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Korea Herald

[Kim Seong-kon] We should be free from the specters of the past

One of the problems of South Korean politicians is their pertinacious obsession with the nation's past. Instead of envisioning the future of their country, many of them are hopelessly haunted by the specters of history, never having overcome their accumulated grudges. When our left-wing politicians seized political power in 2017, they immediately implemented a committee for investigating the past and consequently disgraced and ruined so many people's lives. According to recent press reports, Democratic Party of Korea politicians are once again planning to launch an investigation committee for 'insurgency' should they win the election in June this year. We hope that our politicians will stop dragging the country into the labyrinth of bygone eras. Instead, they should try to build a bright future for us. They should learn from Peter Burke in the American crime drama series 'White Collar,' who says: 'There are things in the past that live in the past. Not my life anymore.' Some radical politicians here have the delusion that South Korea is still in a colonial situation or under a dictatorship. Because of this, they believe that the fight for liberation and democracy is still going on. Stuck in the past, they do not seem to realize that South Korea is no longer a colony, whether culturally or economically, and no longer under military rule. Our right-wing politicians, too, do not seem to be completely free from the past. Recently, some of them tried to impose martial law, a remnant of the military dictatorship. Perhaps they did not know it, but martial law may have been possible four or five decades ago but is no longer valid in this era of smartphones and social media. South Koreans who are living in an advanced country with cutting-edge technology will no longer tolerate such an outdated, tyrannical measure. In fact, many Korean people want their politicians not to retreat into the past, but to foresee the future and prepare for the worst-case scenario in looming global crises. 'The Guardian,' too, recently wrote that Korean politicians face 'a stark choice: embrace the will of the people or retreat into South Korea's dark past.' The 2019 American movie, 'Ready or Not,' illustrates what to do with the dark past. 'Ready or Not' is a story about those who die because of an obsession with the dark past. Indeed, the solemn message of the movie is 'If you cling to the past, you will never be free from the chain of the diabolic curse lurking there.' In 'Ready or Not,' Alex, the estranged son of the rich le Domas family marries Grace, who has been raised in a foster family. After the wedding ceremony, Grace is informed that Alex's ancestor made a deal with a man named le Bail to bring fortune to the le Domas family. However, there was one condition: the family of le Domas must observe a ritual ceremony for new members of the family by pulling out a game card from le Bail's puzzle box at midnight and playing accordingly. Grace draws a 'Hide and Seek' card. At first, she thinks that it is a harmless initiation ceremony to become a family member. To her surprise, however, it turns out to be a deadly hunting game. Each family member grabs ancient weapons and chases Grace to kill her before dawn. If they cannot eliminate her before dawn, all the family members will die. Grace manages to survive the nightmarish night, and the bright sun rises at last. Then, every family member of the le Domas dies by exploding. Everyone in the le Domas family is cursed with the nightmares of the past. Although sometimes they harbor doubts, the le Domases never try to escape their dark past. Instead, they keep torturing or killing a new family member and call the diabolic ritual a 'family tradition.' The fact that the le Domas family members use ancient weapons to kill Grace reminds us of our past-obsessed politicians who provoke us to fight against our past adversaries with bamboo spears in these times of drones and artificial intelligence. In that sense, 'Ready or Not,' superbly illustrates the chronic problem of ideology-oriented politicians in South Korea who are hopelessly preoccupied with unresolved grievances in the past. 'Hide and Seek' reminds us of Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Fall of the House of Usher.' In Poe's story, Roderick Usher, too, lives in the past, calling it a family tradition. Eventually, the House of Usher collapses, just as the haunted house of le Domas burns down in the end. Likewise, our country, too, will stumble if we cannot overcome the gloomy past. We urgently need a future-oriented leader who does not retreat into the past. If we are lost in the past, 'ready or not,' our past nightmares will haunt us until we perish. If we forget the past and move on to the future, we will surely have a bright future. The choice is ours.