December 16, 2024
Seoul – Last Monday night, my wife, Jakyung, and I sat on the couch with a blanket, popcorn, and old throw pillows on our laps, finishing work on our laptops while rewatching Emily in Paris on Netflix 》For fun.
My assignment that night was to start something I hadn’t done since 2018 – write a column for the Korea Herald. I've been re-studying South Korea's economy closely for several months – partly because my startup wants to establish its Asia hub in South Korea, and partly because we're considering moving to Seoul in the next 1-2 years.
I'm writing an article about how South Korea must expand its economic engine to more parts of the country to reduce the cost burden on residents of the Seoul subway, as this will solve several important challenges facing the country. I decided it would be best to continue discussing the suggested solutions the next morning, figuring that a good night's sleep and lots of golden roasted coffee would make my writing better.
Just when I answered the phone the next morning, incredible news happened that shocked the world. While many of our good friends in Korea were unaware of the unfolding events because they were sleeping at night, I kept an eye on the news, guided by the Korea Herald's wonderful updates, like a spontaneous It's like a game I haven't seen since Glory.
While many people will be put off by this tumultuous event as it shows that moving to a country with such political instability is a bad decision, for me the way the evening unfolded and resolved only confirmed why I wanted to stay Locally, because the Korean people should face the future with their heads held high.
I am the son of Central Europe, as my mother's parents came to the United States from Poland and my father grew up in the former Czechoslovakia during World War II. For an impressionable 16-year-old living in Ohio's Rust Belt, 1989 was an incredible year. It was incredible to see the Berlin Wall come down and then the peaceful overthrow of the Czechoslovak government. We then have to wait for the evening news, which many times covers events from 1-2 days ago. Events in Seoul last week spread around the world in seconds.
We have seen the National Assembly respond and act equally quickly. 190 MPs put country before party and personal safety. Once martial law was legally overturned, we saw local troops respecting the rule of law and returning to their barracks. In the days since, we have witnessed the people of South Korea unite in the hope that their political leaders will put country before party.
The weekend's failed impeachment vote was a setback in developing a response that must seriously counter President Yoon's reckless use of the most serious authority. The world is watching and wondering what happens next.
But what I do hold out hope for is that for South Korea as a whole, the actions of the people and the National Assembly on that fateful night may go down as a moment in history that is viewed as the most positive turning point. Because it was late in the evening, the protesters who braved the march to Congress were made up of young people from Seoul and elsewhere. They felt an obligation to protect the integrity of their government, and they did so. The immediate priority is to stop their peaceful protests.
It could also mean that the country's future legislators will remember the night's events as motivation to move the country forward and address issues that need to be addressed, while entrenched bureaucratic burdens need to take a backseat in order to achieve progress and Be persistent.
Although this column is no longer devoted to how to improve the decentralization of the country's economy, the problem is a difficult task that can only be solved with a new fortitude that can rebuild the will of the people.
My last column of 2018 was about how proud the people of South Korea were to showcase their country to the rest of the world during the Winter Olympics. The fundamental goal of the Olympic Games is to promote global peace and harmony. Action by the National Assembly in the coming months to resolve last week's unnecessary drama could also show the rest of the world that South Korea's people-led democracy is also a beacon to the world's attention. I hope that in the coming year I will be able to witness and participate in this work.
Eric Planey is CEO of SolaBlock, a US manufacturer of solar embedded concrete wall systems. The views expressed here are the author's own. —Ed.
