Divided nation

A few days ago, I received a widely circulating Kakao Talk message from a friend who vehemently supported Park Geun-hye during the presidential election. It read as follows: “A totally new era seems to be in store for the nation given Park’s victory and numerous signs of good fortune.”

It cited a series of numerical coincidences in events surrounding the President-elect and her deceased parents. Regarding the reason for Park’s success and the nation’s fortunes, it cited, for instance, Park’s late father and military strongman Park Chung-hee wrested power on 5.16 (May 16) 1961 in a coup while Park herself took the presidency with 51.6 percent of the vote.

It also elaborated that while the senior Park ruled the nation for 18 years, Park has become the 18th president. The message also touched on former first lady and Park’s mother Yuk Young-soo who was shot dead by Moon Se-gwang, a North Korean agent sent to the South. The message stated that though her mother was assassinated by a man with the surname Moon, Park became the next head of state by beating another Moon, Moon Jae-in of the opposition Democratic United Party (DUP).

On the other side of such jubilation, there are numerous people in despair and deep sorrow. I could sense this during a reunion on Dec. 21 with a group of professors, prosecutors and medical doctors who had attended Cambridge University together during their sabbatical or fellowship appointment.

It was just after the presidential election and the prevailing mood of the day was a bit grim because many of them were liberal figures who supported Moon.

A Korea University professor sighing over the election result said he had hoped Moon would win so that there would more chances to contribute to society under a liberal government. And he did not hide his hard feelings against the former dictator Park with regard to how civil rights were oppressed among other issues.

The anguish seems deepest among voters in the southwestern region of Jeolla Provinces who cast more than 90 percent support for Moon. Park won the poll in all regions except these provinces. It is said that people in Jeolla feel as isolated as they were during the period of the Gwangju Pro-Democracy Movement in 1980.

Another sign of divide comes from the relations between the younger and older generations. It is regrettable to hear about some young people who called for the renouncement of free subway use by elderly citizens in the wake of the election outcome. More than a majority of those in their 20s and 30s cast ballots for Moon while those aged more than 50 supported Park.

Among them, key voters during the Dec. 19 election were many in their 50s and above. Significant numbers of them appeared to be motivated to vote out of fear regarding the remaining years of their lives, likely to be hit by rising living costs with few prospects of earning additional income and falling prices of houses and other valuable assets. Ironically, many were in their 40s in 2002 and supporters of liberal presidential candidate Roh Moo-hyun.

It is nice to see President-elect Park visit the homes of less privileged people even after she won the presidency. Such visits can be seen as evidence of her sincerity to abide by her pledges to work for the “happiness of the people” and “betterment of living.”

What is troubling is Park’s allegedly “unilateral” way of making decisions without consulting a pool of advisers, depending instead on a small number of close confidants. Such behavior will result in the creation of a “human wall” and possible dictatorial governance in the manner adopted by her father.

The appointment of Yoon Chang-jung, a veteran conservative journalist, is an example of Park’s way of selecting aides. In addition to choosing people with expertise, Park prefers those who can offer her full protection. In a sense, this is natural given that Park has been traumatized over the assassinations of her parents and an assault against her. Despite this, she needs to be more self-confident and become more generous toward her former opponents, and consider those people who are suffering in the wake of the election results. That is the way for her to pursue national unity and become a successful leader. <The Korea Times/Shim Jae-yun>