Candles and flags

By Choi Sung-jin

Foreigners who want to see how Korea is divided into two ― capitalist south and totalitarian North ― had best visit the truce village of Panmunjeom some 50 km north of Seoul.

Those who would like to watch how South Koreans are split into two ― conservatives and progressives ― need not go that far; they have only to go to the heart of this capital city any Saturday evening.

You can run into two completely different, and mutually hostile, groups of people there, each occupying one of the two large plazas along Sejongno Boulevard, which starts at Gwanghwamun and ends at Namdaemun.

The several hundreds of thousands of people who gather in Gwanghwamun Plaza nearby the presidential Blue House are liberals who call for ousting the conservative President Park Geun-hye. Park has been impeached by the National Assembly because of an unprecedented influence-peddling scandal involving her four-decade-long confidant, and is awaiting a ruling by the Constitutional Court that may uphold or reject the parliamentary vote.

A similar number of demonstrators swarming Seoul Plaza in front of City Hall are right-wingers opposing Park’s impeachment. Some ultra-rightists maintain the scandal is just a fiction concocted by opposition politicians and media outlets under directives from North Korea.

The anti-Park group comprises NGOs and union leaders and is relatively young, including couples pushing prams and even kindergarteners. Their rallies resemble outdoor concerts featuring rockers, folk singers and hip-hoppers. The pro-Park crowd is much older, led by veterans and Christian elders, and their events are closer to revival assemblies than political meetings with loudspeakers blaring war songs going back as far as to the 1950s.

Anti-Park protesters hold candles and their pro-Park counterparts have national flags in their hands. The latter group also hoists the U.S. flag and even flags with crosses on them like those that crusaders might have carried a millennium ago. This seems to be these people’s way of demonstrating their anti-North Korean, pro-American creed ― as seen by a 50-something demonstrator struggling last Saturday to explain their positions to a curious white man, in broken English.

The “candle-vs.-flag” confrontation will likely escalate as the court ruling draws near, possibly to early March. Police set up the buffer zone of about 500 meters between the two groups ― like the Demilitarized Zone along the truce line ― and blocked the area with buses to keep them from colliding with each other. Increasingly, South Korea is becoming one nation, two peoples.

In a democratic country, anyone should be able to say what he or she wants to. But these pro-Park masses are going too far when they denounce a majority of lawmakers, prosecutors, journalists ― and ordinary people ― pushing for Korea’s rebirth as a freer, cleaner and more just nation, as a fuss masterminded by followers of North Korea. Their rallying site is strewn with leaflets and tabloids filled with fake news, which claim, for example, there are pro-NK Korean-Japanese youngsters and even Chinese students among the candlelit protesters to “communize South Korea,” a groundless allegation that might spark diplomatic rows with neighboring countries.

A middle-aged demonstrator acknowledged he thinks President Park has not just a few problems but cannot leave office to prevent this nation from falling into the hands of “leftists,” including Moon Jae-in, a liberal-leaning presidential hopeful enjoying the highest approval rating for now.

The more conservatives want to hold on to political power, however, the sooner they should ditch the disgraced President and her ultra-right followers. The rightist camp ought to prevent time-tested conservative values, such as realism, rationalism and gradualism, from being smeared by extremist, blind-minded anti-communist baloney.

As things stand now, the nation may likely remain split about whether the highest tribunal endorses or dismisses the parliamentary conclusion, as the defeated side would not accept the result. To hear what some extreme rightists say, they may not even acknowledge a liberal winner in the presidential polls this year, chanting “not my president” as some Americans who voted against Donald Trump have done. The conservatives may also follow the model of their U.S. counterparts citing the post-truth era and alternative facts, seeing and hearing only what they want to, and putting beliefs ahead of actualities.

Unlike America that has been and will continue to be the world’s undisputed superpower, South Korea can ill afford to be mired in a left-right struggle much longer. Especially so at a time when major powers are reverting to self-isolating nationalism, and its far larger neighbors to the west and east are jockeying for regional hegemony, as they did more than a century ago.

What this means for an eventual presidential winner is clear: he (there are no potential female candidates) will have to put the focus of political reform on institutions, not people. The nation has little time for political vendettas, or resultant partisan and factional dogfights. Particularly, if a liberal candidate emerges as a winner, which is far likelier than otherwise, he should cast the net of political housecleaning as narrow as possible, to catch only proven criminals.

A political victory for the nation this year is to have a new president blessed by as many people as possible ― and hold the inaugural ceremony in a reunified plaza stretching from Gwanghwamun all the way to the City Hall.

Choi Sung-jin is a contributing writer to The Korea Times. Contact him at choisj1955@naver.com.