What would you ask President Moon?

By David Tizzard

Scotland has given the world a great many things ― the television, flushing toilets, Grand Theft Auto, and deep-fried Mars bars. While not all of these have had the greatest impact on modern Korea, there is one that has: the online government petition system.

The Scottish parliament was the first to introduce the e-petition system back in 2000. The first petition placed online was a campaign from the WWF (the nature organization, not Rowdy Roddy Piper) to protect the country's coastal regions.

It ran for just under three months and collected 305 valid signatures and nine valid comments. Perhaps the Scots were busy at the time.

It's fair to say that those early numbers from the system's inauguration are now being dwarfed in Korea. The saying here goes that “The People's Voice is the Voice of Heaven.”

Domestically, it is symbolized by a drum. This has its origins in the drum that would hang in front of the royal palace, which people would beat to file a complaint to the king during the Joseon Dynasty.

From a broader cultural perspective, it is known as the Mandate of Heaven. In her 2018 novel “The Court Dancer,” Kyung-sook Shin describes it through the imagery of a boat and the sea.

The sea is the people of the nation. It is on this that the boat (the king) rests. The sea holds the boat up and supports it. However, it also has the power and ability to capsize the boat should it ever choose to do so.

That was seemingly never more evident during the protests and candlelight vigils that eventually led to the removal and impeachment of ex-President Park Geun-hye.

But with the colder weather biting through the capital, and not everyone in the country able to travel to Seoul to spend their weekends shouting in Gwanghwamun, the e-petition system has been adopted here with some gusto.

Since its launch in August in 2017 by President Moon Jae-in's administration, more than 357,000 petitions have been filed online. Any petitions to Cheong Wa Dae that receive more than 200,000 signatures within a month will receive a government response.

There have been petitions related to feminism, the legalization of marijuana, North Korean policy, and the sentencing of those convicted of crimes.

One petition posted on September 25th even called for the disbandment of popular boy band BTS. More than 3,000 people signed this appeal, which claimed the members were too “haughty” and not deserving of military service exemption.

In July, more than 200,000 demanded the media outlet Dispatch be disbanded for revealing the personal information of a celebrity's husband. In the same month, a similar figure demanded that the presidential office stop the city's queer parade.

These two both received enough public attention that the government was required to respond.

The most signatures received concerned the case in which a man was killed in an internet cafe in October. Nearly one million people signed a form asking the government not to ease any punishment based on mental health.

While the petition system serves to give the people of this country a legitimate channel through which they may make their voices heard to those in power, a modern proverbial drum to beat, it also runs the risk of becoming a powerful tool of populism.

Some have suggested that this method encourages a mob mentality or veers towards elements of a kangaroo court in which individuals are judged not according to the laws of the land, but rather public opinion and mere sentiment reflected on internet forum boards.

To my mind it remains a useful tool. Its strengths or weaknesses depend entirely on how the people use it. In that regard, it might be wise to consider the Aristotelian telos of the system a little more frequently.

However, moving away from the safety of the oft-maddening crowds and instead resting on the sovereignty of the individual, I wonder what you would ask President Moon were you given the opportunity.

As a Christmas present, if there were one question you could ask the President of this fine country, to which he would have to respond, what would you ask him?

David Tizzard (datizzard@swu.ac.kr) is an assistant professor at Seoul Women's University.