From history lecturer to hard-line YouTuber, Jeon Han-gil shakes up Korea’s conservative politics

For months, Jeon Han-gil — a former history lecturer who gained national attention as a hard-line conservative commentator on YouTube during the impeachment proceedings against former President Yoon Suk Yeol — had operated on the margins of Korea’s main conservative opposition, the People Power Party (PPP). Since joining the party in June, however, he has become a powerful and polarizing figure with a devoted online following, even though he holds no official title. Then, one afternoon in August, as a crowd of supporters gathered for a party convention in Daegu, a conservative stronghold, Jeon made a surprise appearance. He was not a scheduled speaker and the move stunned both supporters and critics. In a moment that captured the deep, and often uncomfortable, ties between the mainstream party and its most ardent online base, the lecturer-turned influencer, clad in a red tie, rose among the audience, raising his fist in the air. “Betrayers!” Jeon shouted each time a PPP lawmaker who had voted for President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment appeared, rallying other supporters in theWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times