Needed: a view of the world

What the people want is a vision. Yoon and the PPP have been in power for six months. They must be able to present a concrete vision on how they can change the country for the better.

Chae Byung-gun

The author is the international, diplomatic and security news director of the JoongAng Ilbo. Fictional masterpieces in print or on the screen can have entrancing and inspirational worldviews. The science fiction and fantasy genres can have a profound impact. “Dune” by Frank Herbert contains a complex and vast universe that cannot be explained in one or two sentences. It revolves around the planet Arrakis, a wasteland but rich in the valuable resource mélange — a drug that can extend life and is necessary for space navigation — and around a feudal interstellar society fighting for control of the planet. The TV series “Game of Thrones” and the bestseller “Lord of the Rings” are epic fictional dramas on the themes of rationality versus magic and humanness versus inhumanness, which transcend space and time.

A captivating worldview incorporates the compositions of the world and the judgement of where the world should be headed. The view can be parallel to the paradigm of the times.

By applying a worldview of real world events, the Cold War between the U.S.-led Western bloc and Soviet Union can be understood as a contest of the offspring from similar worldviews. Communism and capitalism were born in Europe, the birthplace of Christianity, feudalism and the industrial revolution. But the two worlds clashed over the Protestant ethics and the vice of capitalism. The new Cold War between America and China is a clash of varying worldviews. The global order the U.S. upholds is based on a set of rules the U.S. established since its triumph in World War II while China seeks a new order rooted in the glory of a sinocentrism of centuries ago. The two, therefore, speak in different languages and logic.

A worldview can be used as a prism to reflect politics in Korea.

The Moon Jae-in administration ended with the single five-year presidency, as the world pursued by the liberal front and the Democratic Party (DP) could not solve present challenges of Korean society. The government sought a balance in the U.S.-led order around the Korean Peninsula by trying to become closer with China. But China did not engage South Korea nor help to contain North Korea’s nuclear program. China cannot replace America now. The reward Pyongyang sought in return for denuclearization was an ensuring of the permanent security of the Kim Jong-un regime. Since North Korea does not think South Korea can provide that guarantee, the Moon administration should have persuaded the United States.

But since the U.S. kept to the sidelines, the inter-Korean relationship turned bitter. Moon’s income-led growth policy and real estate measures went wrong because they were based on a misconception of reality. The Moon administration and the DP borrowed a Star Wars-like worldview by believing that it is same as the good alliance fighting the evil of Darth Vader. It bred a dichotomy by drawing lines with opponents, and had to feed rage to sustain its worldview for its loyal support base.

Newton’s law of motion applies not just as the basic law of mechanics but also to human society. The forces suppressed as past ills united to stop the extension of the ruling power and ended up achieving the goal.

Since the People Power Party (PPP) won the March 9 presidential election, its conservative worldview should prevail. But it remains unclear what world the Yoon Suk-yeol administration seeks. The vision of the PPP is even murkier. After its collapse after the presidential impeachment, the conservative party had not truly been reborn over the last five years.

South Korean conservatives achieved a lot. No other country that became independent from colonization after World War II has turned out so nicely. But the conservative worldview showed its limitations since Park Geun-hye’s presidency. Top-down leadership disregards communication, a pillar of democracy. Unless the Yoon administration establishes a mechanism to draw voluntary public support, it is vulnerable to image manipulation and propagandist politics by its opponents.

After winning back power, the PPP is still uninterested in sharing a future vision and is entirely engrossed in an internal battle for power. The presidential office also stumbles with one baffling policy after another. Yoon abandoned the Blue House and yet his presidential office abruptly came up with the idea of building a glamorous guest house.

Worse, it is blaming the past government for its own follies. What the people want is a vision. Yoon and the PPP have been in power for six months. They must be able to present a concrete vision on how they can change the country for the better.