It is well known that elections are both benevolent and malevolent. They are benevolent because politicians can suddenly become extremely generous and come up with all sorts of rosy promises. For example, facing elections for the National Assembly and the office of the president this year, politicians have made promises ranging from a 400 percent increase of pay for drafted soldiers to incredibly beneficial welfare policies. If one listens to the plethora of fantastic promises being made, one may think South Korea is turning into a welfare paradise.

On the other hand, elections are malevolent because politicians mostly conjure up lies to entice us to vote for them. Thus we may safely assume that their fantastic promises are valid only until election day. The very moment they are safely elected, politicians become our tyrannical, overbearing masters once again, forgetting the promises they had made when they desperately sought our votes. Indeed, most politicians are liars who will do anything to win the elections.

For the reasons above, some extreme liberals boycott elections as a gesture of civil disobedience. For example, the famous liberal intellectual Leslie Fiedler refused to vote for anyone throughout his entire life. “I followed what Thoreau taught me to do,” Fielder once said. “So I’ve never voted for any politician in my life.” Fiedler was one of the few who refused to be deceived by sly politicians.

This year, South Korea will have two major elections, one to select lawmakers and the other to select the president. Deception has already begun. In order to cover up their negative images, for example, the two major political parties have changed their names already from the Grand National Party to the Saenuri (New World) Party and from the Democratic Party to the Democratic United Party. The Democratic Labor Party has also changed its name to the United Progressive Party. But what is in a name? As Juliet said in “Romeo and Juliet,” “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose/ By any other name would smell as sweet.” There is a theory that Shakespeare deliberately made fun of the Rose Theatre which was known to be smelly and filthy. If so, the famous Shakespearean phrase is a highly appropriate joke to describe our name-changing political parties.

In order to sweep up votes, our politicians are also promising all kinds of rosy welfare policies, most of which are totally unfeasible due to an insufficient budget. Undeniably, we need better welfare policies and yet, unscrupulous spending of money on welfare will eventually result in a serious economic crisis, as we have seen in economically faltering socialist countries. Our politicians are well aware of the potential danger, and yet, they do not care about the future of their nation as long as they can secure votes to win the elections. For example, they do not seem to care about the quality of education; they only care about providing free lunches at school, for they think it will bring them more votes. Alas! Populism will surely ruin this country, as it did other once promising countries.

In order to stir up popular passion during election season, our politicians also bring up sensitive political issues such as the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, anti-Americanism, or the naval base to be constructed on Jeju Island. They pledge that when they are elected, they will abolish the FTA. Everybody knows it is an impossible promise, but the politicians do not care as long as the issue can bring in more votes. Finally, one of our politicians crossed the line by implying that the ROK Navy and the U.S. Navy are “pirates” by calling the Jeju naval base “the military base for pirates.” If our Navy is made up of pirates, are our Army and Air Force made up of bandits and space buccaneers? Such an inappropriate remark from a political aspirant implies that the North Korean army is made up of esteemed, rightful troops of justice, whereas the South Korean or U.S. armies are nothing but hordes and pirates. It is a serious affront to our young people serving their country in the army. Listening to the absent-minded populist remark, one cannot but seriously worry about the future of South Korea.

Yet our naive young men and women are hopelessly inclined to the deadly charm of anti-American, pro-North Korean ideology because it is sugar-coated with progressivism and anti-conservatism. By the same token, our stubborn old people are helplessly caught in a quagmire called extreme rightwing ideology, which is still not free from the Cold War mentality yet. Meanwhile, our sly politicians have tried to divide the nation into two antagonizing groups for political gain, instigating us to take one of two sides: rich or poor, progressive or conservative, pro-American or anti-American, and pro-North Korean or anti-North Korean.

On election day, we must choose wisely. We cannot afford to allow our country to fall into the wrong hands. We should remember that it is our votes that will decide the destiny of this country.

By Kim Seong-kon

Kim Seong-kon is a professor of English at Seoul National University and director of the Korea Literature Translation Institute. ― Ed.