Former leader of South Korea's People Power Party (PPP). On the night of Yoon Suk Yeol's martial-law declaration in December 2024, Han broke with the president and rushed to parliament to help block him. "I thought this was anti-democratic and must be stopped," he recalled. Yet most PPP parliamentarians boycotted a vote to overturn martial law and refused to impeach the president. Han was recently expelled from the party by its "Yoon Again" faction, which considers him a traitor. He argues that continuing to stand by the disgraced president is a sure-fire way to alienate the broader public. "Many people are trapped in partisan frameworks, prioritising political battles over safeguarding democracy," he told The Economist before his expulsion.
Politics are almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war, you can only be killed once.