Living in 'new world'

By Park Moo-jong

So many Koreans, including myself, are now under "house arrest" to maintain a social distance aimed at keeping away the rapidly spreading new coronavirus, without knowing when it will end.

Being isolated, either willingly or reluctantly, gives plenty of unearned personal time, paradoxically. The favorite things to help kill our time at home may be watching TV, internet surfing or listening to music.

Writing this biweekly column at home, I am listening to Antonin Dvorak's symphony "From the New World" simply known as the "New World Symphony." What attracts me personally is the intro of the fourth movement of the masterpiece the Czech composer (1841-1904) wrote in 1893 in America, the new world for him.

Eighty-two years later, John Williams composed the score of Steven Spielberg's 1975 blockbuster "Jaws" featuring the thrilling shark theme which interestingly sounds like the intro of the last movement of Dvorak's New World.

President Moon Jae-in, now beleaguered by the relentless coronavirus and various national difficulties, said in his inaugural address on May 10, 2017: "My heart is burning with enthusiasm to create a country that we have never experienced before. My head is now filled with blueprints for ushering in a new world characterized by unity and coexistence." Many people listened with hope, and they still remember.

What a coincidence! The term "new world" is making headlines across the world. The Shincheonji Church, a religious cult, which has been at the center of the novel coronavirus outbreak here, means "new world church."

The Shincheonji Church, branded as heretical by Protestants here, is indeed to blame for the spread of the virus. About 60 percent of confirmed patients whose number topped 6,000 Thursday are connected to the cult.

Founder Lee Man-hee and the organization apologized Monday for the role played by his followers in the virus crisis, saying that many people have been infected, though it was not intentional. "We did our utmost but were unable to prevent it."

Actually, the group and Lee have been responsible "to some extent" for contributing to the rapid spread of the virus by failing to provide a full list of its members to the authorities.

But who should be blamed fundamentally for the failure to enact early-stage containment of the epidemic that started in Wuhan, China? It's the Moon government's excessively low-key attitude toward China, apparently in attempts to not ruffle the feathers of President Xi Jinping ahead of his possible visit to Seoul in the first half of the year.

At the very start of the epidemic, the government, ignoring the repeated calls of scientists and medical doctors, and did not close the door to Chinese nationals. Without distancing China, the government instead chose the social distance of its own people.

Rather, almost all the people in the ruling camp, including Moon, Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, former Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, lawmakers and Cabinet members, have been on an all-out attack labeling Shincheonji as the main culprit of the outbreak.

Many people feel that the government is passing the buck for its failure to prevent the epidemic in its early stages, making the cult a scapegoat. Even Mayor Park filed a complaint with the prosecution against Shincheonji's top brass "for murder, injury, and violation of prevention and management of infectious diseases."

Instead of his legal action, which many legal experts doubt holds any legitimacy and effectiveness, the mayor and City Hall have to exert themselves in taking every measure to help contain the virus in the mega city with a 10-million population.

As Moon promised, Korean people are now living in a country, namely a new world that they have never experienced before.

The new term, "Korea-phobia," hurts the people's spirit. More than 90 countries have banned or restricted the entry of Koreans. Korean travelers and residents abroad are swallowing insults. The very country that produced BTS, Oscar winners and top digital devices is being "unwelcomed" across the planet.

What has made people most angry was the bizarre scene of the presidential couple laughing their heads off during a luncheon with Bong Joon-ho, this year's Oscar-winning director of "Parasite," Feb. 20, the day when the number of confirmed cases started to snowball with 104.

By the way, Moon has declared a war against the epidemic. The people are fighting the disease in their own ways under the guidance of medical experts.

The epidemic is not a political issue, but a national health emergency. Leaders in the government and political world should concentrate on preventing the spread, not on winning the upcoming April 15 general election.

We, Koreans, are the people who made their country as it is now from Japanese colonial rule and the ashes of the devastating Korean War, whoever their presidents were. It is not the president who creates a new world the people have never experienced, but the people themselves.

Park Moo-jong (emjei29@gmail.com) is a standing adviser of The Korea Times. He served as the president-publisher of the nation's first English daily newspaper from 2004 to 2014 after working as a reporter since 1974.