Column: South Korea's political turmoil does not overshadow its progress
He is the first president of South Korea to be formally charged with a crime while still in office.
This crisis was touched off on Dec. 3 when Yoon formally declared, and attempted to impose, martial law amid political turmoil related to accusations of corruption.
Soldiers did surround and enter the parliament, but did not actually take control of the legislature. Massive popular protest of Yoon's move included members of his own political party.
This serious crisis overshadows, but does not overthrow, South Korea's progress.
As recently as the early 1960s, the nation was one of the poorest in the world. A peasant society, the entire Korean Peninsula was devastated by the Korean War of 1950-53. Yet today, the Republic of Korea ranks among the top 20 economies in the world, holding leadership roles in the automobile, advanced electronics, shipbuilding and other industries.
Rapid industrialization and economic modernization are complemented by striking transition from dictatorship to democracy. President and Gen. Park Chung-hee stifled incipient democracy and imposed extremely harsh military authoritarianism for nearly two decades.
He was assassinated in 1979 by the head of the KCIA, the national intelligence agency. In Korean memory, he remains a respected symbol of strength and effectiveness for many, though with progress and the passage of time that fades.
Gen. Park was succeeded as chief executive by two more generals, Chun Doo Hwan and Roe Tae Woo, but growing pressure for true democratic representation proved insurmountable.
The capstone of the transition to democracy was the election of Kim Dae-Jung as president in 1998. He completed his five-year term without interruption, and in 2000 received the Nobel Peace Prize.
A public symbol of opposition to Park's dictatorship, he was imprisoned for several years. On another occasion, KCIA agents kidnapped him and planned to kill him. Only the intervention of senior U.S. CIA official Don Gregg saved his life.
South Korea's remarkable domestic accomplishments have unfolded while the country has become increasingly influential in global arenas. In 2012, the Obama administration shrewdly nominated President Jim Yong Kim of Dartmouth College, who was born in Seoul Korea, as president of the World Bank.
The original vision of the United Nations combined competing goals of favoring the most powerful nations and inclusive global representation. Kim and former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon personify South Korea's significant expanding role as a bridge between developed and developing nations.
Market economies and reasonably representative governments now characterize a steadily increasing share of the world's developing nations. In short, South Korea is positioned to lead developing nations toward prosperity.
The United Nations today is strong. UN and U.S. decisions in 1950 to defend South Korea were vital to this success. During the long Vietnam War, South Korea maintained approximately 50,000 troops in South Vietnam. They were overwhelmingly combat forces. The principal incentive was loyalty to the United States forged during the Korean War.
President Yoon initially had the opportunity to develop South Korea's regional leadership, bolstered by the firmly established friendship and alliance with the United States.
Unfortunately this has ended, but the rule of law still prevails.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
4 hours ago
- Fox News
Trump receives praise for pushing Russia-Ukraine peace deal: 'Commander-in-peace'
American Principles Project President Terry Schilling praises President Donald Trump's performance in his second term while stressing that he should be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Chicago Tribune
5 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Daniel DePetris: South Korea's new president tries to shake up the Korean Peninsula
As the world rightly remains focused on the bloody battlefields of Ukraine and the humanitarian abomination that is Gaza, South Korea's new president is trying to shake up the status quo on the Korean Peninsula, one of the most militarized regions on the planet. Whether he succeeds will depend on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's willingness to cooperate and the Donald Trump administration's support of the endeavor. Lee Jae Myung, a former factory worker and opposition politician elected in June, came into office promising big things. His campaign, which came at a time when recently impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol was facing charges of instigating a coup, focused on getting South Korea back in order. The country, one of Asia's leading democracies, is still recuperating from months of political turmoil and constitutional crisis after a short-lived usurpation of power by Yoon fizzled courtesy of South Korean troops who held their fire and civilians who came out to protest. Lee ran a campaign centered primarily on competence with a simple but compelling message: He'll fix what his predecessor broke. This included changes to South Korea's foreign policy as well, which Lee argued was far too hawkish and ideological under Yoon. He wasn't wrong; Yoon's presidency, for instance, was a disaster for inter-Korean relations. The disgraced president's North Korea policy leaned on the stick to the total exclusion of the carrot, with communication channels between South and North Korean officials falling apart and the one big security agreement the two adversaries signed in 2018 dying on the table. North Korea's Kim shares the blame too, but there's no question that Yoon's hard-line policies pushed Pyongyang into a corner. Bringing stability back to the Korean Peninsula is a tall order for any South Korean president sitting in the Blue House. Yet for Lee, it's a necessity if the goal is to prevent a further degradation of the situation. It didn't take long for Lee to start putting out feelers to the Kim regime. In contrast to Yoon, who was a fan of preconditions and wouldn't dream of handing the North Koreans anything that could be seen as a concession, the new administration in Seoul is doing what it can unilaterally to improve the odds of detente. On June 12, for example, Lee ordered a stoppage to the propaganda broadcasts that South Korea beams into the North from loudspeakers close to the Demilitarized Zone. The anti-Kim leaflets that defectors and activists often send into the North, which drives the Kim regime crazy, are now viewed by the authorities in Seoul as akin to a hostile act whose rewards aren't worth the trouble. The radio broadcasts that provide the North Korean population with access to legitimate news outside the Kim regime's control have declined by roughly 80%, a decision purportedly executed by South Korea's spy agency. The South Koreans are talking about resuming individual tours to the North as well, which haven't occurred since 2008. And the man in charge of Seoul's inter-Korean file is scheduled to make a stop at the Panmunjom peace village in the inter-Korean border region. Lee's signal to North Korea is easy to grasp: The two nations need a relationship that's on a more solid footing, and he is doing what he can to move it in that direction. Of course, there's only so much the South Korean president can do on his own. After all, it takes two to tango. If the North Koreans don't reciprocate, then Lee's initiative will likely cause him a world of hurt politically as conservative politicians lambaste his administration for being weak on a key foreign policy issue. Unfortunately, at this stage, the Kim regime isn't buying what Lee is selling. Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un's powerful sister who often serves as Pyongyang's spokesperson on critical matters, all but laughed at what the South Koreans are doing. Despite Seoul's 'sincere efforts,' she said, Lee is in reality no different than the other people who came before him. 'We clarify once again the official stand that no matter what policy is adopted and whatever proposal is made in Seoul, we have no interest in it and there is neither a reason to meet nor an issue to be discussed,' Kim Yo Jong remarked. What to make of North Korea's refusal to play ball? Some of this can be chalked up to the typical bluster we often hear from North Korean officials, where threats to envelop the South Korean capital in a sea of fire are never far away. Another explanation is that Kim Jong Un doesn't need to do much of anything right now to elicit concessions from the South Koreans — so why give up something when you can get it for free? But I suspect the bigger factor driving Pyongyang's intransigence is strategic. North Korea is far less interested in reconciling with Seoul, let alone Washington, this year than it was during Trump's first term. The global landscape between then and now is light years apart. Back then, the Kim regime was dealing with a stringent United Nations Security Council sanctions regime that limited the North's ability to import and export key goods. Now, while the sanctions regime is still in effect, enforcement is a joke thanks to Russian and Chinese violations. Back then, Pyongyang was relatively isolated; today, it's enjoying a strategic relationship with Moscow that has paid off handsomely for the Kim family. The hard thing about international relations is all the puzzle pieces have to fit for dramatic change to happen. On the Korean Peninsula, however, the puzzle pieces are still all over the table. Daniel DePetris is a fellow at Defense Priorities and a foreign affairs columnist for the Chicago Tribune.
UPI
5 hours ago
- UPI
Seoul asks North Korea to respond to repatriation plan
SEOUL, July 29 (UPI) -- Seoul's Unification Ministry on Tuesday publicly called for Pyongyang to respond to its plan to repatriate the remains of a North Korean national that was discovered on the southern side of the inter-Korean border. South Korean authorities found a body believed to be that of a North Korean citizen on June 21 off the coast of Seongmodo Island in the Yellow Sea, the ministry spokesperson's office said in a statement sent to reporters. The government plans to repatriate the remains next Tuesday via the truce village of Panmunjom inside the DMZ, the ministry said, urging the North to respond through an inter-Korean hotline that it has not used since April 2023. "Given the severed inter-Korean communication lines, sending a notice to North Korea is difficult," the ministry said in a message directed to Pyongyang. "Therefore, we are informing you of the contents of this notice through the media." The North Korean man was born in 1988 and was a farm worker in North Hwanghae Province, the ministry said, citing an identification card found on the body. Earlier this month, the South repatriated six North Koreans across the maritime border in the East Sea, months after they drifted into southern waters and were rescued. The North did not respond to any of Seoul's notification efforts about that repatriation plan, which were made via the U.S.-led United Nations Command. However, North Korea sent vessels to the border to retrieve the citizens. Seoul's Unification Ministry also recently used a press briefing to request that the North give advance notice before releasing water from a dam across the border. Ministry spokeswoman Chang Yoon-jeong called the public appeal a form of "indirect communication" with Pyongyang. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has pledged to improve inter-Korean relations, which have deteriorated sharply in recent years after a period of diplomatic progress in 2018-19. Shortly after taking office last month, Lee suspended propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts at the DMZ and cracked down on activists floating balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border. North Korea has rebuffed any efforts at rapprochement, however. On Monday, Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said that Pyongyang had "no interest" in engaging with Seoul.
