\n<\/p>\n
Every day\u200b for the past week, Kim Kwon-seop, 72, has joined thousands of others gathered near the home of South Korea\u2019s impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol\u200b. They were determined to shield Mr. Yoon from prosecutors who wanted to detain him on insurrection charges stemming from his short-lived declaration of martial law<\/a> last month.<\/p>\n To them, it was the opposition who had committed insurrection, abusing its majority power at the Assembly\u200b to repeatedly block Mr. Yoon\u200b\u2019s political initiatives. To them, the opposition\u2019s parliamentary majority \u200bwas invalid because the election last April<\/a> was rigged. And to them, protecting Mr. Yoon was synonymous with protecting South Korea from \u201cNorth Korea followers\u201d who have taken root in every corner of their society, from the judiciary to schools to the news media.<\/p>\n \u200bSouth Koreans commonly dismiss such conspiracy theories as little more than online demagoguery spread by right-wing YouTubers with the help of social media algorithms. But amid the country\u2019s entrenched political polarization, they have fueled the turmoil over Mr. Yoon\u2019s situation, driving zealous believers like Mr. Kim to take to the streets in large numbers, calling for the president\u2019s return to office.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I leave home for this rally every day, I tell my wife that this may be the last time she sees me alive, because I am ready to die for my cause,\u201d Mr. Kim said. \u201cThis is not just about protecting President Yoon. It\u2019s about saving my country for my descendants.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n If President-elect Donald J. Trump has a \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d movement behind him, Mr. Yoon has the \u201ctaegeukgi budae<\/a>\u201d \u200b(literally, \u201cnational-flag brigade\u201d). It consists of mostly older, churchgoing South Koreans who enliven their rallies with patriotic songs, a wave of South Korean and American flags in support of their country\u2019s alliance with \u200bWashington, and vitriolic attacks on the nation\u2019s \u200bleft-wing politicians, whom they fear would \u200bhand their country over to China and North Korea.\u200b<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWe won!\u201d flag-waving supporters of Mr. Yoon shouted on Friday when investigators retreated from<\/a> the presidential residence after failing to serve a court warrant to detain him for questioning.<\/p>\n \u201cYoon Suk Yeol is depending on the South Korean version of MAGA to hold onto power,\u201d said Ahn Byong-jin, a professor of political science at Kyung Hee University in Seoul.<\/p>\n Mr. Yoon invoked the right-wing fear and indignation when he declared martial law on Dec. 3 to \u201celiminate the despicable pro-North Korean and anti-state forces at one stroke.\u201d But his attempt to place his country under military rule for the first time in 45 years lasted only hours. The opposition-dominant National Assembly \u200bvoted to rescind it\u200b and later impeached him<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Suspended from office\u200b, Mr. Yoon \u200bnow faces a trial at the Constitutional Court, which will decide whether to formally remove him. He is also subject to separate investigations\u200b from prosecutors, who have accused him of committing insurrection when he ordered troops to seize the Assembly and to detain his political enemies during his martial law.<\/p>\n With public surveys showing a majority of South Koreans wanting him ousted, Mr. Yoon\u2019s strongest defenders are his flag-waving supporters and the right-wing YouTubers\u200b, who glorify him as a champion of promoting the alliance<\/a> with Washington. These YouTubers, some with around a million subscribers,\u200b demand Mr. Yoon\u200b\u2019s reinstatement and livestream pro-Yoon rallies, where speakers call the efforts to remove \u200bhim a \u201ccoup d\u2019\u00e9tat\u201d at North Korea\u2019s behest. They \u200balso reinforce political \u200bpolarization<\/a> by channeling conspiracy theories against Mr. Yoon\u2019s progressive enemies\u200b.<\/p>\n Right-wing YouTubers have long boasted of their friendship with Mr. Yoon, after dozens of them were invited to his inauguration in 2022. In the wake of his botched martial law, Mr. Yoon left little doubt that he was a big fan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI am watching your struggle in real time through YouTube livestreaming,\u201d Mr. Yoon said in a message to his supporters gathered outside his home on New Year\u2019s Day. \u201cOur country is in danger because of anti-state\u200b forces running amok, as well as forces in and outside who violate our sovereignty.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u200bDuring a rally on Wednesday, Seok Dong-hyeon, a lawyer who \u200bserves as Mr. Yoon\u2019s spokesman, thanked right-wing YouTubers<\/a> there and called the investigators trying to detain Mr. Yoon \u201ca front\u201d for the opposition.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is war,\u201d he said\u200b. \u201cAnd you are warriors.\u201d<\/p>\n Like other democracies, South Korea has grappled with the role of social media in shaping politics\u200b. About 53\u200b percent of South Koreans say they \u200bconsume news on YouTube, higher than an average of 30\u200b percent in \u200b46 countries\u200b surveyed, according to a 2023 report by Korea Press Foundation. \u200b<\/p>\n Analysts worry that algorithm-fueled information bubbles, with people continually served more of the type of content they have expressed interest in by watching, are helping divide the nation.\u200b The language and conspiracy theories Mr. Yoon and his supporters adopted mirror \u200bthose purveyed by right-wing YouTubers, said Hong Sung-guk, a former lawmaker and columnist.<\/p>\n \u201cYoon\u2019s \u200bis likely the world\u2019s first \u200binsurrection instigated by algorithm addictions,\u201d Mr. Hong said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A dozen participants in a recent pro-Yoon rally interviewed for this article were all firm believers in the conspiracy theories\u200b, saying that right-wing YouTubers were their primary or only source of news.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThey speak the truth,\u201d said Kim Jae-seung, 72. \u201cI no longer read newspapers or turn on TV. They are full of bias.\u201d<\/p>\n Kim Yong-son, 70, pulled out his battered smartphone to show a video clip that depicted the progressive leaders as \u200bhellbent on undermining South Korea\u2019s alliance with the United States and colluding with North Korea and China \u2014 viral content created by the popular right-wing pastor, the Rev. Jun Kwang-hoon<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 1980, Chun Doo-hwan<\/a>, the leader of the military junta that ruled the country at the time, \u200bjustified imposing martial law by citing the threats from \u201cNorth Korean puppets\u201d and \u201cdangerous elements\u201d at home.<\/p>\n As his own political troubles deepened in the wake of scandals<\/a> \u200band disaster<\/a>, Mr. Yoon aligned himself more openly with the radicalized political right. He accused unfriendly \u200bjournalists of spreading \u201cfake news\u201d<\/a> and called his political enemies subscrib\u200bers to \u201cCommunist totalitarianism.\u201d \u200bHe even appointed a right-wing YouTuber as head of the center for training government officials.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u200bLong before Mr. Yoon\u2019s declaration of martial law, some of the right-wing YouTubers had urged him to take such an action to deal with his domestic enemies. They also spread sinophobia,<\/a> hinting that China was a secret manipulator of domestic politics in South Korea, including its elections. Rallies of his supporters often ring with calls for \u201cexpelling Chinese.\u201d Mr. Yoon raised fears of Chineses spies while defending his martial law.<\/p>\n Mr. Yoon and right-wing YouTubers \u200balso argue that election results in South Korea are no longer trustworthy. \u200bPro-Yoon supporters often carry signs saying \u201cStop the Steal\u200b,\u201d \u200bborrowing a term made popular by people in the United States who falsely claimed that the ballot count for the 2020 presidential election was manipulated against Mr. Trump.\u200b One of them, Shin Eun-ju, 52,\u200b said\u200b she believed the vote fraud theory, citing \u201cYouTube\u201d as her source.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The police and prosecutors, as well as the election authorities, have long dismissed the allegation as groundless. \u200bBut when Mr. Yoon declared martial law, he also sent troops to the National Election Commission\u200b to investigate allegations of vote fraud. Military officers involved in his martial law decree had instructions, prosecutors said, to confiscate the commission\u2019s computer servers and detain senior election \u200bmonitors, tying, blindfolding and taking them to an underground military bunker for questioning\u200b about election fraud. (Martial law ended before any computers were seized or people taken away.)<\/p>\n Mr. Yoon and his lawyers have not commented on specific allegations, and they have broadly denied allegations of insurrection, calling his acts the legitimate exercise of presidential power.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt\u2019s clear that the president lost his mind to outlandish vote-fraud conspiracy theories while watching low-quality YouTube channels,\u201d said Cho Gab-je, a prominent conservative journalist.<\/p>\n Mr. Yoon\u2019s lawyer, Yoon Kab-keun, said the allegations of rigged elections were strong and divisive enough to merit an investigation.<\/p>\n Google Korea said it manages YouTube contents according to its community guidelines.<\/p>\n