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Jeong Kyu-jae, conservative commentator. (still from YouTube)

Conservative commentator Jeong Kyu-jae assessed the insurrection attempt on Dec. 3 to be the result of conservatives succumbing to conspiracy theory-based worldviews.

Appearing on the CBS radio program “Park Jae-hong’s Bout,” Jeong commented on the unconstitutional and unlawful insurrection attempt that unfolded on Dec. 3.

“Conservatives as a whole have succumbed to a conspiracy-based worldview. As a whole, conservatives have sunk to a very low level,” he concluded, adding that the insurrection attempt was “the result of that.”

His statements echo others by observers who have suggested that conspiracy theories about “rigged elections” among far-right figures were a factor in the incident caused by insurrection suspect President Yoon Suk-yeol.

At the time of the martial law declaration on Dec. 3, martial law forces entered the headquarters of the National Election Commission in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, and took pictures of servers related to early voting.

While appearing before a plenary session of the National Assembly National Defense Committee on Tuesday, Brig. Gen. Jung Seong-woo, chief of the first division of the Defense Counterintelligence Command, was asked by Democratic Party lawmaker Huh Young about who gave the order to copy the National Election Commission servers wholesale.

Chung replied that Lt. Gen. Yeo In-hyeong, the commander of the Defense Counterintelligence Command, “issued the direction to me verbally.”

Jeong, the political commentator, said, “I think that quite a few figures [at the president’s office] in Yongsan, including the president, are deeply in thrall to conspiracy-based worldviews.”

“A lot of figures who support the People Power Party are heavily steeped in conspiracy theories, revisionist views of history, and a contempt for means and focus on end,” he observed.

He also said he believed that Yoon “has reached a stage where he can no longer perform his governing duties due to excessive drinking.”

“The situation has continued for over a year, and the secretaries are all shielding him like malicious eunuchs,” he said.

President Yoon Suk-yeol declares martial law on Dec. 3, 2024. (courtesy of the presidential office)

Jeong was heavily critical of the PPP for opposing Yoon’s impeachment.

“It feels like [the PPP] is not in touch with reality, and I suspect the PPP has been deceiving the public for the last several years,” he suggested.

At the same time, he predicted the party’s attitude would shift over the next few days.

“I think the situation is that the PPP lawmakers are suffering from the trauma of betrayal, but the situation this time is completely different from the ‘betrayal’ frame at the time of former President Park Geun-hye[’s impeachment],” he said.

“I expect opinions may change a lot over the next two or three days,” he added.

“Once the [investigators’] questionnaire for the president is filled in, the PPP lawmakers are inevitably going to have to vote for impeachment,” he said.

While PPP leader Han Dong-hoon and other ruling party figures have been talking about an “orderly resignation” as an alternative to impeachment, Jeong dismissed this as a “con.” Jeong himself was the first to broach the concept of an “orderly resignation” when Park Geun-hye faced impeachment, at a time when he was working as an editorial board member at the Korea Economic Daily.

He explained that the idea of an orderly resignation was to “give Park Geun-hye time to withdraw honorably after she had been judged a failure politically.”

“The idea was that she would set a date [to step down] and politicians on both sides would have a one-point amendment of the Constitution to shorten her term, which would allow her to resign honorably,” he said.

In contrast, he said that Han was “talking about that as part of a plan to capture the PPP presidency and power in the party, which is a con.”

He went on to say that Han “cannot present a roadmap [for the president’s resignation], nor does he have the right to.”

“There is no constitutional support for that,” he stressed.

“Not only that, but President Yoon is a suspect now. When someone is a suspect, the only thing you can do is quickly investigate and arrest them,” he said.

By Shim Woo-sam, staff reporter

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