By Eric Vandenbroeck and co-workers

MAGA Abroad Including South Korea

Elon Musk’s personal foreign policy of promoting far-right parties is sparking outrage among leaders in Europe and handing them a dilemma: How do they rebuke the tech titan without angering his new patron, Donald Trump?

Musk could easily be dismissed as a mischievous antagonist who simply loves to shock and is pursuing his obsessions one X post at a time.

But he’s not just some troll. He’s the world’s richest man, owns some of the globe’s most strategic and influential businesses, and is wielding a mighty social media network. Musk is highlighting his enormous influence as a populist force galvanizing political provocateurs as a kind of one-man supranational non-state power.

— British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has been targeted by Musk for weeks, warned the SpaceX owner had crossed “a line” after he said the British minister responsible for safeguarding children should be jailed and was an apologist for rape.

— French President Emmanuel Macron accused Musk of fueling a new “international reactionary movement” and intervening in elections.

— Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said it was “worrying” that a man with such power was so directly involved in the affairs of other countries.

— The German government has already criticized the multi-billionaire for backing a far-right pro-Russia party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), in upcoming elections. Musk will host the party’s leader in an interview on X this week.

We earlier already covered the political difficulties in South Korea whereby now MAGA-like hats and slogans suddenly are also part of President Yoon’s impeachment drama.

Crowds of people wrapped up against the bitter January cold clutch signs emblazoned with the slogan “Stop the Steal,” wave US flags, and don red MAGA-like hats.

But this scene is 11,000 kilometers (7,000 miles) away from Washington, DC, in the South Korean capital Seoul, where throngs of die-hard conservative supporters of the suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol have gathered outside his home to protect the embattled leader from arrest.

Yoon successfully resisted an attempt to detain him on Friday after an hours-long standoff with authorities over his dramatic but short-lived declaration of martial law in December that plunged the country into political chaos.

For Yoon’s conservative supporters who have the adopted the slogans and iconography associated with the MAGA movement, they see similarities between South Korea’s current political crisis and the US, where twice-impeached Trump is set to take office for a second term on January 20.

The US is South Korea’s most important ally, an alliance that has gone back decades.

South Korean conservatism, which includes Yoon’s ruling People Power Party, holds strong bonds with the American conservative and evangelical movements. And Yoon’s followers have claimed the April 2024 national election, which the opposition won in a landslide, was stolen from them.

They now believe a president may be stolen from them, too, despite a lack of evidence.

“I’m here for democracy. The election was rigged and we need to defend our country,” one Yoon supporter told CNN from outside the presidential residence Friday.

 

A slogan rooted in conspiracies

In his speech declaring martial law, Yoon labeled the opposition’s actions “clear anti-state behavior aimed at inciting rebellion,” referenced “threats posed by North Korea’s communist forces,” and vowed to “eliminate anti-state elements.”

His words echoed right-wing conspiracy theories that have been spread widely online by South Korean YouTube commentators and activists.

But they also mirrored rhetoric used by Trump against his opponents, with references to an “enemy from within” and the “radical left.”

In the US, “Stop the Steal” emerged as a battle cry for Trump and his allies to trumpet groundless claims that President Joe Biden was trying to steal the 2020 election. After Trump’s loss, his supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to thwart Congress’ certification of Biden’s win. Trump and his high-profile allies have espoused myriad claims of election fraud, none of which were verified or upheld in court.

 

That story rhymes in South Korea.

President Yoon’s conservative party lost the country’s April 2024 general election in a landslide, when all 300 seats in South Korea’s National Assembly were on the ballot.

Yoon suggested election fraud after his failed martial law declaration, alleging in a speech on December 12 that South Korea’s election computer systems were compromised by North Korean hackers.

Protesters with both American and South Korean flags and 'Stop the Steal' placards gather to show support for suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol, in Seoul, South Korea, near the presidential residence, on January 4, 2025.

The allegations have never been substantiated by national election authorities, or the country’s judiciary. South Koreans all vote with paper ballots, and hard copies of their votes are preserved.

On the night he declared martial law, Yoon sent about 300 troops to the National Election Commission (NEC) offices. Security footage shows troops entering the building, with one solider appearing to take a photo of election servers. Later, former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun said troops were deployed there to look into the suspected election fraud.

“Yoon’s claims are exaggerated and not true,” the NEC said after Yoon’s suggestion of North Korean election interference. “No evidence of outside intrusion into the election system was found. The security system was enhanced prior to the April elections.”

 

A strong US alliance

Analysts say the “Stop the Steal” slogan is a new phenomenon in South Korea, but the American flag has long been spotted at right-wing political rallies.

South Korea’s conservative electorate widely views the United States as a bastion of freedom, democracy, anti-communism, and the home of a strong evangelical Christian community.

The political right has also “long emphasized” the importance of the American alliance, the crucial US assistance during the Korean War in the 1950s and continued military and security allyship, according to Byungwon Woo, professor of international relations at Yonsei University.

The right, he said, has “accused the political left of souring the alliance and instead, approaching closer to China, being friendly to North Korea.”

It’s a feeling that was shared among Yoon’s supporters outside his residence on Friday.

“The other side, the left, they’re communists,” said one Seoul resident in his 60s. “We’re not all right-wing. We’re normal people who don’t want communism from the left.”

Some Yoon supporters outside his residence hope Trump will hear their concerns and even come to his rescue.

“I hope that Trump will take office soon and raise his voice against the rigged elections in our country plus around the world to help President Yoon to return (to power) swiftly,” Pyeong In-su.

Pyeong In-su, 74, said that the police had to be stopped by "patriotic citizens", a term Yoon used to describe that standing guard near his residence.

Yoon has been isolated since he was impeached and suspended from power on December 14.

Separate from the criminal investigation, his impeachment case is currently before the Constitutional Court to decide whether to reinstate or permanently remove him. A second hearing in that case is scheduled for later on Friday.

 

 

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