Donald Trump’s impeachments resurface as South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol arrested

South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol has been arrested on a successful second attempt by law enforcement officers, following his impeachment earlier this month – and the scenes are being compared to how the US has handled twice-impeached president Donald Trump, who’s about to start his second term in office.

Yoon tried and failed to impose martial law in his country back in December, sparking chaos over the decision he said was made to fight against “anti-state forces” with ties to North Korea.

Police and officials from the Corruption Investigation Office had attempted to arrest Yoon on 3 January, after an arrest warrant was issued as part of an investigation into whether the martial law declaration constituted an insurrection - but that didn’t happen following a six-hour standoff with Yoon’s security.

The second attempt was successful (making Yoon the first sitting president in the country's history to be arrested) because the politician “decided to respond to the CIO’s investigation – despite it being an illegal investigation – to prevent unsavoury bloodshed”.

And South Korea’s ongoing response to Yoon’s shambolic declaration of martial law, and its arrest of the president, has prompted Americans to question how Trump has managed to secure a second win in a US presidential election despite being the first president in history to be impeached twice.

As a reminder, the first impeachment concerned a call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in 2019 in which Trump had urged him to launch an investigation into Joe Biden and his son, while the second was about the infamous insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

In both instances, while he was impeached by the House of Representatives, the Senate did not vote to convict the sitting president, meaning he was able to continue serving as the head of state.

And so, with all the attention on South Korea, Twitter/X users are calling on America to “take notes”, given it is – as one account writes – “quite the contrast”:

Another asked if America could do something similar and arrest Trump:

Trump’s inauguration is now just days away, with a ball hosted by Turning Point USA on the eve of the 20 January ceremony set to include a performance by the Village People, the group behind the president’s beloved “YMCA”.

The inauguration itself, meanwhile, will feature a performance by country singer Carrie Underwood, the Grammy Award winner of American Idol fame.

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.