105 South Koreans sue former president for ‘emotional damages’

Seoul – Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was a legal season.

His short -lived statement On December 3, the martial law first landed in front of the Constitutional Court, which was released later in that month, and then in Seoul Central Regional Court, where he was now tried for the uprising charges.

In addition, there are 105 angry citizens who send special force troops to occupy the National Assembly and bring the press briefly under military control, who sue Yoon for emotional damages for capturing power.

South Korean MPs demanded compensation for their plaintiffs shortly after voting to invalidate Yoon’s martial law decision last year. The first hearing will be held later on this month.

The complaint, “the defendant’s Emergency Law Declaration and the following actions illegal, plaintiff’s life and body freedom and guarantee human dignity as South Korean citizens, such as fear, anxiety, discomfort and shame, such as mental damage, such as illegal damage,” he said.

Behind these words is Lee Gum-Gyu, a 52-year-old lawyer who specializes in urban development law, but is known for his national attempts to blame presidents.

The first was the conservative President Park Geun-hye as a member of Lee’s Legislative Assembly’s legal team.

The second was Yoon, the only South Korean leader to be removed from the office.

As a member of the legal team confirming Yoon’s objection at the Constitutional Court of the National Assembly, Lee used his closing argument to talk about the fear he felt for his son, a soldier in the army.

“The reality of urgent martial law filled me with fear, but it was even more terrible that my son could be deployed to force him,” he said.

He says the civilian case is largely symbolic – Yoon’s last rebuke. So Lee gathered exactly 105 plaintiffs: the number of pro -Yoon legislators who boycotted the accusation.

Former South Korean President Park Geun-Hye arrived in Seoul Central Regional Court in 2017.

(Kim Hong-Ji / Associated Press)

And each of you want a sum of 100,000 won ($ 73)?

“I thought of keeping it as 10,000 won ($ 7.30), but that looked very little. My pride didn’t let me, Lee Lee said.

“Obviously there was no formula for such a thing, but 100,000 earnings seemed more appropriate.”

The success rate of emotional damage to former presidents is not high.

The closest example is a series of similar cases opened against the park in 2016 by South Korean citizens. They searched 500,000 won ($ 364) per plaintiff.

However, the Supreme Court rejected these allegations in 2020 and said, olur Even if there are South Korean citizens who feel feelings such as anger because of the actions of the defendant, it cannot be said that it constitutes a mental distress that requires compensation for every citizen. ”

Nevertheless, Lee thinks that his outfit against Yoon is taken into consideration, at least he has the chance to success.

“The case against the park was related to corruption – it was not a situation in which the president violated the fundamental rights of people contrary to the constitution,” he said. “Martial law forces actually went to the national parliament and pointed out their rifles to the legislators and staff. I think I think that people’s right to life is directly threatened.”

Some legal experts agree.

Orum I wonder if it will work, or a judge in Seoul, a judge who wants anonymously, to comment on an ongoing case. “Under the current case -law, I don’t think it’s completely impossible.”

Considering the history of South Korea’s authoritarianism, Lee argues that the emotional distress claim is not only a courtroom theater. The South Koreans lived under a dictatorship until the 1980s. Political pressure and violence are still part of the country’s memory.

The last declaration of martial law was made in May 1980 by Chun Doo-Hwan Military Junta, who sent a force-specific force units to violently disrupting pro-democracy protests in the city of Gwangju. More than 160 civilians were killed, many were shot by soldiers on the streets.

On May 27, 1980, the South Korean government took prisoners to a gathering point in Gwangju, the rebellion-warning city in South Korea.

(Sadayuki Mikami / Associated Press)

Lee from Gwangju remembers that he was watching a tank rolling on the street behind his house as a child.

“The national trauma obtained from these events has led to a real and deep fear in many South Koreli,” he said.

Han Ki-Chang, one of a real estate agent and 105 plaintiffs, says he suffers from “martial law insomnia ..

In the last few months, the term has entered popular local languages ​​and was handled by the national media as a anecdotical phenomenon, some old South Koreans said that living under the authoritarian administration has confused the panic memories of living.

Han said, “This was real. I had difficulty sleeping in January and February,” he said. “And I can say that I am not the only person. When I sent a message to people or sent a message in a group conversation in the middle of the night, many people would answer by saying that they could not sleep but they could not.”

At least one group is preparing their own emotional damage cases against the older President.

Lawyer Lee is waiting for more cases because he sends copies of his complaint. They can only fill their names and file themselves.

“If we win this case, it can make it possible for 52 million South Korean citizens to demand harm,” he said.

He made mathematics quickly: $ 7.30 per person, total $ 380 million.