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The reversibility of the irreversible

Published: 09 Dec. 2024, 19:58

Choi Hyeon-chul
The author is an editorial writer of the JoongAng Ilbo.

A process is irreversible if it cannot be changed back to its original form. The laws of thermodynamics dictate that all processes proceed in one direction and cannot be reversed. When you burn wood, you get ash and smoke that cannot be converted back to wood. When you mix cold and hot water, the mixture becomes warm and cannot be separated to their original temperatures. The laws can also apply to social settings. Seoul and Washington’s approach to North Korea’s denuclearization is known as CVID, or the complete, verifiable, irreversible dismantling of the North’s nuclear program. The inclusion of the word “irreversible” highlights the importance of permanent denuclearization. The Korea-Japan Agreement reached in 2015 to compensate Korean women mobilized as sexual slaves for the imperial Japanese army during the World War II contained the term “finally” and “irreversibly” to resolve the historic hot-button issue once and for all.

Han Kang, the first Korean to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, said she was “shocked to witness a similar situation unfold before my eyes in 2024” during a press conference in Stockholm on Friday. She had studied the dreadful martial law declared by the military regime in Korea in 1979 for her book “Human Acts” that portrays the 1980 massacre in Gwangju committed by soldiers following the martial law order.

Her book as well as films that journey back to the dark period in Korean history received global attention as the country of K-pop, high-tech and modern democracy suddenly revisited the scenes of military dictatorship from half a century ago.

We took pride for having irreversibly closed the dismal chapter on military coups and dictatorships. But our confidence and belief had been shattered when gunned soldiers raided the National Assembly and the National Election Commission buildings and were ordered to arrest high-profile politicians and figures.

There is a claim — that still requires investigation — that the former defense minister who recommended the extreme measure to the president commanded firearm shooting if North Korea flew trash balloons the night of the martial law order. If found true, he was thinking of risking a military conflict with the North to justify his declaration of martial law. The slack preparation, soldiers defying the feckless orders and legislators quickly acting to nullify the presidential order upended the martial law experiment in 150 minutes. If it had not been stopped, we would be living under censorship and in fear of arrest and torture at this very moment.

President Yoon Suk Yeol had been carefree about his peculiar and impromptu ways even before he was elected. He rarely apologized for or explained his wanton behaviors. He confronted his rival in a presidential election TV debate with the Chinese character “king” written on his hand. He casually said a neighbor wrote it for good luck. When he was questioned for sending a thumbs-up emoji to a party loyalist for kicking out the party head, he just shrugged it off, saying it was “spilled milk.” As for the issue of his wife accepting a luxury bag from a mysterious pastor, he said that she was being “too soft.”

Yoon’s self-pardoning habit has accumulated to the colossal delusion of thinking he did not need to consider the Constitution to protect his conviction. Despite the string of testimonies and evidence pointing to a felony of insurrection, he did not apologize for days. He appeared on television to read a brief one minute statement expressing his regret for causing anxiety and inconvenience with his declaration when the National Assembly was readying to vote on a motion on his impeachment. He, however, fell short of acknowledging or atoning for his grave deed of upsetting the constitutional order. He could be thinking he could wiggle his way out this time as well. If so, we cannot imagine what he can be capable of doing while he still has the chance.

Worse, there could be others who could think they could also pull it off. The precedent on the breach of constitutional order has been made. In criminology, the broken windows theory states visible signs of crime and civil disorder encourage further crime and disorder. Therefore, unconstitutional acts and wrongdoings must be thoroughly uncovered and punished so that those liable, as well as others, do not think they can act likewise without consequences.

In physics, an irreversible process takes place only in a system devoid of any other variables. Hot water naturally cools down, but can return to a hot state when heated by an external force.

Our process to make democracy irreversible should be the same. We must remove the variables prone to coups and ensure the orders of the law and the Constitution remain no matter what. If we condone some wrongdoings as extraordinary factors, we may find ourselves in a perpetual state of disquiet. Can this be an “orderly” resolution?

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.