Analysis-South Korea's Yoon rails against critics as ‘communists’

FILE PHOTO: South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol attends the ASEAN-South Korea Summit at the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia, September 6, 2023. Tatan Syuflana/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's branding of critics as "communist totalitarian and anti-state forces" may rally his conservative base and distract from unease about some of his policies but risk fuelling division and alienating some voters.

In South Korea, the label of communist carries higher stakes than in many Western democracies with the ongoing threat from ostensibly communist North Korea and Cold War-era laws that effectively ban activities deemed related to communism.