(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



What South Korea learned from the United States – and what we could learn from them [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-02-02

During my time in the army (1962-1982) I served over five years in the Republic of Korea (ROK), mostly during the reign of Park Chung-Hee, the military officer who seized in a coup on May 16, 1961, and ruled the country with an iron hand until his assassination in October 1979, leading to a period of turmoil and military rule that lasted until 1987, when Roh Tae-Woo, became president in the country’s first truly free and fair election. Roh, was a former general, but the first civilian president, Kim Young Sam, was inaugurated in 1993.

Since then, Korea has developed a more or less functioning democracy, and has transformed from one of the world’s poorest countries to the world’s twentieth largest economy in 2024.

Because of my long relationship with the country, and familial connections, I have kept a close eye on events there. I was, therefore, shocked when Yoon Suk Yeol, an obscure conservative politician who had previously served as the country’s attorney general before being elected to the presidency, briefly declared martial law, accusing the opposition controlled legislature of sympathizing with North Korea and ‘stealing freedom and happiness’ of the Korean people. Faced with massive public protests, and a resolution from the parliament, Yoon backed down a few hours later. This was the first time since 1980 that martial law had been declared in South Korea, and the parliament began impeachment proceedings against Yoon.

Subsequent reporting revealed that Yoon’s martial law declaration was probably motivated by his struggle to push his agenda through an opposition-controlled parliament and his lowering approval rating because of various controversies involving his wife.

A number of events and actions in the wake of these momentous events echo actions and events here in the United States. Yoon, for example, rose from obscurity to the office of the presidency because of the liberal party’s inability to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis and a slackening economy. Since his election in 2022, however, he has been in constant conflict with the opposition, involved in a series of scandal involving him and his wife, and has acted impulsively, taken criticism and disagreement with his policies personally, and relied too much on the advice of hardcore loyalists. Does any of that sound familiar? How about this. He has gone back and forth on his culpability for the martial law declaration, going so far even as to deny he authorized it, and steadfastly maintaining that he ‘did nothing wrong.’ When the authorities tried to take him into custody for the impeachment and subsequent legal proceedings under Korean law, his supporters gathered and blocked them. News coverage of the standoff showed American flags and English language ‘Stop the Steal’ signs in the crowd.

As a diplomat with thirty years in the trenches, serving in countries around the world, I’m accustomed to seeing how American influence plays out in foreign countries—not always in ways that show us in our best light—and this was one of those times when emulating Americans made me ashamed to be an American.

At the same time, watching the way the Korean authorities dealt with the situation, made me see that there are things we here in the U.S. can learn from others.

The first impeachment vote in South Korea’s parliament failed because Yoon’s party walked out, creating a situation that made it impossible to get the required two-thirds majority of votes. When Yoon vowed to ‘never give up,’ though, a second vote went against him 204 to 85, with members of his own People Power Party (PPP) voting for impeachment. This was a far cry from the vast majority of Republicans who, even though they agreed that Trump and been in the wrong, refused to vote for impeachment when the evidence was clear that he’d incited the January 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol, with the then-majority leader saying that the ‘legal system’ would deal with it, a statement that was at best misleading given the GOPs actions in stacking the Supreme Court with party loyalists when it controlled the Senate.

It appears that the influence has worked only one way, negative in both instances. Some conservative Koreans have learned from our rightwing playbook. Never admit defeat or wrongdoing, and when accused, counter-accuse, while we seem to not have learned from this rather young democracy that separation of powers, with legislature and judiciary taking their oaths seriously and refusing to be enticed by a cult of personality.

Now, in Korea’s case, the system is working to right a wrong, while here in the United States, voter apathy on the part of many and voter fear, anger, and ignorance on the part of others, has conspired to create a situation where the separation of powers and sanctity of oaths is being flushed down the toilet on a daily basis.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/2/2/2300784/-What-South-Korea-learned-from-the-United-States-and-what-we-could-learn-from-them?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/