By Kim Won-soo
Kim Won-soo
Korean politics have been under great turmoil for over a month in the aftermath of the short-lived martial law crisis early last month. President Yoon Suk Yeol made the move like a bolt out of the blue, and withdrew it like a gentle sheep forced by the opposition-controlled National Assembly.
The obvious logical question is posed on why he did it. It may well be either ill-advised by his advisers or misjudged by himself. Or it could be a mix of both. In any case, it was perceived and rejected by the Korean people as an anachronistic attempt to turn the Korean political clock backward. The final answer will emerge as a matter of time through the ongoing investigations and the legal processes including the impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court. Regardless of the answer, it already dealt a fatally suicidal blow to his own presidency.
Unfortunately, the aftermath is going through even worse chaos with devastating repercussions on all aspects of state affairs of Korea. The credibility of the Korean democratic system is at serious risk. Economic indicators continue to plunge due to uncertainty about the political transition. The security landscape looks deeply troubling, as the Korean transition overlaps with another transition in the presidency of Korea’s ally, the United States, as well as the regional and global geopolitical tectonic shifts intensifying along the fault lines between the Global West and East. The growing North Korea-Russian military ties remain a source of deep concern, both regionally and globally.
Behind this chaotic aftermath lies the failure of Korean parliamentary politics. Two main political parties, the ruling People Power Party and the opposition Democratic Party of Korea, are totally disengaged from each other, eliminating any room for political compromises. The main political arena moved out of the Assembly and into the streets. Street politics are prone to political violence given the rising polarization among the two political camps. Polarization will be further fed by populist rhetoric and digitalized fakes.
The political parties rejected talking to the other side of the aisle in the Assembly, and almost automatically referred political problems to the judiciary branch. The judicialization of politics reveals the structural deficiencies in the Korean political system dictated by two-party politics with polarized regional, generational and ideological support bases. It will even be prone to the politicization of the judiciary, whose signs, I am afraid, are already on display. Then the foundation of Korean democracy will be fundamentally shaken, as the judiciary must stay as the neutral arbiter of last resort to ensure the rule of law.
These two worrying trends, polarization and judicialization of politics, pose a serious confidence crisis in Korean politics, if continuing unabated. The two main parties must get back to the basics. First of all, they must reengage with each other to narrow down differences on thorny political issues. They must refrain from populist rhetoric and return to the parliamentary give-and-takes away from the streets. They must engineer a mutually agreeable timeline and game plan to manage the political transition. Secondly, they must look beyond the current turmoil and discuss the future steps including the revision of the current Constitution adopted in 1987 to refine institutional checks and balances against the omnipotent presidential power. Last but not least, they must restrain themselves from the over-judicialization of politics. They must stop the politicization of the judiciary.
The two parties must wake up now. Waiting is not an option. Korea does has no time to lose. External risks and threats are mounting in all areas, security, diplomatic, economic and environmental. But the two parties are not likely to wake up until and unless the silent majority finds a collective way to speak up. The people must deliver their message of no confidence to the two parties in case of their continuing failure to wake up. This is an uphill task as the current street politics are dominated by the loud minority on the extreme ends of both sides. Challenges are greater since the loud minority is polarized but well-organized while the silent majority is impartial but unorganized.
Throughout the modern history of Korea, it was the silent majority that proved to be decisive at every turn of Korean democratic evolution. Then the real question is when and how they will be awakened. The Korean people have shown time and again they will stand up together at a time of crisis and turn it into an opportunity for another leap. It is incumbent on the politically impartial intellectual leaders from Korean civil society to awaken not only the Korean people but also political elites. Now is the time for impartial intellectual leadership.
Kim Won-soo is the former under secretary-general of the United Nations and the High Representative for Disarmament. He is now a chair professor at Kyung Hee University in Korea.
English (United States)