Excessive, divisive remarks
A leader’s language should be refined and unifying
The ideological gap between South Korea’s major political parties is not wide by Western standards.
Since the Republic of Korea was born 75 years ago, political power has changed between two centrist parties. After numerous name changes, the ruling People Power Party (PPP) represents the right-of-center forces now, and the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), the left-of-center group.
That might change soon.
“Anti-state forces significantly undermined South Korea’s security by begging for the lifting of U.N. sanctions on North Korea and pushing for an end-of-war declaration with Pyongyang.”
Those remarks did not come from one of the far-right YouTubers. The speaker was none other than President Yoon Suk Yeol, and the occasion was a ceremony to celebrate the founding anniversary of the Korea Freedom Federation, a prominent conservative civic group, last Wednesday.
Everyone could see those words were directed at Yoon’s center-left predecessor, Moon Jae-in, and his engagement policy with North Korea. However, faced with intense backlash from DPK and the criticism of many neutral commentators, the presidential office said the remark did not take aim at a specific political force. It also asked critics to consider the time, place and occasion of the remark.
Even considering the time, place and occasion, it was apparent that the president crossed a line.
Policies, including the inter-Korean policy, can change when political power shifts. However, no presidents had called their predecessors, let alone a former boss in the incumbent’s case, “anti-state.” The comment, coming from a leader who won the election by a 0.73 percent margin, could split the country into two. Former U.S. President Donald Trump and his vitriol of political rivals as “anti-America” comes to mind.
Yoon must also know even Trump once agreed with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un to turn the shaky armistice into a peace treaty to end the state of war here. It’s an open secret that the political novice had to switch his stance later at the behest of the Republican hardliners. Moon was simply no match for the U.S. neocons.
Yoon criticizes inter-Korean rapprochement under center-left leaders as “fake peace” counting on Pyongyang’s goodwill. However, if “genuine peace” risks real war, most, if not all, Koreans will prefer fake peace.
Politics based on bipartisan cooperation is impossible when top leaders regard their counterparts – North Korea or center-leftists – as anti-state forces threatening national security. These leaders think the other side is subject to removal, not reconciliation.
Yoon’s latest Cabinet reshuffle also showed he is not a politician who doesn’t just talk but acts. He named an extreme hardliner – who called for “reunification by absorption” – as unification minister. The chief executive also appointed a person who calls Moon a “North Korean spy” to reform the police and the one who said Moon “used soldiers for biotest tools” to the post to educate government employees.
“These appointments gave hope to far-right YouTubers that they could be vice ministers through extreme remarks,” said Jin Jung-kwon, a well-known commentator.
While retaining most ministerial portfolios, Yoon also replaced five vice ministers with his close aides. Critics say it established a direct-ordering system bypassing ministers while skipping confirmation hearings in the opposition-dominated National Assembly. A democratic administration is supposed to make significant policies through free and democratic discussion between Cabinet members with different views.
Being shipshape may be an efficient and convenient form of governance, but it risks falling into dogmatism. Nowhere else is this clearer than the prosecution, where all prosecutors move with the order from the top. However, the government is not the prosecution, and the chief executive is not the prosecutor general.
Far-right populism has swept major countries, from America to Europe. Korea, the only country still mired in the old Cold War regime, can ill afford to follow their footsteps and test extreme ideological waters.
Koreans want their leaders to remain democratic, listen to opinions from those with differing views, integrate the nation instead of splitting it, and pursue economic equality.
President Yoon pledged so a year ago. He must keep it.
Source: Yonhap News Agency