If Ahn were king?

Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the minor opposition People Party, volunteers to help the treatment of COVID-19 patients at Keimyung University Dongsan Hospital in Daegu, in this March 1, 2021, file photo. Yonhap

By David A. Tizzard

Many Koreans will laugh at you if you bring up the subject of Ahn Cheol-soo in the current presidential election. For all the rational arguments that might be made or the evidence that could be produced, there is simply no getting past that initial sense of ridicule with which one is greeted. Ahn carries a reputation and regardless of how he might have changed over the years, he's still seen as a rather comic figure trying desperately to succeed in Korean politics but always failing.

Once your Korean friends have finished laughing about Ahn, they will then turn to the two main candidates. Many find both of these polarizing figures extremely distasteful, evidence that the Korean right and left are pushing each other further to opposing extremes in order to retain a sense of competiveness among the voting public. But, and this is where it gets weird, despite many Korean people I speak to expressing a desire to vote for neither of these two gentlemen, most of them will still likely vote for either the conservative or democratic candidate. It will be a vote either out of habit or, more likely, to ensure that the other team doesn't win.

And there we have it: Korean politics has arrived at the stage where its citizens are now forced to vote for a candidate in whom they don't really believe but nevertheless feel compelled to support just so that they might prevent a disaster befalling the nation. Both sides see it that way of course and yet will not agree with each other on the slightest issue. If there were a simple two-way vote between Ahn and Lee Jae-myung or Ahn and Yoon Seok-yeol, I think he would stand a decent chance of beating both. His disadvantage is that both the main parties have presented their rival as such an untenable option they are forcing people to vote for them instead of considering a third-way.

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Ahn is that third way. There will be many who immediately demonstrate support for Sim Sang-jeung. And she rightly addresses important issues that the country more broadly should pay more attention to. However, she came 5th last time around, her polling results float around the 1 percent to 2 percent mark now, and she is the oldest of all the four main candidates. I am often left wondering why the Justice Party and all their talk of youth politics and progress are fielding the oldest candidate and not letting a genuine young and forward-thinking voice have a crack. Of course a young woman candidate would probably not win, neither likely will Sim, but the young candidate would get invaluable experience in the debates. Moreover, they would probably provide some hope to the country's youth who grow increasingly apathetic to those in power and their continued corrupt practices and hypocritical behavior. They would be a voice for, at least part of, a generation. Why the Justice Party has once more rallied behind Sim instead of passing on the torch is something they should reflect on.

All this being said, I will shout into the void and make a case for Ahn as the next president of Korea. We are living through a time of the greatest medical importance and in which digital technology is playing an increasingly large role in our lives. Ahn is qualified and experienced in both fields. Ahn volunteered as a doctor down in Daegu when COVID-19 first struck the Korean Peninsula. It wasn't simple a case of a few photos, however. He has a medical degree, worked as a professor at a medical school, and served as a naval surgeon during his military service. On that last point, Ahn has at least completed his mandatory military service unlike his two main male rivals. The amount of politicians who wish to lead the country without first serving it never ceases to amaze me. So, during a pandemic, why not someone who has a medical background?

And while we look forward, with talks of NFTs, metaverses, Wi-Fi, and 5G, Ahn also has genuine experience in that field too. He didn't spend his days dreaming up utopias or looking wistfully out of factory windows: The man made and built computer programs that were installed on millions of computers. Do we not want someone who has at least a passing understanding of the world we are living in?

And then the family. For much of this election campaign, focus has been on the wives and extended family of the two main candidates: whether it has been the slut-shaming, the swearing, the socks, the shamans, or the cigarettes, the scandals have simply not stopped. Perhaps I might have missed a story, but Ahn, his wife, and his daughter, seem to have a relatively normal life in that they are not surrounded by controversy or malpractice. His wife is a professor at Seoul National University in the College of Medicine; his daughter is postdoctoral scholar in chemistry and biochemistry at the University of California San Diego. It appears that they have earned their positions through the same legitimate means we try to earn ours as well.

Ahn has the political experience, he has the qualifications, he has the moral and intellectual fortitude, and he has a supportive and stable educated family behind him. He also speaks English fairly well which would benefit him greatly when travelling abroad and meeting world leaders.

Whichever way you look at it, it seems like Ahn should win the upcoming election. If not for his own qualifications and expertise, but also because of those found lacking in his competitors. Yet despite this, it is unlikely he will win. Moreover, people will just chuckle even at the suggestion of his victory or the tone of this article. Those laughing, however, will then often be the first to bemoan the state of politics, society and the media. Yet they will not see the irony.

So here's a question for you as I finish: What would happen if Ahn were king?

Dr. David A. Tizzard (datizzard@swu.ac.kr) has a Ph.D. in Korean Studies and lectures at Seoul Women's University and Hanyang University. He is a social/cultural commentator and musician who has lived in Korea for nearly two decades. He is also the host of the Korea Deconstructed podcast, which can be found online. The views expressed in the article are the author's own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.