March 5, 2025
SEOUL – The March extraordinary session of the National Assembly is set to begin Wednesday, but concerns are mounting over whether the ruling and opposition parties can handle urgent bills including a supplementary budget due to the intensifying partisan strife that has regrettably aligned with street protests over impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Since Yoon’s Dec. 3 botched martial law declaration, South Korea has been plunged into political turmoil, social division and economic uncertainties. At a time when the country badly needs national unity and reconciliation to deal with pressing challenges, the rival parties continue to wrangle over Yoon’s impeachment and other national issues, in some cases exacerbating social and political conflicts.
This situation was on full display on March 1 when members from the rival parties joined a huge number of people ― those in support of and against Yoon ― at rallies held across the nation. The demonstrations occurred before the Constitutional Court’s imminent ruling on Yoon’s impeachment case.
Dozens of lawmakers from the ruling People Power Party gathered in Yeouido and Gwanghwamun, Seoul, joining two different rallies opposing Yoon’s impeachment and calling for his reinstatement. The two protests, organized by conservative groups, drew together an estimated 120,000 participants, according to police.
Meanwhile, the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea led a rally calling for the court to uphold Yoon’s impeachment near Gyeongbokgung. That gathering, which included Democratic Party lawmakers and Chair Rep. Lee Jae-myung, saw an estimated turnout of 18,000.
All three rallies reportedly arranged chartered buses to transport supporters from across the country.
The ruling and opposition parties are set to escalate their demonstrations on March 8, ahead of the Constitutional Court’s impeachment ruling.
Protests and partisan divisions are now lowering public expectations about the extraordinary session of the National Assembly in March. It is feared that the ruling and opposition parties may fail to reach a compromise with each other as they did in the February extraordinary session, where they failed to hammer out agreements on the supplementary budget, pension reform, inheritance tax adjustment and a special bill on semiconductors.
Another disappointing development was that a scheduled trilateral consultative body discussion among the ruling party, opposition party and the government was canceled over the dispute surrounding the nomination of Ma Eun-hyuk as Constitutional Court justice.
With political circles in this state, it turned out that public perception of social conflict in Korea reached its highest level last year, a survey result showed. Among the various forms of division, ideological strife between conservatives and progressives was cited as the most severe, surpassing regional or economic disparities as the greatest obstacle to national unity. These findings came from the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs’ social integration survey, which polled 3,000 adults between June and September of last year.
When ideological conflicts seep into everyday life, moderate voices of reason tend to fall silent, and social divisions can deepen. If such polarization persists, concerns grow over whether the nation can heal from the wounds of the martial law crisis and impeachment process and achieve meaningful social cohesion.
Korea faces uncertainties so formidable that even with a united front it would struggle to navigate them. The economy is struggling with weak domestic demand, which prompted the Bank of Korea to slash the benchmark interest rate last week amid worries over the wobbly exchange rate and the burdensome trade barriers initiated by US President Donald Trump.
Given the gravity of the situation both at home and abroad, Korea’s political leaders must realize that the dire consequences of fueling discord and division jeopardize the very future of the country.