By Oh Young-jin
As with most successful power grabs, this coup attempt took place in the din of distractions. Few noticed it until it was well underway.
The most stunning part of it was that the coup leader was not an Army general, a usual suspect, with no tanks or troops involved.
His cause was to close the dysfunctional legislature and usher in the rule through direct partnership between the leader and the people. As things stood, there was a good chance that his coup would succeed.
When and where
It was Sunday night when the Blue House put on a show to celebrate the achievements of the Moon Jae-in government's first 100 days in office. The cast of Cabinet ministers and top presidential aides together with a hall full of guests were on hand. An indie band belted out an opening song, followed by a session of questions and answers about the government's policies and plans. The one-hour program was broadcast live through three major television stations. In contrast to the festive tone of the show, a bit more than one in 10 people watched it, with some complaining about the special primetime broadcast bumping regularly scheduled dramas off the air. Those who viewed it would say that the program didn't look as corny as similar self-complimentary programs of past governments. Still, they said they wanted results, not a show. But the impatient types who changed channels early missed an extraordinary declaration by President Moon himself. Even those who saw it all still missed the gravity of his declaration as most of the following morning papers gave light treatment to it, if they did not skip it altogether.
What and who
People are not satisfied with representative democracy where they are reduced to bystanders whose jobs are perfunctorily casting votes in elections that come every so often.
They want to show their political views directly when politics goes wrong by raising candles as happened during the candlelit protests and the unloading of online postings.
They demand their direct suggestions be reflected in policy formation. These are the words uttered by President Moon during the show.
In his own words, Moon denied the legitimacy of the National Assembly, the legislature, one of three branches of the government according to democratic principles. Throw in his nomination of a progressive judge and his ally to lead the Supreme Court. Also it is a fact that six of the 12 justices on the highest court besides the chief justice are scheduled to retire next year, meaning the judiciary could take a hard turn to the left, and gone will be the hope of giving proper checks and balances to the executive branch.
Moon showed his desire to cut a deal directly with the people. It was based on his experience with the candlelit protests that mobilized millions of people over months and pushed the conservative-controlled National Assembly to pass a motion of impeachment against then President Park Geun-hye, their boss. After the Constitutional Court unanimously upheld the legislature's decision, Park was ousted and is now on trial. Months of virtual anarchy with the government led by an acting president turned the street protests into the great political force that helped their supporter, Moon, get elected. Moon was no stranger to the power of the candles as his friend and mentor, the late President Roh Moo-hyun, owed his 2002 election to the protests amid anti-U.S. sentiment sparked by the death of two girls crushed by a U.S. tracked vehicle during an exercise. As shown during the confirmation hearings, Moon supporters pounced on opposition lawmakers who grilled Moon's candidates and sent "text bombs" with hundreds of hate messages to them. To Moon, the candles and online postings are the unbeatable political tools that can overpower his enemies and detractors.
How
President Moon has job performance approval ratings of over 80 percent. At this stage of his presidency, few of his predecessors had surpassed Moon's popularity. His popularity is not just due to the leadership void left by his predecessor's misrule _ some detractors sardonically argue that Moon should gain an approval rating of over 90 percent, considering the people's great anxiety for stability because of the Park Geun-hye scandal. Kim Young-sam, the late president who led the "civilian" government, was very popular as he came after the end of three generals-turned-presidents. But feeding Moon's popularity is his image of freshness and honesty. Political parties fall far behind Moon in popularity. Especially, conservative parties and their leaders are unpopular and have failed to show any signs of emerging as alternative power to Moon. The National Assembly has long been criticized for being useless _ a paralyzed venue for frequent fights of vested interests and a symbol of incompetence where nothing gets done. Then, the news media, a supposed reinforcement to put the government on its toes, have lost their credibility as watchdogs _ bombardments by once powerful conservative newspapers making little dent on Moon's controversial policies and unyielding attitude to stick to his appointees despite significant flaws. Then, readers also put pressure on the progressive media to give up their role as the fourth estate, forcing them to cooperate with the administration.
Why
It remains to be seen how Moon will go on with his plot. He may go slow or make a swift move. Or he will ditch it. But he has to worry about a couple of things. First, direct democracy belongs to ancient Greece. Now, giving up its modern alternative, representative democracy, can be a short cut to dictatorship _ conspiring with the like-minded people to dominate the decision-making process. Moon got far less than a majority in the May election and his high popularity rating means that there are a lot of fence sitters who temporarily support Moon for a variety of reasons. Even if Moon successfully rules with direct democracy by turning it into a populist dictatorship, it wouldn't work for his successors. If Moon gives in to this temptation, it would turn out to be a deal with the devil. The candlelit protests proved a revolution that set things right. But they could have degenerated into mob rule.
Oh Young-jin is The Korea Times' chief editorial writer. Contact foolsdie5@ktimes.com and foolsdie@gmail.com.
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The most stunning part of it was that the coup leader was not an Army general, a usual suspect, with no tanks or troops involved.
His cause was to close the dysfunctional legislature and usher in the rule through direct partnership between the leader and the people. As things stood, there was a good chance that his coup would succeed.
When and where
It was Sunday night when the Blue House put on a show to celebrate the achievements of the Moon Jae-in government's first 100 days in office. The cast of Cabinet ministers and top presidential aides together with a hall full of guests were on hand. An indie band belted out an opening song, followed by a session of questions and answers about the government's policies and plans. The one-hour program was broadcast live through three major television stations. In contrast to the festive tone of the show, a bit more than one in 10 people watched it, with some complaining about the special primetime broadcast bumping regularly scheduled dramas off the air. Those who viewed it would say that the program didn't look as corny as similar self-complimentary programs of past governments. Still, they said they wanted results, not a show. But the impatient types who changed channels early missed an extraordinary declaration by President Moon himself. Even those who saw it all still missed the gravity of his declaration as most of the following morning papers gave light treatment to it, if they did not skip it altogether.
What and who
People are not satisfied with representative democracy where they are reduced to bystanders whose jobs are perfunctorily casting votes in elections that come every so often.
They want to show their political views directly when politics goes wrong by raising candles as happened during the candlelit protests and the unloading of online postings.
They demand their direct suggestions be reflected in policy formation. These are the words uttered by President Moon during the show.
In his own words, Moon denied the legitimacy of the National Assembly, the legislature, one of three branches of the government according to democratic principles. Throw in his nomination of a progressive judge and his ally to lead the Supreme Court. Also it is a fact that six of the 12 justices on the highest court besides the chief justice are scheduled to retire next year, meaning the judiciary could take a hard turn to the left, and gone will be the hope of giving proper checks and balances to the executive branch.
Moon showed his desire to cut a deal directly with the people. It was based on his experience with the candlelit protests that mobilized millions of people over months and pushed the conservative-controlled National Assembly to pass a motion of impeachment against then President Park Geun-hye, their boss. After the Constitutional Court unanimously upheld the legislature's decision, Park was ousted and is now on trial. Months of virtual anarchy with the government led by an acting president turned the street protests into the great political force that helped their supporter, Moon, get elected. Moon was no stranger to the power of the candles as his friend and mentor, the late President Roh Moo-hyun, owed his 2002 election to the protests amid anti-U.S. sentiment sparked by the death of two girls crushed by a U.S. tracked vehicle during an exercise. As shown during the confirmation hearings, Moon supporters pounced on opposition lawmakers who grilled Moon's candidates and sent "text bombs" with hundreds of hate messages to them. To Moon, the candles and online postings are the unbeatable political tools that can overpower his enemies and detractors.
How
President Moon has job performance approval ratings of over 80 percent. At this stage of his presidency, few of his predecessors had surpassed Moon's popularity. His popularity is not just due to the leadership void left by his predecessor's misrule _ some detractors sardonically argue that Moon should gain an approval rating of over 90 percent, considering the people's great anxiety for stability because of the Park Geun-hye scandal. Kim Young-sam, the late president who led the "civilian" government, was very popular as he came after the end of three generals-turned-presidents. But feeding Moon's popularity is his image of freshness and honesty. Political parties fall far behind Moon in popularity. Especially, conservative parties and their leaders are unpopular and have failed to show any signs of emerging as alternative power to Moon. The National Assembly has long been criticized for being useless _ a paralyzed venue for frequent fights of vested interests and a symbol of incompetence where nothing gets done. Then, the news media, a supposed reinforcement to put the government on its toes, have lost their credibility as watchdogs _ bombardments by once powerful conservative newspapers making little dent on Moon's controversial policies and unyielding attitude to stick to his appointees despite significant flaws. Then, readers also put pressure on the progressive media to give up their role as the fourth estate, forcing them to cooperate with the administration.
Why
It remains to be seen how Moon will go on with his plot. He may go slow or make a swift move. Or he will ditch it. But he has to worry about a couple of things. First, direct democracy belongs to ancient Greece. Now, giving up its modern alternative, representative democracy, can be a short cut to dictatorship _ conspiring with the like-minded people to dominate the decision-making process. Moon got far less than a majority in the May election and his high popularity rating means that there are a lot of fence sitters who temporarily support Moon for a variety of reasons. Even if Moon successfully rules with direct democracy by turning it into a populist dictatorship, it wouldn't work for his successors. If Moon gives in to this temptation, it would turn out to be a deal with the devil. The candlelit protests proved a revolution that set things right. But they could have degenerated into mob rule.
Oh Young-jin is The Korea Times' chief editorial writer. Contact foolsdie5@ktimes.com and foolsdie@gmail.com.
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