The fall of a S. Korean strongman

Demonstrators pushing for Yoon’s impeachment near the Constitutional Court in Seoul on March 22. — Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

WHEN Yoon Suk-yeol was campaigning for the presidency, he scribbled the word “king” on his palm.

South Koreans scoffed at it as some eccentric shamanistic ritual – a symbol, perhaps, of ambition taken a little too far.