South Korea : The dismissal of Yoon Seok-yeol is the beginning of a class struggle against the capitalist regime and the capitalist system!

Yoon Seok-yeol, the leader of the coup d’état and the supreme ruler of the Korean capitalist regime, has been dismissed. It was the first dismissal in the 123 days after the declaration of martial law on December 3. The Constitutional Court unanimously dismissed Yoon Seok-yeol, stating that he had seriously violated the Constitution and the law and betrayed the trust of the people.

For the working class, the two and a half years of the Yoon Seok-yeol regime and the 123 days since the coup d’état were longer and more painful than ever. While the Constitutional Court, the highest unelected constitutional body, delayed its ruling, the far-right forces were active, Yoon Seok-yeol was released, and the working class, who were in danger of losing their right to live, were pushed to the edge of a cliff [In Korea, as in other countries, the working class has been hit hard by the capitalist economic crisis, which has resulted in price inflation, cost of living crisis, rising unemployment, and deteriorating living conditions, and the coup d’état has exacerbated the situation]. However, the working class, The workers who were most affected by the coup are called sovereign because they directly elected the president, but they were unable to directly remove Yun Seok-yeol from power on their own [Workers are the majority class in society and are called “sovereigns” in bourgeois democracy, but this is an expression of their inability to recall their elected representatives (the failure to overthrow Yun Seok-yeol)].

There were countless street struggles and all-night struggles during that time. The fighting spirit on the streets grew, but the general strike, a powerful weapon of the working class, was not carried out. The dedicated solidarity of the Wasp [1] comrades shone out, but the workers who chose the high-altitude sit-in [2] as a last resort still desperately need class solidarity. The trade union movement [3], which has been in retreat for a long time, did not engage in “organizing the general strike and expanding the struggle for the right to survive” on a working class terrain (the field) in the struggle to oust Yoon Seok-yeol, but focused on street fights with the opposition party. Yoon Seok-yeol was impeached, but nothing can be achieved without a large-scale counterattack by the working class. The collapse of the Yoon Seok-yeol regime and the emergence of a new opposition capitalist regime will not change the lives of workers and the world. An early presidential election is merely a process of ending the coup situation and stabilizing the capitalist exploitation system in accordance with the interests of the capitalist class [Referring to the bourgeois political calendar (presidential elections) in South Korea after the ouster of President Yoon Seok-yul]. If the workers focus on the presidential election after Yoon’s firing, it will only bring disappointment and frustration as it will be used by the capitalist political forces, like the candlelight protests of the past. Now, instead of cheering as citizens and holding flags [Flags, not in the sense of the national flag. A characteristic of the protests in South Korea was that tens of thousands of individuals, not just organizations, participated with flags containing their own slogans and expressions], we must stop production in the working class areas [areas of the working class does not refer to a regional concept, but to “workplaces” and “sites of class solidarity”] through a general strike and carry out working class politics in the workplace, on the streets, and in the squares.

The results of the ‘capitalist crisis’ we are facing in the spring of 2025 are much more severe than we think. Even before Yoon Seok-yeol staged a coup d’état, the living conditions of the working class were already in ruins. The experience of the economic crisis, imperialist war, climate crisis, pandemic, and the three years of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration and the December 3 coup d’état proves that the only goal that will brighten the future of humanity beyond barbaric capitalism is the communist revolution. The fact that the working class failed to play its role in the struggle to oust Yoon Seok-yeol does not mean that there is a detour on the path to overthrowing capitalism and communist revolution.

The labor movement and revolutionary movement forces [Revolutionary forces means ‘internationalists’, including us, although there are very few of us in Korea] that have retreated and shrank under the weight of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration must now launch a counter-attack. Cooperation with the Democratic Party, a faction of the capitalist class, is the graveyard of the workers’ struggle. Proposing to reform capitalism through ’social reform’ without fighting the capitalist system obscures the fact that the cause of the current crisis and tragedy is the capitalist system and spreads the illusion of healthy capitalism.

We must thoroughly cut off any opposition alliance with the capitalist parties that have disrupted and held back the workers’ struggle, and create class solidarity and struggle from below, beyond electoralism.

– Our struggle must expand to all places where production sites and the lives and struggles of the working class take place.
– Our politics and democracy must advance to the complete freedom of political thought and the independent power of the working class [In our statements in December and January, we presented slogans like ‘spread of the struggle’ and ‘independent power of the workers’. “Complete freedom of political thought,” refers to the National Security Law and the Insurrection Law, which are laws that suppress socialists. It’s illegal to form a “communist organization” in South Korea, and it’s illegal to call for the overthrow of the system. It’s even illegal for workers to go on strike without going through a union, so it’s no wonder we struggle against it].

We have not yet achieved even a small victory. However, if the working class begins to move to empower itself, that will in itself bring about the first victory. We are not going slowly, but we have a long way to go.

4 April, 2025
Internationalist Communist Perspective (ICP)
In square brackets are useful clarifications wisely requested by Fredo Corvo from ICP comrades. Our thanks to him.