Share this page!

Enter URL or ID to Unroll

You can paste full URL like: https://x.com/threadreaderapp/status/1644127596119195649
or just the ID like: 1644127596119195649

How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App

  1. On the Twitter thread, click on or icon on the bottom
  2. Click again on or Share Via icon
  3. Click on Copy Link to Tweet
  4. Paste it above and click "Unroll Thread"!
  5. More info at Twitter Help
The Blue Roof Profile picture
The Blue Roof
@BluRoofPolitics
The place for South Korean politics. Subscribe to TBR newsletter! https://t.co/VzqAydz3xe
2 subscribers
Dec 10 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
National Assembly's Defense Committee met to question the generals who participated in Yoon Suk-yeol's self coup attempt, which is revealing some truly shocking stuff. Thread: To arrest key liberal leaders including Lee Jae-myung, the military dispatched the HID unit, the special forces whose main task is to assassinate major North Korean leaders in case of a war. They are normally near the DMZ, but were just outside of Seoul on Dec 3.
Dec 8 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
PPP leader Han Dong-hun and PM Han Deok-su hold a joint press conference, claim that Yoon will not be involved in governance including foreign policy, and will be given a timeline for resignation. This may as well be a second coup attempt by the People Power Party. Republic of Korea has a constitution; there is no legal way for the president to loan out power and reconfigure the constitution on the fly.
Dec 7 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Looking back to the Park Geun-hye impeachment in 2016-17, it took about three weeks from the news of the Choi Sun-sil scandal breaking, with three 1m-2m people rallies each week, before the National Assembly passed the impeachment bill. The liberals needed nearly 30 defections. Here, because of how the events unfolded, a quick impeachment vote had to be done. It would have been ridiculous for the Assembly to wait 3 weeks after a coup attempt. But the 8 vote deficit was always there, and overcoming it in 2-3 days was always going to be a challenge.
Dec 3 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Review of the Assembly Hall security camera shows the military attempting to arrest the Speaker of the Assembly and the Democratic Party chairman before they could head into the Main Hall to vote to end martial law. Yoon says he will lift the martial law as soon as he can have quorum on the State Council in the morning. Meanwhile, the National Assembly is preparing an article of impeachment.
Dec 3 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
The immediate threat of violence seems to have passed, as we are starting to see the fallout. Inspector General of the Ministry of Justice resigned, refusing to participate in the enforcement of martial law, calling it "mutiny." Reports say Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyeon suggested declaring the martial law. Prime Minister Han Deok-su, whose role is similar to US Vice President, was not aware of the plan.
Dec 3 • 38 tweets • 4 min read
For the first time since the end of military dictatorship in 1987, President Yoon Suk-yeol declared martial law. Follow this account for live coverage.

blueroofpolitics.com/post/breaking-… In a statement, Yoon claimed that the National Assembly 국회's 22 impeachment attempts of government officials and reduction of government budget amounted to "an anti-state activity that foments treason." Yoon said the emergency martial law was necessary to "protect free Republic of Korea and eliminate the pro-North Korean, anti-state forces."
Sep 8, 2022 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Our Thursday read is about the "New Right" school of history, a discredited right-wing revisionism that gained a new lease of life under the Yoon Suk-yeol presidency.

blueroofpolitics.com/post/new-right… The New Right school emerged in early 2000s as a reaction to Roh Moo-hyun's presidency, which saw the rise of South Korea's leftist historiography that saw Korea's journey from colonialism to advanced democracy as a long march toward freedom against various oppressors.
Sep 6, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
This week's TBR headlines:

- Yoon admin revealed its first proposed budget, with significant cuts in the welfare programs. Also cut is the light carrier program, which conservatives have criticized that "it would only follow around the US Pacific Fleet." - Court evidence revealed that First Lady Kim Geon-hee lied when she claimed she was not involved in a stock pump-and-dump scheme, as recorded phone calls showed Kim repeatedly and directly trading the Deutsche Motors stocks, whose price was artificially inflated.
Dec 23, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Our Wednesday read is the online tiff about kimchi's origins, and how it hints at deeper issues between China and South Korea.

Kimchi is Chinese? The Sino-Korean Struggle for Ontological Security blueroofpolitics.com/p/kimchi-is-ch… The supposed Chinese claim of being the originators of kimchi was basically a pile-up of misunderstanding between the two countries' public who are readily to maximally distrust each other. But the real issue is why this type of misunderstanding persists between China and Korea.
Dec 21, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Our Monday read is the one single issue doing the most to damage the standing of the Moon Jae-in administration: the soaring real estate prices. The Moon admin prevented a nuclear war and led an excellent response against COVID-19, but his admin now faces the lowest approval rating of his term. In the weekly Gallup Korea poll, the real estate issue has been the top reason for disapproval since July.
Nov 25, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
TBR has everything you want to know about that giant sword trophy in the KBO Korean Series right here in this thread.

First of all, the formal name of the sword is "the Execution Sword of Emperor Jinmyeong."

And it's not a trophy. Because of COVID-19 precautions, the KBO banned any celebration involving liquid - meaning the players could not celebrate with champagne. So the NC Dinos team was considering different ways to celebrate if they won the KS, and settled on this spectacular idea.
Nov 25, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Our Wednesday read is a provocative yet well-argued case by @Junotane that South Korea is now assessing foreign policy questions that were once beyond the pale. The questions: (1) Should S Korea stay in the alliance with US? (2) Should S Korea accede to the rise of China? (3) Should S Korea have its own nuclear weapons? (4) Should S Korea pursue neutrality between US and China?
Nov 24, 2020 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Did you catch the TBR newsletter for this week? Here is the link. This week's topics: American pastor who played an important role in the democracy movement, Fujita Sayuri's single motherhood, and three cheers for the foreign press: @vicjkim @joshjonsmith @BBCLBicker Big politics news this week: the proposed second airport for Busan. The original plan was to expand the existing airport in Gimhae; the ruling Democratic Party scrapped the plan, and instead proposed a brand new airport on the nearby Gadeok-do island.
Nov 23, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Our Monday read: now, you can walk the path that the North Korean terrorists took to infiltrate Seoul 52 years ago. In Jan 1968, 31 NK guerrillas used the Bugak-san Mountain hiking path behind the Blue House to approach the presidential residence and assassinate then-South Korean president Park Chung-hee. They were stopped less than a mile away from the Blue House. Firefight ensued.