hankyoreh

Martial law troops attempt to storm the National Assembly in the wee hours on Dec. 4, 2024, after the president’s surprise declaration of martial law. (Yonhap)

By Jeong Nam-ku, editorial writer

In his book “The Golden Bough,” Scottish social anthropologist James George Frazer asserts, “The idea that early kingdoms are despotisms in which the people exist only for the sovereign, is wholly inapplicable to the monarchies we are considering.” 

“On the contrary,” Frazer argues, “the sovereign in them exists only for his subjects; his life is only valuable so long as he discharges the duties of his position by ordering the course of nature for his people’s benefit.” He provides several historical examples throughout the book. 

According to the records of the Buyeo Kingdom in the “Biography of Dongyi” in the “Book of Wei” in the “Records of the Three Kingdoms,” which chronicles the development of the ancient Korean kingdoms, “The customs of ancient Buyeo dictated that if crops fail to ripen due to extended droughts or monsoons, they would take the crops to the king under the mandate, ‘change these drops or die.’“ Some kingdoms would kill their kings and have him replaced every five or 12 years to prevent living under a physically weak ruler. From the start, kings were infinitely bound by their duty to their communities and subjects.  

The expansion of kingdoms by conquest was part of the process of enhancing a monarch’s authority. The throne became a system of hereditary inheritance, and detailed religions and political systems came to replace sorcery and magic. These religions and political systems simply assigned the monarch with an ethical duty to take care of his people. During the 519 years of the Joseon dynasty, 27 monarchs ruled the Joseon people. Many of them subjected the people to misery and distress. The yangban nobility stripped two kings of their authority but never executed any of them. Many of the people lived as slaves bound to not their country but to their owners, and were exempted from military service. 

Korea’s democratic republic, where true ownership of the country resides in the common people, arrived in the form of a tiny boat known as the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, a boat with neither anchor nor sail. It arrived only after the death of a king (Gojong) who rejected the people’s demands to establish a parliamentary system. The republic did not evolve beyond the mere absence of a king and the selection of representatives by the people. It was only after the Donghak Peasant Revolution of 1894, the People’s Joint Association of 1898, and the March 1 Movement of 1919, when the rivers flowed with the blood of the people, that the boat was finally able to float.   

After liberation, a democratic republic was formally founded. Yet the presidents elected by the people continually infringed upon the people’s sovereignty and dreamt of becoming lifelong kings. Syngman Rhee mobilized the police to act as monarch; Park Chung-hee ruled with the military and intelligence agencies serving as his iron fists. After Park was killed, the Seoul Spring was trampled by Chun Doo-hwan. The April 19 Revolution of 1960, the Busan-Masan Uprising of 1979, the Gwangju Democratization Movement of 1980, and the June Democratic Struggle of 1987 are incidents of “majestic history” that are difficult to find in the modern history of other countries. 

This is why President Yoon Suk-yeol’s insurrection attempt on Dec. 3 was such a shock. Martial law, which had been fading from the public memory, resurfaced after 43 years. Yoon attempted to neutralize the National Assembly, silence the press, and establish a monarchy with first lady Kim Keon-hee as his queen. It’s such a shocking notion one could faint. How did the politics of our country put a wannabe king in the presidential seat? Many people likely bit their tongues and tasted blood. 

In terms of economics and foreign policy, Yoon has been an incredibly incompetent and irresponsible president. His financial policy of “tax reductions and austerity” that he pushed through ended up ruining the public livelihood. His approval ratings stayed in the 30-point range during his first two years. In his third year, it fell into the 20s. In response to scandals involving his wife, Kim Keon-hee, he completely abandoned public fairness and common sense. This led to his de facto impeachment by the people. When that happened, he went completely mad by turning his guns toward his supporters who had turned their backs on him

Just as shocking as the martial law declaration are the movements of certain People Power Party members and high-profile civil servants, including a few government ministers. They’ve been engrossed in efforts to interfere with the impeachment trial and criminal investigations. It’s obvious that they’re seeking to delay the Constitutional Court’s impeachment proceedings to buy them enough time to shake up the political situation. 

They’re acting like vassals loyal to a mad king, not like civil servants in a democratic republic. This is difficult to understand unless they wish to be buried with the king. 

Since that day, we’ve been given the task of restoring our democratic republic, which is in danger of collapsing. This is a historic assignment of rectifying the underlying causes of our crisis and maturing our systems to the next level. Constitutional amendments that reduce the centralized authority of the presidency are part of that task. Yet that seems impossible for the time being. The People Power Party is armed with over 100 National Assembly seats, and the reforms they speak of contain no introspection regarding the Dec. 3 insurrection. 

The democratic capacity of the people, which had been built up steadily over the decades, was set back by the Dec. 3 insurrection. But until we strip its ringleader of all his authority and arrest and imprison him; until the nonsense spewing forth from the mouths of so many National Assembly lawmakers and high-profile government figures stops, the insurrection cannot be suppressed. We are feeling this reality in our bones with every passing day. The people, who are the sovereigns of this country, need to protect their respective positions. 

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