top of page
Search

When will this insurrection end?

By Myoung-in Kim | January 22, 2025 | Originally published in Hankyoreh


Korea needs to start again from the fundamental principles of liberty, equality and solidarity to build a true democratic, constitutional republic



The insurrection that was started on Dec. 3 is still ongoing. This insurrection needs to be swiftly put to an end, but in order to do that, we need to consider the qualities of an insurrection and what it means to quell it. 


Legally, the recent incident bears similarities to Chun Doo-hwan’s coup in December 1979. Politically, however, it is closer to Park Geun-hye’s 2017 influence-peddling scandal. The former incident resulted in over seven years of Chun ruling with an iron fist, which was met with desperate civic resistance. In the latter incident, people employed the legal counteroffensive of impeachment to dismantle bygone authority, which makes it more similar to Dec. 3. 


Therefore, considerations of how to bring an end to the insurrection and what happens after are inseparable from a proper retrospection on the implementation of Korean democracy following Park’s 2017 impeachment and the inauguration of the Moon Jae-in administration. 


In today’s era of neoliberal hegemony, the economic realm, which comprises capital and labor and the distribution of products, has become the inviolable territory of the market; and even social-cultural fields and ideological realms are managed under the premise of market absolutism. What’s known as politics has been reduced to nothing more than a service sector to preserve and manage the structuralized neoliberal system. In this state, the ideological inclination of the ruling faction is nothing more than a meaningless color choice. 


From the stance of the neoliberal ruling class that serves financial capital, a right-wing government allows them to openly and easily maintain their privilege. With a moderate or left-wing government, the only difference is that they are slightly inconvenienced and have to pretend to compromise. The “people’s government” era of Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun is the period during which neoliberalism took root in Korean society, while the Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations were determined to be robber barons and flimsy administrations. The Moon Jae-in administration presented a facade of being a democratic administration that actually didn’t accomplish anything. This perspective makes things a little clearer.  


The Yoon Suk-yeol administration could be viewed as the most corrupt version of the backward, right-wing, robber-baron governments of the neoliberal era. The right-wing establishment that had its heyday during the Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations was momentarily obstructed from exercising its privilege during the Moon Jae-in administration that followed Park’s impeachment. 


To chase away unpleasant memories of having to involuntarily rearrange their power structure during this era of obstruction, they threw in their lot with Yoon, who emerged as a candidate solely as an opposing figure against the Moon administration. He was an unvetted prospect hailing from a special class of prosecutors. By choosing Yoon as their representative, they unexpectedly succeeded in reclaiming power, as if they’d won the lotto. The problem was, setting aside his lack of political experience, Yoon was totally unqualified to lead the country as its president. 


Lee Myung-bak was a con artist, but thanks to his years of experience in the business and financial world, he at least knew how to keep up appearances. While Park really achieved nothing aside from becoming president, as the daughter of a dictator and the country’s first female president, she at least maintained a class of presidential dignity. It’s clear that Yoon, however, is increasingly becoming an insufferable figure. In the end, he floundered by declaring martial law out of the blue. 


While we cannot confirm that Yoon acted according to the orders of first lady Kim Keon-hee, who some say has been the de facto president, the martial law declaration was undeniably an act of anachronistic greed and an attempt to privatize the presidency for an indefinite period of time. Whatever the case, what happened, happened. South Korea, which had been lauded as an advanced nation, became a backward country where a president could pull a self-coup overnight. The one silver lining, however, is that Yoon’s act of rash self-destruction has provided an opportunity for us to quickly address the stagnation that has steadily aggregated in Korean society. 


For starters, the current insurrection situation needs to be settled as quickly as possible in a legal and constitutional way. The first step in this process is to continue the process of removing the insurrection ringleader, Yoon, that was begun by the impeachment motion. This includes his criminal investigation and trial, which should conclude in the maximum sentence allowed by law. 


We also need to aggressively push for the dissolution of the People Power Party, the party of far-right vested interests, that is ruled by a number of collaborators who took part in the insurrection. We then must elect a new president and form a new democratic government. 


From its general election victory to its swift suppression of the insurrection, the Democratic Party, the main opposition, has been partially exempted from taking accountability for the failures of the Moon administration. Considering the current political landscape, the Democratic Party seems to be the most probable candidate to become the ruling party. This would complete the political process of quelling the insurrection. 


Yet it would be naive to conclude that Korean democracy would be restored at that point. Strictly speaking, it would be a return to ground zero in Korean democracy. The potential of establishing a constitutional republic that arose in 1987 has been suffocated over the past 30 years by a two-party system. In reality, our democracy has been reduced to ruins. From ground zero, we need to start again from the fundamental principles of liberty, equality and solidarity to build a true democratic, constitutional republic. This journey needs to be led by a new order, not the old one.  


While they made an appearance during the 2016 protests at Gwanghwamun, the youth and women voters had failed to surmount the fences of their identity up until that point. This time, they emerged as an overwhelming collective in the Yeouido protests. The sense of crisis that they might lose democracy, which they’d been enjoying as carefreely as if it were the air they breathe, brought them out from the shadows. 


Moreover, in the great fight for democracy, they acted with surprising aggressiveness, eagerly siding not only with older generations but with the farmers in Namtaeryeong and the disabled in Anguk. They have started becoming allies to all minorities fighting for their rights. They appeared to have been stuck in identity politics, but they broke free of that and stood on the front lines to stop the insurrection, going even further to exhibit marvelous acts of solidarity. It is moving to see among them the potential to defeat neoliberal hegemony and to build a new democratic republic. 


These people did not march out into the freezing cold to get rid of one foolish president. They did not take time out of their studies or work to simply take part in the “public square spectacle.” They are no longer “admirable young people.” They are the ones who need to emerge as the political agents in order to create hope in Korean society, which has been bruised by inequality and discrimination and exclusion and hatred, a society that stands helpless amid the imminent climate crisis. It is only when their dreams of entering “into a new world”— that is, a new democratic republic — are realized that the insurrection will finally be over.


Myoung-in Kim is a literary critic and professor emeritus of Inha University.

コメント


bottom of page