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Every day for the past week, Kim Kwon-seop, 72, has joined thousands of others gathered near the home of South Korea’s impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol. They were determined to shield Mr. Yoon from prosecutors who wanted to detain him on insurrection charges stemming from his short-lived declaration of martial law last month.
To them, it was the opposition who had committed insurrection, abusing its majority power at the Assembly to repeatedly block Mr. Yoon’s political initiatives. To them, the opposition’s parliamentary majority was invalid because the election last April was rigged. And to them, protecting Mr. Yoon was synonymous with protecting South Korea from “North Korea followers” who have taken root in every corner of their society, from the judiciary to schools to the news media.
South Koreans commonly dismiss such conspiracy theories as little more than online demagoguery spread by right-wing YouTubers with the help of social media algorithms. But amid the country’s entrenched political polarization, they have fueled the turmoil over Mr. Yoon’s situation, driving zealous believers like Mr. Kim to take to the streets in large numbers, calling for the president’s return to office.
When I leave home for this rally every day, I tell my wife that this may be the last time she sees me alive, because I am ready to die for my cause. This is not just about protecting President Yoon. It’s about saving my country for my descendants.
If President-elect Donald J. Trump has a “Make America Great Again” movement behind him, Mr. Yoon has the “taegeukgi budae” (literally, “national-flag brigade”). It consists of mostly older, churchgoing South Koreans who enliven their rallies with patriotic songs, a wave of South Korean and American flags in support of their country’s alliance with Washington, and vitriolic attacks on the nation’s left-wing politicians, whom they fear would hand their country over to China and North Korea.
We won! flag-waving supporters of Mr. Yoon shouted on Friday when investigators retreated from the presidential residence after failing to serve a court warrant to detain him for questioning.
Yoon Suk Yeol is depending on the South Korean version of MAGA to hold onto power, said Ahn Byong-jin, a professor of political science at Kyung Hee University in Seoul.
Suspended from office, Mr. Yoon now faces a trial at the Constitutional Court, which will decide whether to formally remove him. He is also subject to separate investigations from prosecutors, who have accused him of committing insurrection when he ordered troops to seize the Assembly and to detain his political enemies during his martial law.
With public surveys showing a majority of South Koreans wanting him ousted, Mr. Yoon’s strongest defenders are his flag-waving supporters and the right-wing YouTubers, who glorify him as a champion of promoting the alliance with Washington. These YouTubers, some with around a million subscribers, demand Mr. Yoon’s reinstatement and livestream pro-Yoon rallies, where speakers call the efforts to remove him a “coup d’état” at North Korea’s behest. They also reinforce political polarization by channeling conspiracy theories against Mr. Yoon’s progressive enemies.
A dozen participants in a recent pro-Yoon rally interviewed for this article were all firm believers in the conspiracy theories, saying that right-wing YouTubers were their primary or only source of news.
They speak the truth, said Kim Jae-seung, 72. I no longer read newspapers or turn on TV. They are full of bias.
Kim Yong-son, 70, pulled out his battered smartphone to show a video clip that depicted the progressive leaders as hellbent on undermining South Korea’s alliance with the United States and colluding with North Korea and China — viral content created by the popular right-wing pastor, the Rev. Jun Kwang-hoon.
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