Kang Sung-beom: "If Yoon Seok-yeol Becomes President, We Might Experience Martial Law Again Like 30 Years Ago"

Appealing for Supporter Unity and Claiming
Criticizing the Ruling Party: "They Only Grew Bigger but Were Too Slow"
"The Narrowing Poll Gap Is Entirely Due to Lee Jae-myung's Solo Effort"

Comedian Kang Sung-beom appealed for the consolidation of support among the Democratic Party of Korea's base, claiming that "we might experience martial law again as it was 30 years ago." / Photo by Kang Sung-beom TV YouTube capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] Comedian Kang Seongbeom has claimed that "if Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate, is elected, we could experience martial law from 30 years ago again." This statement targets the emergency martial law measures during the 'May 17 Insurrection' led by the late Chun Doo-hwan, who passed away on the 23rd.

On the 25th, Kang said on his YouTube channel 'Kang Seongbeom TV', "When the Lee Myung-bak administration took over, people thought it would be fine since democracy had already taken root in South Korea," adding, "But as soon as (former President Lee Myung-bak) came in, didn't he blatantly crush everything?"

He continued, "The person who passed away the day before yesterday (Chun Doo-hwan) had imposed martial law 30 years ago, and we might experience that again," urging, "We need to become earnest." He appealed for the consolidation of his support base.

The 'martial law from 30 years ago' Kang mentioned appears to refer to the period when Chun staged a military coup. Chun, who was then the commander of the Security Command, expanded emergency martial law measures through the December 12 military rebellion in 1979 and the May 17 insurrection, enabling him to seize control of the military. At the end of the video, Kang also inserted the phrase, "Ambition disappears. But history remains."

Phrase inserted by Kang Seong-beom at the end of the YouTube video / Photo by Kang Seong-beom TV YouTube video capture

Kang Seongbeom also criticized the Democratic Party for moving "too slowly." He said, "The Democratic Party grew bigger by emphasizing 'one team spirit' because of some members who cared more about their own positions, but their actions became extremely slow," pointing out, "It was a similar mistake made again by the Democratic Party with 180 seats."

He added, "It's fortunate that they have come to their senses even now. They have the will to act, and Democratic Party lawmakers have already been campaigning," emphasizing, "The biggest problem was that those who were supposed to be in charge were not doing their jobs."

He then said, "The gap in approval ratings is narrowing. This phenomenon was entirely achieved by candidate Lee Jae-myung's individual efforts," and appealed again, "Now the party must take action. Just by uncovering and showing the circumstances and evidence that political media and portal sites are ignoring here and there, we can win the election. If you are earnest, you will win."