SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol faces the greatest threat to his brief but chequered political career, with his fate in the hands of judges after some of his allies turned from him and voted to impeach him on Saturday for allegedly leading an insurrection.
Regarded as a tough political survivor but increasingly isolated, he has been dogged by personal scandals and strife, an unyielding opposition and rifts within his own party.
After he narrowly won election in 2022, his recent battles have left him increasingly bitter and have drawn out a recklessness that a former rival said was his defining trait.
By the time Yoon imposed a short-lived martial law on Dec. 3, he was badly bruised politically.
This week, his appeal that he had acted only out of "burning patriotism" to save the country from destruction and defiance to "fight to the end" did little to ensure continued support from those who earlier were not convinced he had committed an impeachable crime.
Instead, the 29-minute address drew alarm that he may have become unhinged, his sense of judgment so badly damaged that he was now a danger to the global industrial powerhouse and one of the most powerful success stories of democratic resilience.
Shin Yul, Myongji University political science professor, said Yoon was likely listening to the wrong people such as right-wing extremists, YouTube personalities, and probably "still thinks he did the right thing."
An opposition Democratic Party member said Yoon's address was a "display of extreme delusion".
Even those who were more sympathetic said he had buckled under extreme pressure under endless political attacks, some of which he probably took personally.
"I hope we remember how the opposition party has incredibly and viciously pushed the president and his family into the corner with threats of special prosecutors and impeachment," Ihn Yohan, a physician and member of parliament for Yoon's People Power Party (PPP), said.