Don’t forget the rage from the people

Choi Hoon
The author is the chief editor of the JoongAng Ilbo.

Every Korean voter would have headed to the polling stations on April 10 with different thoughts about the parliamentary election. But the results largely showed voters’ will to punish the current government. Forget about the single-member district system with no further options or the weird proportional representation system only breeding satellite parties, since they were all agreed to by lawmakers from both sides of the aisle.

President Yoon Suk Yeol could be elected because of public disgruntlement about the unceasing ideological divide spurred by former President Moon Jae-in. Voters expected President Yoon to uphold the values of fairness, justice, balance, unity, communication and cooperation. But their hopes turned into disappointment. Yoon pushed ahead with a series of lopsided appointments for top posts in his government. His reluctance to talk with the opposition and fill the governing party with docile figures raised doubts about the president’s democratic leadership.

Hope for fairness and justice from the prosecutor-turned-president were dashed by his dubious method of dealing with an investigation into the suspicious death of a young Marine on a rescue mission and the first lady’s acceptance of a Dior bag from a mysterious pastor. The biggest flaw of the president was his estrangement from the people. A head of state shunning questions from journalists and communications with the people only frustrated the people. His proposal of enlarging the medical school enrollment quota to address a shortage of doctors in a fast aging society drew broad support initially, but the agenda is also up in the air due to his “unilateral” way of pushing it without sincere dialogue or efforts to persuade young doctors and medical students.

Yoon had three chances to make amends. First was the crushing defeat of the governing People Power Party (PPP) in a by-election in a Seoul district last October. But the government and the PPP wasted the momentum to reinvent themselves by taking lightly of a district office election. Yoon’s approval rating shot up to 39 percent in March due to the controversy over cronyism behind the Democratic Party (DP)’s nominations of candidates loyal to Lee Jae-myung, the DP leader.

But the rise in approval was cut short by the sudden departure on March 6 of Lee Jong-sup — the former defense minister who was accused of negligence of duty over the Marine’s death yet still appointed as the ambassador to Australia — and the intimidating remarks by senior presidential secretary Hwang Sang-moo toward journalists on March 14. The president should have moved fast to correct the issues that irked the public, while demonstrating a flexible approach toward the medical school quota. The president’s televised address over the medical reform just days before the election day added fuel to the public outrage. Instead of hearing an alternative solution to the conundrum, the public had to endure a 51-minute lecture on how right the president was. His image of self-indulgence and bigotry became fixated.

The presidential office has long exposed its weakness. None of the senior staff had experienced an election, as they mostly served in the government or prosecution. They joined public office through state exams and mostly indulged their bosses with paper works. The presidential office was comprised of a boss used to a hierarchical prosecutorial culture and bureaucrats used to taking orders. It is hard to expect empathy toward public sentiment from the start. No clever spin doctor was seen in the Cabinet or the presidential office to wade through the political waters. As they lived in an elite and highbrowed world, they came up with offbeat ideas and actions. The government self-pardoned itself for the 159 deaths resulting from the Itaewon crowd crush, citing a lack of accountability in legal terms.

Anger erupts when someone loses hope in another and feels rejected. It is accompanied by disappointment, dejection, a sense of loss, depression and fear. The complex negativity builds up to helplessness. The only exit from the helplessness was the voting. Voters showed their rage through the legislative elections last week.

The public rage also reflects an expectation for a better future direction of the government, with the voters’ warning that they will be closely watching the government.

President Yoon Suk Yeol prepares to cast a ballot in the preliminary voting last Friday for the April 10 parliamentary elections. The election ended with the opposition’s landslide victory over the governing party. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The country is up against multiple headwinds — the depressed economy, the U.S. presidential election, and the worsening crisis in the Middle East with Iran joining the conflict, and North Korea. None can be easy. The Yoon administration has one last chance to revamp its governance. The message from the election was clear: Stop fighting and help people live better lives. Power is short-lived. What lasts is the people who have the right to rage and vote against political forces.