Despite relentless attacks by South Korea's conservative media, corporate cartels, special interest groups led by lawyers and doctors, and the economic and social impact of the pandemic, Moon Jae-in's public support remains higher than any previous South Korean president at this point in their presidency in the post dictatorship period. This according to a Gallup poll reported May 7. While the Cho-Joong-Dong media conservative cartels and the corrupt prosecution and judicial network associated with big business and the former Prosecutor general Yoon Seok-yeol do everything in their power to bring down the democratic administration and obstruct their policies, the success of the administration's public health mobilization in avoiding nation wide lockdowns of businesses and other civil institutions, has maintained a level of economic activity that is substantially better than the "advanced nations" in the west. The success of the South Korean public health response is still recognized internationally despite the fact that a vaccine rollout has barely begun. While western nations suffer from high covid case counts and tens of thousands of deaths, thus far South Korea has maintained a relatively low incidence rate, and suffed less than 2000 deaths from covid 19 in a population of 51 million. Compare to the state of Florida alone in the US with a population of approximately 21 million where there have been 36,000 deaths from covid 19.
The conservative media and corrupt special interests do their utmost with fake news to convince the South Korean population that they have the most feckless and ineffectual government of the modern era. The truth is that the democratic administration has weathered the pandemic crisis well thus far, minimizing economic impact, and protecting the public health. Advanced countries in the west are economic and public health disasters by comparison. The relentless and often groundless political and legal attacks on the democratic administration are motivated primarily by a desire to block democratic political reforms aimed at securing a less political prosecution and judiciary which defend the special interests from popular legislative initiatives. Unfortunately, very few democratic politicians in the National Assembly have the courage to speak out against the outrageous overtly political prosecutions of high profile democratic leaders for fear of becoming their next target.*
* See our blog's post on the historical parallel to the Saheonbu (사헌부) posted 4.19.2021. The brilliantly conceived Kdrama Chief of Staff, now available on Netflix, incorrectly portrays the Prosecutor General's Office as subordinate to the Minister of Justice, which although technically true, is in the real world, not the case. Prosecutorial powers in contemporary South Korea are effectively unchecked and pose a profound threat to democratic government and rule of law.
When we are contacted by our South Korean friends who rely on their conservative major media sources for information, we hear a litany of complaints about the ineptitude and alleged corruption of their democratic administration. Our response is, try living here in the US where the death toll is about fifty times worse than your country on a proportional basis, and where the economic collapse was catastrophic. To this day the public is the victim of the US governments complete lack of preparation for the epidemic, a corrupted health care system based upon corporate profits, and an ineffectual public health response that resulted in the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. Americans are also the victim of false beliefs about the pandemic due to a fake news problem of a different nature. While South Koreans clamor for a vaccine rollout large enough to put an end to the epidemic, here in the US a significant portion of the population won't get their second vaccination, or any vaccination whatever, nor comply with public health preventative measures whose efficacy is persistently challenged by demagogues whose erroneous views continue to be disseminated to a poorly informed public .
Moon's disapproval rating was 58 percent. Margin of error 3.1 percent. South Korea is case on point concerning the malign political impact of domestic mainstream media regardless of what the actual facts may be. An editorial on this subject referred to the old Korean proverb that the dog chasing the cart barks, but the cart keeps on rolling. Other folk tales come to mind, one of the turtle who helps the scorpion cross a river in flood. Upon his safe delivery to the other bank, the scorpion stings the turtle inflicting a mortal wound. The turtle asks, "why did you do this? I saved you." The scorpion replied, "this is what scorpion's do." Another river crossing analogy from the Korean conflict comes to mind. After being carried on the back of a rescuer, through the river to a potential point of escape from the communist army's onslaught, the refugee complains, "where is my botari (my bundle of possessions)?"
President Moon is scheduled to meet with President Biden at the White House, May 21.
