Publisher Note
The nation has been split into two groups, and the conflict and confrontation between them are getting worse without being addressed by politics as a system. The President is at the center of the conflict and division, and the politics of division in the streets is taking the place of systemic party politics.
It is truly deplorable that the single person of Cho Kuk tore the nation apart to repeat confrontational rallies throughout last week by those who clamor for imprisonment of the justice minister and those who support him. Moreover, it makes no sense at all why the Moon administration is trying to protect the person whose hypocritical lies have already been exposed regardless of whether he violated laws or not.
The justice minister intercepted the sons and daughters of others for his son’s and daughter’s easier college admission. In addition, he has fallen under the suspicion that he tried to misappropriate the properties of a private school foundation by means of dishonest means such as fraud litigation and his brother’s fake divorce. Furthermore, he was engaged in suspicious financial transactions via a private equity fund that appears to be involved in a corruption scandal. Still, he continued to lie at the National Assembly hearing and so on.
He used to severely condemn those who break rules, and now people with common senses are denouncing him as one who has ignored more rules than any other. The President, who is supposed to be the very symbol of national unity, is putting pressure on the prosecution investigating him, under the disguise of prosecution reform, despite the severe conflict and confrontation triggered by his appointment and protection of the minister. This is for only one reason why President Moon tries to save the self-described socialist so that the governing left-wing forces can keep the power even after his administration.
“I will become everyone’s President from now on and I promise I will serve everyone whether they are for or against me. The date of May 10, 2017 will be written in the history as the first day of true national unity,” the President said in his inaugural speech around two years ago. It is doubtful whether he even remembers this remark.
Pastor Jeon Kwang-hoon, chairman of the Christian Council of Korea, demanded the president’s resignation in front of hundreds of thousands of people at the conservative rally in Gwanghwamun Square in downtown Seoul on Oct. 3. He quoted the late German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer saying that a madman should not be allowed behind the wheel. Also, Liberty Korea Party chief Hwang Kyo-ahn said at the rally that the appointment of the minister was completely insane.
Amid the internal conflict and confrontation going on, North Korea is continuing to launch missiles and South Korea’s alliance with the United States is more unstable than ever. The ongoing disputes between South Korea and Japan are showing no signs of ending and the South Korea-China relations are unlikely to improve in the near future. Wrong policies have been enervating the national economy while young people are still struggling to find a job and more and more self-employed persons are quitting. This is the very reality of South Korea under an ‘insane President.’