January 7, 2025
Seoul – Nearly two years before President Yun Seok-yeol suddenly announced the suspension of martial law on December 3, a former military intelligence chief reportedly visited a fortune teller in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province.
Over the course of more than 20 visits, he inquired about the fate of various military officials, including now-detained former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and several others later accused of playing key roles in the botched implementation of military rule. .
According to Yonhap News Agency, the client is Noh Sang-won, the former commander of the National Defense Intelligence Command.
Lu was recently handed over to prosecutors on rebellion charges and is accused of helping Yin develop martial law plans. He has since also gained notoriety for initiating the so-called “Hamburg Conference,” in which he summoned former and current military intelligence officials to a Lotte fast food restaurant in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, to discuss the details of the martial law plan just before Yoon Eun-hye issued the decree. the first two days.
Not only was Danno a frequent visitor to shamanic fortune tellers, he was also rumored to be a shaman himself.
Although the accusation linking Noh to shamanism may seem unusual, politics and shamanism are often intertwined in South Korea. There are often rumors of a personal relationship between the presidents.
Yin and Feng Shui
Shortly after Yin Zheng took office as president in May 2022, rumors began to circulate in South Korean political circles. There are rumors that Yoon announced plans to relocate the Blue House and official residence, and that he did so on the advice of the shaman.
The rumor was spread by Bo Seung-chan, then spokesman for the Defense Ministry and now a member of the main opposition Democratic Party, who said that a self-proclaimed “prophet” visited Hannam-dong, a wealthy neighborhood in Seoul. Relocation site.
Cheong Wa Dae officially denied the rumor, but it triggered a police investigation that included analysis of surveillance footage from the visit. The police later announced that the person visiting the scene was not Tiangong but local Feng Shui master Bai Zaiquan, triggering another wave of controversy.
While this incident may seem unusual, it is not the first time a shaman or prophet has been alleged to influence politics here.
“Historically, countries have relied on fortune telling and predictions when making important decisions such as war,” Lee Jun-han, a professor of political science and international studies at Incheon National University, said by phone.
He added: “In South Korea's modern history, there have been cases where presidential candidates relied on fortune telling to campaign or lose the election, and were suspected of following shamanic advice to get elected.”
Lee mentioned that in 2021, during a TV debate between conservative candidates for the 2022 presidential election, Yoon was criticized for showing the word “王” drawn in black ink on his palm. A spokesman for Yoon's campaign team at the time explained that it was painted by a supporter, but it drew criticism from Yoon's campaign opponents and conservative politicians. Hong Jun-pyo, the current mayor of Daegu, said, “The shaman's influence on the primary election interference undermined the outcome of the primary election.” The quality of elections”.
First lady Kim Gun-hee is also said to have ties to shamanism, with local broadcaster MBC reporting on a phone call she had with local liberal outlet Seoul Voice in which she stressed that she was a “spiritual person” who enjoyed being with “people” Have a philosophical discussion. Lawmakers from Yoon's People's Power Party scrambled to explain the recordings, claiming the reports were exaggerated for political purposes.
Former President’s Fate, Fortune
During Park Geun-hye's ill-fated administration from 2013 to 2017, Choi Soon-sil, a close friend of the then president, was accused of convincing her to wear accessories with shamanic symbols.
According to a report drafted by the then-Korean Central Intelligence Agency in the 1970s, Choi Soon-sil's father, Choi Tae-min, claimed to be a pastor and the founder of an obscure sect called the “Eternal Life Church.” Claims to be a psychic and a messenger of God. He was close to Park Geun-hye – also the daughter of longtime dictator Park Chung-hee – and claimed he had access to messages from Park Geun-hye's mother, who was killed in an assassination attempt in 1974.
Due to Choi's extensive interference in state affairs, coupled with her shamanic background, she is often compared to the notorious monk Grigori Rasputin, who is believed to have played a role in the downfall of Russia's Romanov dynasty played an important role. Like Rasputin, her actions were a key factor in Park Geun-hye's 2017 impeachment.
“During the former Park Geun-hye administration and the current Yoon Seok-yeol administration, we often found connections between shamanism and politics, which can be said to be unusual in the 21st century,” Professor Lee pointed out.
According to a recent Yonhap article, Park Geun-hye's father, who served as president from 1962 to 1979, relied on fortune telling to determine the date to declare martial law. On October 17, 1972, he declared emergency martial law, granted himself dictatorial powers, dissolved the National Assembly and suspended the constitution. He claimed that drastic action was necessary to deal with potential progress in the dialogue between South and North Korea.
The announcement date was reportedly determined based on the advice of Kim Seong-rok, a senior South Korean CIA official, who got the date from a well-known fortune teller near the Blue House (then the presidential palace and official residence).
Kim Dae-jung, who served as president from 1998 to 2003, is also said to have moved his father's grave in the hope of winning the presidential election on the advice of a shaman. Rumor has it that Kim Jong-un moved his tomb after losing three presidential elections before being elected in a fourth.
