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Korea's strength is its people, not its politicians

6 3
26.01.2025

Courtesy of Ian Valerio

Recent headlines have been dominated by the impeachment and arrest of South Korea’s sitting president, a spectacle that has thrown the nation’s political class into disarray. There is a leadership vacuum, instability, and the country’s reputation has been dragged through the mud. For many, it has been tempting to conclude that the country is falling apart. Friends and colleagues from abroad ask with a worried look on their face, “What is happening over there?”

It’s not an easy question to answer and there will be a huge inquest into all of this in the upcoming months and years. What we’re living through, like the assassination of Park Chung-hee, the Nobel Peace Prize for Kim Dae-jung, and the impeachment of Park Geun-hye, will be written in the history books. And rightly so. But what won’t be written about? And what do we miss when we analyze the political turbulence of the 1970s?

Look beyond the shouting matches on television and the dramatic photos of power-hungry politicians being dragged into courtrooms and what you’ll see is something quite remarkable: Korea is still running.

The subways continue to snake through the capital in all directions, moving quickly from station to station, carrying millions of........

© The Korea Times