Anti-government protests in Seoul

August 15, 2020, was the 75th anniversary of our country’s liberation from the Japanese colonial regime at the end of World War II. On this very day back in 1948, the Republic of Korea was established and declared as a sovereign nation. On this historic anniversary day, a day of which every citizen should have celebrated together, there were, despite the torrential rainfall, hundreds of thousands of angry citizens gathered from every corner of the nation in the center of Seoul protesting over the maladministration of the government.

The demonstrators, wearing masks and carrying the national flag, paraded through the rain near the presidential palace calling for President Moon Jae-in to step down due to the recent accusations of policy failures, corruption, and general election fraud.

It is often the case that anti-government protests in free democracies are defined as a public expression of opposition and disapproval of government policies under the freedom of expression, assembly, and association, which are all guaranteed by law. And yet South Korea has experienced a relatively high number of social conflicts since its liberation despite being a divided nation confronting North Korea, a regime in which has never ceased to threaten South Korea, even with nuclear weapons.

This social instability in South Korea has been mainly attributed to the political figures in power that are riddled with power abuse, dictatorships, and corruption. To their shame, some of these former presidents, except for a few of them, ended up in prison.

Additionally, the current Moon Jae-in administration is known to have designed and schemed a loose alliance with North Korea called the“Koryo Confederal System” under the “one country, two systems” policy from the beginning of the administration’s tenure.

As we clearly see with the case of Hong Kong, which is currently deteriorating, it is simply impossible to apply this policy to South Korea because South Korea has had democracy and capitalism for more than 70 years. In addition, we have already learned a great lesson from the Paris Peace Accords agreement made between the US and North Vietnam in 1973, showing how the agreements made with communists end up.

We are gravely concerned the present government might face further resistance should it insist on its maladministration, which includes the NK appeasement policy and ignores the disapproval rating of the people. At this juncture, we are also with no exception struggling against the Covid-19 pandemic crisis, which is only getting worse.

It is therefore strongly hoped that the Moon Jae-in administration would concentrate its utmost efforts in reaching a national consensus with policies that will not contradict national sentiments so that a transition of power will be made peacefully in the days to come.