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| President Moon Jae-in waits to speak at the United Nations General Assembly during his recent trip to New York. Yonhap |
By Oh Young-jin
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In English the phrase translates literally and roughly into "the nation worth (befitting) the nation." A little literary parsing is required to understand its nuanced meaning: the second nation in it means the goal: one that is upstanding, respectable and prosperous, among other things, while the first represents the state in which such goals are attained.
The complete sentence has it, "We have not attained the state of the nation befitting the nation." It could be rephrased: "Korea still has some way to go before becoming an advanced country."
His inner feelings would be more in more plain sight and the context better understood when read together with the immediately following sentence: "I believe we can move ahead in peace, economy and reform only after we overcome body aches." Body aches of course signify suffering, pain and obstacles.
It is easy to see Moon's frustration, because his peace initiative toward North Korea helped remove volatility on the Korean Peninsula, but has been brought to a standstill; his redistribution policy, which is based on income-led growth, is pulling down the national economy; and his entire reform agenda, including prosecution overhaul, is bogged down by his appointment of scandal-ridden adviser Cho Kuk as justice minister.
Not as easy to read, but still unmistakable, is a sense of defiance in Moon as he indicates that he knows what he is doing for the public's best interest but it is the people who just do not understand it.
His critics argue that this insinuation confirms that Moon is aloof at best and is arrogant and ignores the people's will at worst. They would go further to say that these characteristics are clouding his judgment, making him stick no matter what to preset courses on policies and decisions.
Moon may be right, while the rest of the nation, minus his supporters, is wrong. It has been historically observed that the masses often move by herd mentality, not by reason.
A lot of sagacious people ― fair-minded experts included ― have opposed Britain leaving the European Union, but a majority of Britons turned a deaf ear to their counsel and voted for Brexit anyway because they were angry that their voices were being ignored ― their future made precarious and their life getting harder.
U.S. President Donald Trump is also a byproduct of public disfranchisement with elitists ignoring the common people, monopolizing wealth and hogging opportunities.
Irrespective of whether right or wrong, Brexit and Trump are examples by which the people show they are in charge. Of course, these examples show the masses are not necessarily wise.
Braving the increasing opposition and drops in his approval ratings, the President has obviously chosen to subject himself to the judgment of history rather than his contemporaries.
This has emboldened him to think he is within his mandate when he goes against the public's opposition.
It can be argued in Moon's favor that in representative democracy, an elected leader is entrusted with running the country and the voters hand down their judgment through the elections, a principle that is important to keep the nation going without ever-often disruptions of discontented parties making challenges. It is true as long as it is upheld: the power of an elected official derives from the people.
This poses a dilemma: Would the president lead or serve? By leading, he would run the risk of assuming that he knows better than the voters and doing things as he sees fit. By serving, he would pay attention to what they prefer and execute their wishes.
Most leaders, who are also public servants, perform a combination of both to a varying degree. But now Moon is trying more to lead than serve.
The irony is that Moon rode to power on the back of candlelit vigils and mass public protests that ousted his predecessor Park Geun-hye out of office and put her behind bars. Then, he advocated direct democracy and hinted at his willingness to bring more elements of it to his governance. Now, Moon is drawing a lot of public anger against himself, but is standing his ground, not showing any signs of listening to what the public has to say.
Oh Young-jin (foolsdie@gmail.com, foolsdie5@koreatimes.co.kr) is digital managing editor of The Korea Times.
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