January 22, 2025
Seoul – In the past, Korean people were very sensitive to how foreigners viewed their country. However, today's Koreans no longer seem to care about how they appear to foreigners.
Of course, we don’t have to care too much about what foreigners think or say about us. Still, we should pay attention to how foreigners view South Korea, as this shapes South Korea’s image abroad. Therefore, if we want to promote a good image of South Korea, we should act accordingly.
Many foreign media pointed out that the recent unsuccessful martial law incident has seriously damaged South Korea's image as an advanced country. Indeed, it would be a shame if martial law was imposed and the Korean people had to suffer curfews, censorship and warrantless arrests, as they did under the military dictatorship half a century ago.
Also causing damage to South Korea's image is the Democratic Party of Korea's recent proposal to censor KakaoTalk. Opposition politicians believe that it is necessary to prevent the spread of fake news on KakaoTalk that supports the impeachment and suspension of President Yoon Seok-yeol. They said the men should be prosecuted for “supporting the rebellion”.
However, censorship or surveillance of social media is only possible in repressive totalitarian states.
Perhaps those politicians may want to imitate this authoritarian country, but South Korea is a liberal democratic “free world” country, not a totalitarian socialist country. To foreigners, this extreme measure is as bad as declaring martial law. In addition, observers pointed out that the Democratic Party is not entirely free from using fake news for political gain.
In fact, the ban on “forwarding messages” on social media directly violates freedom of speech, which is intolerable to the Korean people. Young people, in particular, will strongly resist such anachronistic censorship, which reminds them of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, and they will immediately withdraw their support for the Democratic Party.
Foreigners also believe that law enforcement's decision to arrest and detain Yin on rebellion charges was too hasty.
Foreign experts believe it would be reckless to arrest a sitting president for investigation before the Constitutional Court makes a final decision on impeachment.
We may think that such behavior reflects the strong democracy we are proud of, but to foreigners, such behavior not only lacks common courtesy toward a sitting president, but also looks like anarchy and chaos.
Foreigners are also confused by the term “riot” in martial law incidents.
“Insurrection” refers to rebellion against the state, not the other way around. A ruler with absolute power practices “tyranny” or “dictatorship” rather than “rebellion.” Although Congress removed the “insurrection” charge against the president from the bill to investigate the special prosecutor, the ruling party criticized passing the bill as just a political gesture.
Another thing that confuses foreigners is the slow and unprepared response of South Korean politicians to looming crises from outside, which could make the country's future grim and bleak. Indeed, in the eyes of foreigners, South Korean politicians seem unaware of the dangerous situation their country is currently facing and are only busy with internal conflicts.
Koreans' poor memory also confuses foreigners.
After the martial law incident, Koreans seemed to have suddenly completely forgotten that the National Assembly was involved in political turmoil. Perhaps this is why many Koreans place blame solely on the current government, forgetting and thereby inadvertently condoning the multiple impeachments of government officials by Congress and the ongoing obstruction of government policies and budgets.
A Korean professor's “national crisis declaration” that only called for the impeachment of the president also confused foreigners. Rather, it should serve as a solemn warning to all politicians on both sides, calling for the country to quickly normalize. In a polarized society, intellectuals should not choose sides, but must stand in the middle and oppose both extremes.
Another strange thing is that the South Korean government allowed foreign students to attend rallies calling for Yoon’s impeachment. Other countries have expelled foreign students who participated in political demonstrations.
In the eyes of foreigners, impeaching or imprisoning a president seems to have become a routine ritual in South Korea.
Embarrassingly, this is not something that can be repeated in developed countries. If our foreign policy and alliances undergo fundamental changes every five years, foreign countries may find it difficult to trust South Korea. In addition, according to foreign media diagnosis, South Korea is currently in the midst of a civil war involving repeated conflicts between the ruling party's martial law and the opposition party's attempted coups.
It is time to stop the long ideological war we have been waging since 1945.
Kim Sung-geun
Kim Seong-kon is Professor Emeritus of English at Seoul National University and a visiting scholar at Dartmouth College. The views expressed here are those of the author
