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A quixotic crusade for a better country

Published: 05 Dec. 2024, 19:55

Chang Se-jeong
The author is an editorial writer of the JoongAng Ilbo.

This is wrong. No matter how much the president hates what the opposition party is doing, this is something that must not happen in a free democratic country. If you punch someone for swearing, you are no longer a victim but an assaulter.

Constitutional scholars are not sympathetic toward the Dec. 3 declaration of martial law. The requirements that President Yoon claims for declaring martial law does not meet the Constitution, and it is illegal for martial law forces to storm into the National Assembly in the middle of the night when it is not wartime or a crisis. In a liberal democratic country in the 21st century, it is hard to agree with an attempt to easily restrict the basic rights of citizens such as freedoms of speech, publication, assembly and demonstration. The U.S. Embassy in Seoul abruptly stopped consular operation, and the New York Times condemned Yoon’s action as it “evoked memories of the dictatorial postwar regimes that stifled peaceful dissent and created a police state.” Even China, under a one-party rule of the communist Party, derided that it was a real-life version of the Korean film “12.12: The Day.” The status of the country and pride of its people have fallen from the hopes of joining the G7 to being seen as an undemocratic underdeveloped country. Yoon is heavily accountable for bringing disgrace to the nation.

Did Yoon, who passed the bar exam after nine tries upon graduating from Seoul National University with a law major and served as the prosecutor general, not know the law? When discussing the grave state affairs, did Yoon simply have a meeting with Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and Interior and Safety Minister Lee Sang-min, both his Chungam High School alums? It is absurd that even the Chief of Staff Chung Jin-seok was excluded from the discussion when he was to provide insight into the consequences of the martial law. When it is no longer the military-controlled Fifth Republic, why did the cabinet members irresponsibly support the martial law?

Why did he do that? As I reviewed the unfolding of the “Night of Seoul,” I cannot help but point out Yoon’s narrow and wrong perception of reality, trapped in a well. For six hours from the emergency public statement at 10:23 p.m. on Dec. 3 to the lifting of martial law at 4:27 a.m. on Dec. 4, Yoon looked grave. He criticized the opposition party for attempting to paralyze the administration by impeaching high-level officials and calling for budget cuts, calling it “an antistate act of planning a rebellion by trampling the constitutional order and disturbing state agencies.” He seemed enraged when he said, “I declare emergency martial law to eradicate unscrupulous pro-North Korean antistate forces looting people’s freedom and happiness at once and protect the free constitutional order.”

Of course, the extreme political strife of the opposition party to avoid judicial risks may deserve criticism. It is nothing new that some pro-North Korean forces have threatened the order and values of the Republic of Korea. The water has heated up toward the boiling point but has not boiled over yet, but Yoon suddenly kicked the bucket and ruined the whole thing.

It is also wrong of the president to employ a hasty solution to resolve all problems by declaring martial law. In a democratic country where the Constitution guarantees the separation of powers, the president is the head of state and executive branch who must respect the legislature and the judiciary. The president from a minority party with only 108 seats in the National Assembly may have felt a sense of crisis over state administration, but it is against the parliamentary spirit to regard the entire legislature as a “den of criminal groups.”

Some suspect that he had other ulterior intentions and calculations behind declaring emergency martial law. The pressure to have a special investigation into the scandals of his wife, Kim Keon-hee, approached a critical point, and the governing and opposition parties had agreed on an investigation into the allegation of the presidential office intervening in the death of a Marine. President Yoon’s alleged involvement with power broker Myung Tae-gyun is also potentially explosive. These factors target the president and his wife. It is suspected that the president caused the fuss to seek a political escape by passing all the blame to the opposition party.

A true leader should reflect on himself before blaming others. A self-sacrificing leader needs courage and the determination to give up what he values the most — whether it is his power or love — if the nation wants it. Consequences are returning as karma after Yoon threw the sharp boomerang of martial law.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.