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The 2024 Korean ‘Dumb and Dumber’

Published: 10 Dec. 2024, 19:55

Suh Kyoung-ho
The author is an editorial writer of the JoongAng Ilbo.

“Dumb and Dumber” is a 1994 Hollywood buddy comedy film starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels who play two dumb yet well-meaning friends who go on a cross-country road trip to return a briefcase full of money to its owner. The tragicomedy that played out in South Korea since the president’s ill-fated stunt of declaring martial law on Dec. 3, the swift legislative repudiation and impeachment push can borrow the American movie title. The 2024 Korean “Dumb and Dumber” drama stars duo President Yoon Suk Yeol and the governing People Power Party (PPP).

The president remained intractable when he was repeatedly urged to cooperate with the Democratic Party (DP) and expand his recruitment base to broaden his purview. In just three months into his term, his approval rating halved. Yet he refused to compromise. He went on appointing senior offices to the restricted enclaves he was used to — his alma mater ChungAm High School, Seoul National University Law School and his career-long workplace, the prosecution — and chose to turn a blind eye to the indiscretions of his wife Kim Keon Hee. He stayed recalcitrant even when the PPP crushingly lost a by-election in a Seoul district and the general parliamentary election in April, saying he had done his best to manage state affairs the right way but that his endeavors had not lived up to public expectations.

The peak of his incomparable foolhardiness was his late-night declaration of martial law. Without explaining why, he bade the public to “have faith in him.” But most people no longer do. Nowadays, he rarely is addressed as “Mr. President” by the media or the Democratic Party (DP) and instead is referred to by a colorful list of damning names at rallies.

The PPP has saved its president at the last minute by boycotting the impeachment vote. PPP head Han Dong-hoon stood before the public together with Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to promise an “orderly early retreat” of the president, while claiming they will oversee state affairs on his behalf. Their idea of assuming presidential power while the president is still in office was lambasted as being unconstitutional, and questions arose over who was in command of the military in a country in a de facto state of war with North Korea and the appointments of senior offices after a string of resignations.

Legal aspects aside, the so-called orderly voluntary exit cannot work for many other obvious reasons. First of all, the president’s goodwill cannot be trusted. How long he can stand to share his power with others cannot be known, given how he took the state bar exam nine times until he finally passed, his impulsive and unruly nature and his questionable judgment of choosing to declare martial law for political breakthrough.

He would stoke controversy every time he attempts to influence appointments. Every suspect has the right to defend oneself, but the president tapping his elite presidential staff comfortably in his office to build his case on criminal charges is beyond acceptance. No taxpayer will agree to the waste.

Second, Korean people won’t buy the idea. Civilian rage has already passed the boiling point. I had been to street protests on every controversial occasion: the Itaewon crowd crush, the Marine’s death and Kim Keon Hee’s scandals. The rallies were mostly led by die-hard leftists and paid rioters.

The latest weekend protests were different. The assembly of 150,000 estimated by the police and 1 million by the organizers was comprised of everyday civilians, similar to the weekend rally streak in the winter of 2016-2017 until the Constitutional Court upheld the legislative impeachment of President Park Geun-hye in March.

Youngsters waved colorful K-pop lightsticks instead of candles and shunned the usual demonstration tunes to sing and dance to K-pop hits like Rosé’s “APT.” Their cheeky banners contrasted against the serious partisan ones of progressive elders, with phrases like “a group who wishes to do nothing” and a “nationwide association of iced coffee enthusiasts.” They were ordinary citizens who normally would have nothing to do with political affairs.

Third, there can be nothing orderly about the orderly retreat idea as the power vacuum can only feed anarchy and uncertainties. The economy is weak against uncertainties. Korean stocks and the currency have been rattled after the impeachment motion failed to go through. Presidential impeachment spells uncertainty as well, but at least we have been through it once. The impeachment wave will only gain strength. The PPP must decide whether it wishes to play dumber or muster the courage to ride the tide, no matter how risky and perilous it may be.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.