South Korean President Moon Jae-in has enjoyed the rise of popularity recently, owing to the relative success in dealing with the Coronavirus crisis. He has taken credit for the well-managed CDC system in the press as if he had been responsible for setting up the healthcare system. Everyone knows that it takes years to develop and execute an efficient healthcare system do deal with a catastrophe such as the Coronavirus crisis.
The truth of the matter is that the highly touted South Korean CDC system arose out of the MERS crisis in 2015 when the virus had claimed thirty-eight lives, alarming the nation of a potentially massive pandemic. Then-President Park Geun-hye dedicated herself to building the disease control system, beginning with the infrastructure for testing, treating, disinfecting, alerting, and providing emergency hospitalization in coordination with medical professionals and suppliers. Also, the universal medical insurance system—which was instituted by her father, Park Chung-hee—was a big help. It gave people the necessary confidence in the medical system to cooperate with the disease control center and its directives and guidelines.
South Korean people are aware of Park Geun-hye’s leadership in building a system that has saved countless lives. If they are not aware, they should be. They have a lot to thank the Park’s for, but they are reticent to show their gratitude. They are even afraid to say anything good about Park Geun-hye. Why? She has been impeached and convicted of bribery. She has been in jail for more than three years now. She has been sentenced to a twenty-five-year prison term and a sixteen-million-dollar fine. After three years, they have not found the bribery money. The truth is—there was no bribery in the first instance. Many legal experts and constitutional lawyers point to the multitude of laws the judges have compromised to justify their behavior on the bench. The courts convicted former president Park Geun-hye not on facts, but because of public pressure based on the false narrative.
The anti-Park narrative has been cultivated in such a way that if anyone speaks on Park’s behalf, they become subjected to unmerciful ostracism. The Park supporters have been characterized as extreme right, and such stigmatization excludes them from media coverage. As a result, Park’s leadership in building an efficient CDC system goes unnoticed.
While Park Geun-hye remains silenced in prison, Moon Jae-in and his followers are quick to claim the credit for the CDC system’s success. The media covers and plays up telephone calls Moon receives from international leaders. On March 25, the Blue House glowingly reported about a telephone conversation between Moon and President Trump, in which Trump had asked Moon to provide Coronavirus test kits. According to the report, Moon brought up the USFDA approval, and Trump promised him he would get the FDA approval right away. The press reported that FDA approval would come in a matter of days. On March 26, Moon and his cadre visited the test kit factory for a photo-op to bolster his image as the man with solutions for the Coronavirus pandemic, as if the approval of the FDA was a done deal. The FDA ultimately approved the emergency use of the Seegene test kit almost a month later on April 22, yet the Moon government exaggerated its role in solving the Coronavirus crisis worldwide before the general election on April 15.
This episode was just one example of the Moon government’s subtle marketing strategy in maximizing the use of the Coronavirus crisis for their political gain. As it turned out, the South Korean electorate overwhelmingly voted for the Moon’s party. By April, the voters had long forgotten about standing in long lines for hours to buy masks during the cold winter. Moon’s offer of Coronavirus money (one million WON per household) the day before the election might have put the voters in more of a forgiving mood.
Moon is not impervious to criticism, nor should he be. The following article, entitled “The Dark Side of Moon,” is a series of ten articles that reveal both sides of the man who has painted himself as “the human rights lawyer on a peace mission with North Korea.”
I begin the series with a contextualization of the so-called “Candlelight Revolution,” according to Moon’s vision and his rhetoric—that his administration would answer to the call of the candlelight revolution because it arose out of the people’s yearning for justice and equity.
1. “CANDLELIGHT REVOLUTION”
Following the first-ever impeachment of a sitting president on March 31, 2017, the South Korean electorate entered a new era. Those who supported President Park Geun-hye became distraught and angry while her political enemies danced in joy. Among the rejoicing was Moon Jae-in, who would emerge as the replacement president in the snap election that took about two months to complete.
The Moon camp had one electoral strategy—Moon Jae-in administration would answer to the call of the candlelight revolution. The result was that 41% of the voters bought into Moon’s message and elected him as president.
In his inauguration speech, Moon made reference to the candlelight revolution multiple times marking it as the foundation for his administration. He repeatedly mentioned the candlelight revolution in speeches at international events, confusing the listeners. He even said it to Prime Minister Merkel of Germany, who watched him with a puzzled look on her face, as if she was asking him whether there was a democratic electoral system in South Korea. Did the people of South Korea really put him in the office?
We need to take a close look at this because what’s behind this Candlelight Revolution concept is significant policy. Moon Jae-in, elected to the office in May 2017, has, from the beginning, been feverishly characterizing his government as the result of the “candlelight revolution” to leaders around the world. The candlelight revolution that had triggered the impeachment of Park Geun-hye was disingenuous. Moon was at the forefront of the candlelight movement with the help of labor organizations and the media, which had populated the South Korean society with fabricated stories then and now. The truth had been compromised in such a way that all the progress South Korea had gained through the “Miracle of the Han” was now in jeopardy.
So, the question at the forefront is—what was this candlelight revolution? And what was the root of the obsession for the candlelight vigil? Was it really a genuine popular movement arising out of the people’s yearning for truth and justice as Moon and his supporters would so like us to believe?
It has been three years since the candlelight rally, and we have the hindsight to take a look at what happened. Contrary to the then-popular belief that South Korean concerned citizens had mobilized themselves, the rallies had been organized by the labor groups with about two million members.
These members responded to the demands put upon them by their labor leaders and dutifully appeared at the rallies against Park Geun-hye. After all, Park was a proponent of labor reform, and labor group leaders did not need much encouragement to rally against her. The labor organizations financed the rallies that featured an elaborate stage with giant screens and sound equipment that cost millions. Add to these costs, and there were fees for famous entertainers, placards, flags, not to mention the millions of printed cards, candles, and bottles of water—all underwritten by labor unions and pro-North Korea organizations depicted in the following chapters.
John Cha lives and writes in Oakland, California. He has written several volumes of biographies about Korean and American leaders and is an award-winning translator of Korean literature into English.John ChaJune 7, 2020
