Blowing in the wind

By Park Moo-jong

This year's surprising Nobel Literature laureate, Bob Dylan, sings in his 1963 signature song, "Blowing in the Wind":

"Yes, and how many ears must one man have, before he can hear people cry?

"Yes, and how many deaths will it take till he knows, that too many people have died?

"The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind. The answer is blowin' in the wind."

The famous phrase, "The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind," used to be translated in Korean as, "My friend, only the wind knows the answer."

This means that the answer is intangible as the wind or on the contrary, the answer is so obvious that it is right in our face. It's up to you how you interpret the phrase.

But people of today in this part of the globe know the answer.

Beleaguered President Park Geun-hye has only one ear, only listening to her long-time friend Choi Soon-sil, who has no official government position, in the course of making many important policy decisions.

As Dylan laments, she could not hear people cry because she has not many "ears."

The answer blowing in the wind is a sense of change.

The value of experience is getting less credit. The current social trend gives higher value to present ability and future possibility than past experience.

It is hard for us to catch up in the era of fast changes only with past experience. Today’s call for change reminds us of Karl Marx (1818-1883) who once said, ``The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it.’’

But the change we refer to at this point in time in South Korea should be about reform for the better.

Now, it is obviously the time for us to make new weapons by adding new knowledge to what we have learnt in bygone days.

Change is a natural phenomena along the current of time that nobody can deny, notwithstanding whether he or she likes it or not. Especially, when we live in a world where all impossible things are made possible.

Until recently, some people, often referred to as conservative forces, mostly in their middle and older age, compared to progressives of the younger generation, may have feel ill at ease due to their doubts for a clear tomorrow and the rapidity of change they have found hard to catch up with.

However, most people, except for some politicians, either conservatives or progressives, call for change amid a national crisis caused by the so-called "Choi Soon-sil Gate" scandal featuring a 60-year-old "civilian" woman's alleged influence peddling and interfering in state affairs as President Park's friend for four decades.

The latest polls show more than half of people want Park to step down, taking full responsibility for having caused the current state of chaos.

In my column last week, "A day in the life of Seoul Cabbies," I quoted one of them as telling me, "I, who voted for her, wonder if the President will be able to complete her remaining tenure."

One week later, the situation is getting more serious.

Park is in the fourth year of a five-year term and the crisis she has incurred is almost paralyzing the administration, and even threatening usual diplomatic activities. This is not only her personal crisis, but also the people's and the state's.

Much speculation is rampant as to what will happen next after Choi's arrest. Popular demand for the President to resign is growing, especially among young people. But the National Assembly is still deadlocked in a stereotyped fashion.

There is an old saying: "One who has tied a knot must untie it, or solve the problems you yourself create."

Last week, the President apologized to the people "not that faithfully," adding fuel to the fire. She has no way out but to confess to the people directly about what was wrong.

She must tell the nation frankly what happened. Although the Constitution provides that the incumbent President cannot be accused criminally, she should allow law enforcement authorities to question her about the "incredible" scandal.

Then, she should leave the ruling, but minority, Saenuri Party at once after disbanding the intra-party faction called the "pro-Park" group, so that it party can talk with the majority opposition camp as to how to tide over the crisis.

In fact, the role of the opposition camp ― the Democratic Party of Korea and the People's Party ― is crucial in finding the answer.

At the moment, the political world is, unfortunately, yet to show any sign of change, only trying to make the crisis an opportunity to seize "power." In short, almost from A to Z, politicians, more specifically lawmakers, are making voters hot under the collar.

The call seems to be like knocking on a deaf man’s door. Ironically, however, politicians used to say, ``we are living in a world of rapid change and we have to change ourselves first to survive.’’ But to date they seldom do so.

As aforementioned, the crisis is not the President's own. The nation and the people are facing a crisis. Who wants our nation to go wrong?

The Republic of Korea was a small and divided nation in the “Far East” half a century ago. Such a country rose from the ashes of the terrible 1950-1953 Korean War to become a major global economy, much to the admiration of the world.

We know the answer. The answer is “blowing in the mind.” Changes should be made on the basis of national agreement.

Time is running out. The President should have “more ears” to listen to the public’s voice. Hopefully, better late than never.

Park Moo-jong is the Korea Times advisor. He served as the president-publisher of the nation's first English newspaper from 2004 to 2014 after working as a reporter for the daily since 1974. He can be reached at moojong@ktimes.com or emjei29@gmail.com