hankyoreh

Lawmakers with the ruling People Power Party take part in a prayer rally held on March 1, 2025, by the organization Save Korea. (Yonhap)

By Hannes Mosler, professor of Korean politics and society at the University of Duisburg-Essen

The insurrection attempt in Korea on Dec. 3 last year has done more than simply shaken the foundations of the country’s political institutions of liberal democracy. It has also plunged democratic citizens into a state of collective helplessness through psychological warfare directed against the whole of society, with the use of arbitrary claims, falsifications, and subterfuge.

This approach bears similarities to the tactics used in Nazi Germany by Joseph Goebbels, who used “accusation in a mirror” as a means of misdirecting blame, or to the concept of “doublethink” in the book “1984” by George Orwell.

In other words, those responsible for destroying democracy insist they are the ones protecting it, while painting those who resist them as “enemies of freedom.” They use concepts such as “the rule of law” and “fairness” in the opposite sense from the original meaning, as part of a skillful campaign to disrupt perceptions of reality and foment anxiety.

This sort of social gaslighting is a clever tactic designed to encourage the acceptance of irrational, antidemocratic measures by breaking down critical thinking capabilities, with the ultimate aims of denying patent realities and weakening the resistance of opponents.

We see examples of this sort of manipulation in the broadcast speeches by President Yoon Suk-yeol; in the arguments and press conferences by his defense team; in the claims made by the People Power Party (PPP) leadership and the party’s National Assembly members; in the rampages of members of the far right; and the inciting remarks and actions of demonstrators.

The psychological warfare campaign is such that even when democratic citizens know what the facts are, they find themselves growing increasingly helpless as the legal determination keeps being deferred and far-right figures keep spreading conspiracy theories. Much like the torture scene in “1984” where the protagonist is forced by the thought police to accept doublethink, South Korean society is now being tortured into accepting the contradictions of “alternative truth.”

Since the insurrection attempt last December, a minority of increasingly radicalized members of the far right have been spreading absurd conspiracy theories and shouting hateful slogans at demonstrations. In fomenting an atmosphere of attacks and denials, they seem to be trying to take advantage of the current political crisis as an opportunity to rally their forces.

Additionally, at a time when the Constitutional Court should be making a decision on Yoon’s impeachment based on constitutional standards, members of the far right have continued acting in anti-constitutional and anti-democratic ways, disparaging not only justices on the court but the Constitutional Court system itself.

As we saw with the storming of the Seoul Western District Court, the dangerous notion of attacking the judiciary — the last bastion safeguarding democracy — should be understood as an extension of this incitement against the system.

Over 100 days after the president’s attempted self-coup, the ringleader is walking around free, while the Constitutional Court’s decision continues to be delayed. At the moment, South Korean society is in the grip of a tremendous feeling of psychological helplessness.

By any rational standard, it seems indisputable that the Constitutional Court’s decision would be to remove Yoon from office. But in the current climate, people are uncertain and fearful about whether such standards will actually be applied. There is also the possibility that Yoon’s dismissal, if it comes, could lead to acts of extreme violence.

This is to say nothing of the “long insurrection” to come — the ongoing challenge to South Korean democracy, now that it has been infected by the anti-democratic virus spread through this coup attempt by administrative organizations involved in the insurrection and by the ruling PPP and far-right figures.

Amidst the turmoil, political scientists, constitutional scholars, historians, writers and more are putting out strongly worded declarations on the state of the nation, taking an intellectual stand to protect democracy. By picking apart the agitators’ lies and contradictions with logic, these experts are demonstrating to the public the imperative nature of safeguarding democracy. That is, they are setting the record straight by showing that it’s not the people protecting democracy who are deluded, but the people attempting to destroy it who are. 

But the greatest encapsulation of this sentiment came from the writer Han Kang, whose clear and straightforward words provided desperately needed solace and lifted me, and likely others, out of a sense of helplessness: “To remove [Yoon] from office is to protect universal values.” This is a truth beyond facts that no one could deny. 

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]