Il Nuovo Postiglione - South Korean pastor vows revolt against Yoon's impeachment

Evangelical preacher Jun Kwang-hoon is one of President Yoon Suk Yeol's most fervent defenders, calling Yoon's December 3 martial law declaration a "gift from God".

He has been prepping his followers to take action for weeks, and Yoon's release from detention over the weekend on procedural grounds has turbo-charged 68-year-old Jun's sermons.

"If the Constitutional Court decides (to impeach him), we will mobilise the people's right to resist and blow them away with one blade swoop," Jun told hundreds of supporters during a service held Sunday outside Yoon's residence.

Authorities are so worried about the potential for violence when the Constitutional Court issues its ruling on Yoon this month that police have been granted special permission to use pepper spray and collapsible batons if his supporters get unruly.

They have cause for concern.

The pastor -- long a fringe character on the extreme right edge of South Korean politics -- has moved into the mainstream in recent weeks by taking to the streets as the disgraced president's chief apologist.

"President Yoon started the cleansing with his declaration of martial law. The people and I will finish it together," Jun said Sunday.

He claims North Korea is behind the country's democratic opposition and has promulgated unfounded claims of widespread election fraud -- all echoed by Yoon and his lawyers in their defence of martial law.

Jun is already under police investigation in connection to the storming of a courthouse in January, with two of his followers arrested at the scene.

Police said they will mobilise all resources to avoid a repeat when the Constitutional Court rules.

- 'Found his flock' -

Experts say the pastor -- best known for defying Covid-gathering limitations during the pandemic -- has tapped into a previously marginalised far-right constituency that has expanded in the wake of Yoon's martial law declaration.

Around a quarter of South Koreans are Christians, and Jun has "found his flock among the elderly underclass of South Korean society", said Kim Jin-ho, a theologian and analyst.

His audience are "those whose values have been shaped by anti-communism but who have found little resonance in the prosperity gospel of mainstream conservative Protestantism", Kim said, adding that the pastor has a knack for provocation, much like "an online conspiracy theorist".

As a result, Jun has raised an unlikely coalition behind Yoon -- older Koreans steeped in Cold War ideology and a young, mostly male cohort fluent in an internet culture scornful of politics.

"Pastor Jun speaks for the people," 37-year-old Park Jun-seo told AFP Saturday at a pro-Yoon rally.

"He is the only one brave enough to speak truth to power."

Seo Hui-won, in his 60s, said Jun was "fighting on the frontlines" of a war against communism.

If Yoon is formally removed by the court, it would trigger an election in 60 days. As they confront the real possibility of a coming poll, even mainstream conservative politicians are eagerly jumping on Jun's bandwagon.

Key figures from Yoon's People Power Party have taken to the stage at Jun's previous rallies, crediting the pastor and his supporters for creating momentum for a conservative revival.

Their association with the firebrand pastor helps them "gain a base of loyal voters", said Jeon Sang-jin, a sociology professor at Seoul's Sogang University.

But for the country, this means that the pastor's conspiracy theories, "once relegated to the fringes, have been legitimised by Yoon, the PPP, and the far-right media", Jeon said.

- 'Destabilise South Korea' -

If upheld by the court, Yoon would become the country's second president to be formally impeached.

Police are on high alert after riots broke out over the removal of Park Geun-hye from office in 2017.

Experts warn that Yoon -- who remains under criminal investigation -- appears to be seeking to whip up his hardline supporters.

Yoon had no choice but to "sacrifice himself and declare martial law" to purge the "worms infesting the country's executive, legislature and judiciary", lawyer Seok Dong-hyun told the huge crowds at one of the pastor's protests.

Such rhetoric seems intended to help Yoon retain political influence even if his impeachment is ultimately upheld, Lim Ji-bong, a constitutional law professor at Sogang University,told AFP.

"This kind of messaging may provoke his supporters to reject the Constitutional Court's verdict and incite another violent incident like the courthouse riot last month," Lim said.

"This will not only undermine the country's judicial system, but destabilise South Korea's political foundation at its very core."

C.Albano--INP