NKorea says South in ‘political chaos’ over Yoon arrest bid

Department of Research, Studies and International News03-01-2025

 North Korean state media on Friday said the South was in “chaos” and paralysed politically over an attempt by investigators to execute an arrest warrant for impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol.

The report from the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) was a rare commentary about the South’s political turmoil in recent weeks, and included no quoted officials.

Yoon issued a short-lived martial law decree last month, leading to his impeachment, and he now faces arrest, imprisonment or, at worst, the death penalty.

Investigators entered his presidential residence on Friday morning in a bid to execute an arrest warrant but were engaged in a standoff with his security detail.

“In puppet South Korea, an unprecedented impeachment took place following the Dec. 3 martial law incident,” KCNA wrote.

“A detention warrant was issued for the president, paralysing state affairs and further deepening social and political chaos.”

North Korean state media often refers to the South’s leaders and institutions as being a “puppet” of its key security ally, the United States.

“Foreign media have criticised that South Korea has been thrown deeper into a political storm,” KCNA added.

The commentary was published in North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper, which according to South Korean news agency Yonhap was an apparent attempt to highlight the North Korean government’s “stability by comparison.”

Pyongyang did not comment on Yoon’s martial law declaration on December 3 until a week after it had failed.

Relations between the two Koreas have been at one of their lowest points in years, with the North launching a flurry of ballistic missiles last year in violation of UN sanctions.

It also has been bombarding the South with trash-carrying balloons since May, in what it says is retaliation for anti-Pyongyang propaganda missives sent north by activists.