'Yoon's Childhood Friend' Professor Lee Cheol-woo: "I Never Thought He Would Become the Leader of Far-Right Forces"

Professor Lee Cheol-woo of Yonsei University Law School, known as a childhood friend of President Yoon Suk-yeol, criticized him, saying, "I never imagined that Yoon Suk-yeol would become the leader of an extreme right-wing force that directly denies democracy in the Republic of Korea."

President Yoon Suk-yeol. Photo by Yonhap News

On the 8th, Professor Lee posted a lengthy message on his Facebook, describing President Yoon as "a person who cannot be mentally harmonized." Referring to Yoon, who led the purge of deep-rooted evils during the Moon Jae-in administration, he said, "I never thought that Yoon Suk-yeol, who once glared at me cautiously for being wary of him while he did not hesitate to act as Moon Jae-in’s hunting dog, would become the leader of an extreme right-wing force that directly denies democracy in the Republic of Korea."

He added, "In 2021, I sensed partisan thinking, division, and violent energy in his words and actions, but I did not realize he was mentally incapable of harmony until I saw the removal of the Hong Beom-do bust pushed by his minions and the discourse strategy in his August 15, 2023, Liberation Day speech that labeled opposing forces as communist totalitarians." He wrote, "Watching the protesters who came to my house day after day shouting to intimidate the president of the Liberation Association who condemned the plan to remove the Hong Beom-do bust, and seeing the absurd argument that defines Baekbeom as a terrorist being protected by the regime, I realized that those who serve the agents of Japanese imperialism and consider colonial slave mentality as normal are the forces destroying democracy in the Republic of Korea."

Professor Lee said, "If past crowds were mobilized by fear of physical violence and familiarity with it, current extreme right-wing politics develops by brainwashing and inciting crowds to deny basic logic and facts." He added, "To eliminate this danger, it is necessary not only to avoid reducing the problem to the mentality and behavior of a single individual enslaved by shamanism but also to reflect on the historical origins, diachronic changes, and development of the extreme right-wing forces. A scientific understanding of the material forces that constitute and define their subjectivity and actions, rather than seeing them as mere tools or intermediaries, is required."

Meanwhile, Professor Lee is a 58-year-old childhood friend of President Yoon, having attended the same elementary school (Daekwang Elementary School in Seoul) and university (Seoul National University, Department of Law). He is also known as the son of Lee Jong-chan, president of the Liberation Association, and helped President Yoon enter politics in 2021.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.