The Korea Herald

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[Wang Son-taek] Why did we elect him as president?

By Korea Herald

Published : Dec. 19, 2024 - 05:31

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In December 2024, the Republic of Korea is experiencing an embarrassing absurdity. A person who rose to the presidency, the pinnacle of political power, declared emergency martial law, an act that constituted political suicide.

Although the situation is being settled as the National Assembly adopted a resolution demanding the immediate lifting of martial law and passed a presidential impeachment motion, people are still shocked by the unexpected massive disturbance. In particular, President Yoon Suk Yeol repeatedly emphasized in several statements that he did not violate the Constitution and would fight to the end, making the distorted villain image more straightforward. The more he emphasizes his will to fight, the more we must look back on how this absurdity happened, how this reckless man rose to the presidency, and consider how this will not happen again.

First, we need to analyze the personality of Yoon Suk Yeol. When looking at his words and actions, he has demonstrated ignorance, incompetence, irresponsibility, lawlessness, atrocity, senselessness, self-righteousness, dogma, arrogance, bigotry, greed, tenacity, recklessness, hypocrisy, cowardice, coldness and violence. In short, it is a case of a shocking lack of personality education. Some even blame it on the education system. However, since it is extremely difficult to find such a person in Korea, this example is not caused by a general education problem but a family education problem.

However, some people in our society do have distorted personalities, although there are some degrees of difference. Therefore, we had better ask such questions to those who recommended him as a presidential candidate. Initially, he was known as a collaborator of the liberal Moon Jae-in government until he became attorney general in July 2019. The ruling camp at the time seemed to have assigned him the mission of attacking the conservative camp, expressing favor toward his track record of prosecuting two former presidents from the conservative camp, Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye. However, it was a grave mistake and a trigger for today's tragedy.

Shortly after taking office as prosecutor general, he clashed head-on with major figures in the government as he conducted a rough investigation into Cho Kuk, senior presidential secretary for civil affairs. Many allegations of corruption were raised after Cho was appointed justice minister. Just in time, the popularity of the Moon Jae-in government fell, and Yoon Suk Yeol's popularity soared.

The conservative camp had initially antagonized Yoon, but began to support him as the investigation proceeded in a head-on collision with key leaders of the Moon Jae-in government. In 2021, some people argued that the conservative camp should recruit him because they had no competitive candidates of their own.

In the end, the People Power Party officially began the process of recruiting Yoon, who was now a class-A enemy of the Democratic Party of Korea, as a potential presidential candidate in around June 2021.

The People Power Party existed only as a power supremacist, disregarding morality and ethics. This can be seen in the second act, where the current incident occurred. The party has since immersed itself in calculations based on party politics. Currently, 75 percent of the people demand the impeachment of President Yoon, but the PPP has opposed it. The reason for rejecting his impeachment is that the opposition leader, Lee Jae-myung, of the Democratic Party of Korea, should be blocked from becoming the next president because there is a greater possibility that he could win the election. They blocked their ears and disregarded that the time was right to respond to insurrection and that they should listen to the demands of the people.

Third, even though vested interests recommended Yoon as a candidate for the People Power Party for their own sake, why did the Korean people choose him as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces? Before the election in March 2022, the Moon Jae-in government had a relatively high public approval rating of about 40 percent. However, about 60 percent of the public was disappointed with the government and opposed it.

In this structure, the overwhelming analysis was that even a scarecrow could become president if the People Power Party endorsed it as their candidate. The election was characterized by a chance for most people to judge the government and the ruling party. With that election, the politics of hate, which focuses on condemning adversaries, is gaining popularity.

How did such hateful politics take root in Korea? The answer must be partisanship and political polarization. After democratization in 1987, there was some polarization in Korean politics, and as the conservatives dramatically collapsed with an impeachment 8 years ago, there was a temporary expectation of political unity. However, since the inauguration of the Moon Jae-in administration, polarization was revived, as the progressive camp did not stop its offensive against the conservatives.

Since the inauguration of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration in 2022, the conflict between political parties has deteriorated to an extreme level. By focusing on insulting the other party, one can gain position within one's own faction.

If so, the election of Yoon Suk Yeol can be analyzed as the result of polarization, the politics of hate, and power supremacy. Appropriate responses can be found to prevent a recurrence. First, active measures must be taken to avoid political polarization. A bipartisan cooperation system should be introduced. Second, a filtering process should be prepared to reject politicians who excessively rely on a partisan approach and hate politics. Third, a system that eases power supremacy should be established. Those who get power should take on more duties to work, and their privileges should be significantly reduced.

The president should never again think of attacking the National Assembly by mobilizing military forces, thus defining the representatives of the people as anti-state forces. The possibility that Yoon Suk Yeol's suicidal declaration of martial law can be a blessing in disguise is open, and it is up to us whether we create it or not.

By Wang Son-taek

Wang Son-taek is an adjunct professor at Sogang University. He is a former diplomatic correspondent at YTN and a former research associate at Yeosijae. The views expressed here are the writer’s own. -- Ed.