains in office, he could declare martial law again. In particular, he could provoke North Korea, which would give him an excuse to stage a second coup.

In fact, before declaring martial law, Yoon tried to induce a local warfare with North Korea by using the North Korean filth balloons as a excuse. It was revealed that former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun instructed the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, ”If a filth balloon flies from North Korea, strike the origin after warning shots.“

Therefore, the risk of Yoon‘s reappearance to the forefront has not been completely eliminated.

Of course, Yoon has lost a lot of credibility, so there would be a much bigger backlash if he tries to come to the forefront again.

If a second coup is difficult due to the balance of forces, the street rightwing forces could step in.

Already on December 7, an anti-impeachment rally led by far-right pastor Jeon Gwanghun was held in Gwanghwamun Square with tens of thousands of people.

Therefore, the anti-Yoon movement should not leave Gwanghwamun Square empty. We need to build a large protest that rallies toward the Yongsan Presidential Office. If the impeachment bill is again not passed this week, we should gather at Gwanghwamun Square and march to Yongsan next week.