During a turbulent week in politics, the South Korean Constitutional Court decided to remove President Yoon Suk Yeol, prompting some critics to speculate that Beijing may have played a role in the leader’s downfall. This news came alongside the French decision to bar right-wing leader Marine Le Pen from seeking office.

According to Anna Mahjar-Barducci, project director at the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), President Yoon’s approach to foreign and security policies vastly differed from the pro-China stance previously supported by China’s Communist Party (CCP). His policies “posed a threat to Beijing’s long-term plan to foster pro-China sentiment in South Korea,” she conveyed to Fox News Digital.

Mahjar-Barducci alleged that the CCP has engaged in numerous strategies, including “open economic cooperation, political funding, secret benefit exchanges, and even illicit sexual enticements” to influence “certain political figures in South Korea over time.” The goal is to destabilize the U.S.-South Korea alliance, reduce South Korea’s autonomy, and enhance China’s regional power at the cost of U.S. interests.

China’s Shandong aircraft carrier is seen near Taiwan on March 31. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)

Mahjar-Barducci said Yoon’s removal is part of a “pattern… all over the world” of right-wing candidates being forbidden from seeking election, including Romanian right-wing presidential frontrunner Călin Georgescu and French right-wing politician Le Pen. “The judiciary has been weaponized once again,” she explained.

The CCP’s hand in South Korea comes at a time when Beijing is holding large-scale military drills around Taiwan, with 19 vessels from the Chinese navy being spotted in the waters surrounding Taiwan between Monday and Tuesday morning. Mahjar-Barducci said that while Beijing has attempted to make such drills “a new normal,” it has also warned that the “drills could unexpectedly turn into a real war.”

South Korea will hold elections for a new president in two months. Fox News Digital has reported that surveys show liberal opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung is “an early favorite” for the position.