공산당 위협에도 韓 민주주의 작동 중… 국가 안보 미래는? [캐피톨 리포트]

This is Capitol Report, live from our global headquarters in our nation's capital. Here's Steve Lance. Chaos in South Korea. The country's president now lifting martial law, which he imposed earlier in the day. The president accusing the opposition of being influenced by North Korean communists. Protesters taking to the streets as disorder erupted near the parliament. NTD's international correspondent, Ariane Pasdar, has the story. Protests erupted in South Korea on Tuesday. Soldiers entered the parliament after the nation's president declared martial law to defend the free Republic of Korea from the threat of North Korean communist forces. President Yoon Seok-yol accuses the opposition of being influenced by North Korea's communist regime. He says they paralyzed the judiciary and executive branches. That's by allegedly intimidating judges and impeaching prosecutors and other officials. But the opposition is in control of the country's parliament. This means that it has the power to overturn martial law declarations, which it did shortly after the president imposed it. The president should immediately lift the emergency martial law following the voting by the National Assembly. Now the martial law declaration is now invalid. President Yoon Seok-yol complied with the demands shortly after, as even people from within his own party advised him to change course. I will accept the National Assembly's demand and lift martial law through a cabinet meeting. But tensions remained high throughout Tuesday. Some people blocked a military vehicle as it tried to leave the area near Korea's parliament. Police also scuffled with protesters who support the opposition. Tuesday was the first time since 1980 that martial law was declared in South Korea. Back then, the country was not yet a democracy. The surprise move sent shockwaves across South Korea. The Korean currency was down sharply against the dollar. Ariane Pastar, NTD News. So what comes next now that South Korea's martial law declaration has been lifted? We welcome Greg Scarlatoiu, president and CEO of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, to delve into these latest developments and the broader implications of this unfolding story. Greg, it's great to have you back in studio. Steve, it's great to be back. It is. Unfortunately, under some unnerving circumstances here, I first want to kind of set the table. Greg, we've been watching the news unfold today. The fog of war, if you will, still trying to parse the details. One of the narratives that I've been seeing, even in Western media, is sort of not really analyzing and talking about the actual reason of President Yun of South Korea's reason behind doing what he did. Talk to us about why you think that is. And is there something to be said about communist infiltration in South Korea? Steve, I run a human rights organization dealing with North Korean human rights. Of course, I cannot be in favor of martial law. And that said, we have to be fair. President Yun's point was that the Democratic Party of South Korea, the DP, was making it impossible for the executive branch of the South Korean government to work. They were not approving budgets. They were trying to impeach senior officials. And thus the president, President Yun, decided this was a step to take, declaring martial law. The situation of South Korea is different from many other countries around the world. If you impair the executive branch of the government of the Republic of Korea, do you create a threat to national security? Yes, you do. The North Korean challenge is still looming large. So, you know, it's not entirely unreasonable that he took this step. On the other hand, of course, this was also a test of South Korean democracy. 190 out of 300 members of the South Korean National Assembly voted in favor of doing away with the martial law. And that's what happened. So, you know, this is South Korean democracy at work. It's noisy. It's a little messy at times, but it definitely works. That's what I see. Of course, it's a very serious business. This is a true global economic powerhouse, the world's 10th, 11th, 12th largest economy. We do want to know that South Korea is stable. Greg, I want to talk to you about the issue of the communist ideology. Obviously, you have North Korea, where this is generally focused on right now. But the big player in that region and in the world when it comes to communism is China. And both China and North Korea and any communist nation is the master of using proxies. And that means that it's very hard to pin somebody to something. So if, in fact, you have these communist regimes, whether it's China or North Korea operating in South Korea using proxies, it's very hard to prove that and to expose that. Steve, there's no doubt that China has intelligence agencies that try very hard to infiltrate South Korea. North Korea does the same. Of course, North Korea tries very hard to infiltrate, undermine, subvert South Korea. Because, you know, the ultimate purpose of the Kim family regime in North Korea is to establish hegemony over the entire Korean peninsula. There is no internal opposition. This is a tyrannical regime. What is the only alternative to the Kim family regime that is South Korea? Prosperous, free, democratic. You know, despite this hiccup, martial law, it is still a very democratic country. And the way this whole martial law business played out proves that it is a very democratic country. So, of course, North Korea will try its best to undermine South Korea. And, of course, China, as North Korea's great protector and ally, will try its best to undermine and subvert South Korea and South Korean democracy. We are faced with a very difficult predicament right now. Half of the artillery shells the Russians have been firing against Ukraine for the past year have been North Korean artillery shells. They've been firing the KN-23 ballistic missile based on the Iskander-Russian-Soviet design. They have been proliferating instability and violence to the Middle East by supporting Iran and its proxies, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthi rebels, all weaponized against Israel. So this North Korean threat has become a global threat. And this is what South Korea is dealing with right now. Now, Greg, when it comes to subversion and using covert operations, these types of things are not exclusive to communist regimes. We have a CIA. You have a Mossad in Israel. South Korea has their own intelligence agencies. Now that what appears to have been a misplaying of his cards by the current president, he still is in power. Do you think we might see a response from their military, from their intel agencies in South Korea to hit back at North Korea? We will see how this plays out. It's way too early in the process. President Yun's predecessor, Kim Yong-Bak, was blamed for having failed to basically cleanse the South Korean government from elements that were not necessarily conducive to freedom or democracy. By declaring this martial law, he seemed to be willing to take that step. He didn't. He revoked it six hours later. So I think that this is going to take a very heavy toll on the political future of President Yun. This is going to take a very heavy toll on the political future of his party and the conservative side of the South Korean political spectrum. Greg, just today in Capitol Hill, right across from us here in the House of Representatives, a bill was marked up to talk about the history and the horrors of communism and to actually start to teach this in American schools. It will likely be voted on tomorrow and passed. How does this situation that we're seeing in South Korea right now serve as an example for other countries, including the U.S., how to maybe identify communist influence and avoid, most importantly, avoid falling victim to it? Steve, to me, this is a very personal issue. I was born and raised in communist Romania, the one country that was most similar to Kim Il-sung's North Korea. I was on the streets in December 1989 during the anti-communist revolution in Romania. You know, it doesn't make me any special. Many other young people are out there. Many of us died. I think this is very important. There has been no serious condemnation of communism in the United States, in Europe, or anywhere else. You know, there have been some authors who wrote about the horrors of communism. We do need a day of reckoning. We do need to understand that communism was a great scourge for mankind, the same way that fascism, Nazism, these were great scourges that resulted in the loss of millions of lives. This was truly a genocidal regime that killed millions of people all over the world. And I do welcome any initiative to shed light on this issue. Greg, lastly, going back to South Korea, where do you see President Yoon's presidency going from here? My wish to him is that he should recover. I think it's going to be very tough to recover. And I'm afraid that this badly botched initiative of declaring martial law, revoking martial law six hours later, will result in a massive political loss for his party in the next election. I truly worry about that. You know, South Koreans are not different from us Americans. All they want is freedom, democracy, prosperity, looking after their families. But I do fear that the implications of what has just happened will be quite intense. Greg Scarlatoiu, always very fascinating insights, and we do appreciate you joining us to assess. Steve, a pleasure. Thank you, sir.