Letter from Seoul - 28
“These are the times that try men’s souls.”
The American Crisis (1776), Thomas Paine
There is no one quite like the Scottish school teacher Thomas Paine (1737-1809). As a writer, he played a pivotal role in both the American and French revolutions.
Earlier in 1776, Paine wrote Common Sense, which inspired Jefferson’s The Declaration of Independence. The stars align some years and serve as a before-and-after demarcation. To top it off in 1776, Adam Smith (1723-1790) wrote The Wealth of Nations. He also happened to be from Scotland.
The last time this happened was in 1922 with the publication of The Wasteland by St. Louis writer T.S. Eliot, James Joyce’s Ulysses, and Marcel Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu (Remembrance of Things Past.).
After the back-to-back horrors of both World War I and the Spanish Influenza, this marked the start of Modernism. However, some scholars suggest that credit for this movement really begins with Stravinsky’s The Firebird in 1910. And to think that the great Russian composer ended up in Hell-A, composing the score for Walt Disney’s Fantasia (1940).
I’ve never read – or seen a performance of Shakespeare’s Richard III, though I’ve been to his boyhood home in Stratford-upon-Avon, which is fairly close to Oxford University.
As a brief aside, the word “Oxford” literally means where ox would ford the river. In the case of Shakespeare’s birthplace, in Celtic, the word “strat” means street and “avon” means river. So, the literal translation of Stratford-upon-Avon means a shallow place to ford – or walk through the river.
Yet sometimes an opening line or title says it all, and Richard III kicks things off with “Now is the winter of our discontent,” which strikes me as apropos for on-going circumstances – both in America and South Korea.
Laurence Olivier, as Richard III , in the 1955 film of Shakespeare's play of the same name, delivering the opening soliloquy in Act I, Scene I: "Now is the winter of our discontent ... "
My wife has no interest in politics – though she becomes highly opinionated over the prospect of her country’s government drifting to the left and appeasing – if not reconciling with North Korea. The fiasco of President Yoon's attempt at martial law a month ago to prevent a slide to the political left has thrown this country into an impasse that remains unresolved.
Yoon represents tradition and conservative politics. In fact, he was the prosecutor who helped send former President Park Geun-hye (a female) to prison for corruption (a catch-all charge) for shaking down Samsung and other corporations ... something Trump does habitually.
Is there a more prolific whore in the world?
Nonetheless, when my wife says “we” must go to the Pro-Yoon rally, I know she is profoundly concerned. I was going to attend, anyway – just for photography. The rally attracted huge numbers – largely the older set who came of age in the aftermath of the Korean War and value what they have accomplished in their adult lives. They were all seated in comfortable plastic chairs - despite the wretchedly cold weather.
Pro-President supporter at rally on Gwanghwamun Square
At the Anti-Yoon rallies, it is mostly younger people, willing to sit cross-legged on the cold pavement and give voice to their frustration at not being able to get into the Squid Game.
Anti-President Yoon protestors outside the National Assembly
It is the arc of life; idealism at the start of adulthood which gives way to the pragmatics of what it takes to strive for dreams in the face of how life tests us and compels us to compromise our ideals in order to survive and tell the tale with authority.
At the Pro-Yoon rally, the speaker invoked calls to embrace Christian values – even though only 20% of Koreans identify with the religion, to include an English recording of Amazing Grace. This was followed by two-minutes of hate, like Goldstein’s face blasted on huge screens in Orwell’s 1984 – calling on this crowd to “stomp” Lee Jae-myung, President Yoon’s nemesis, the leader of the political opposition.
After we returned home, my wife asked: “What does stomp mean?”
“It means to do something in anger,” I explained, “to do something with force, even violence. Do you think Lee Jae-myung deserves to be stomped?”
“Yes,” she said. “He’s a Communist. A very bad man.”
As Americans are divided about how to go forward, the Koreans have similar divisions – but for different reasons.
Vichy America is coming into sharp focus. The reference to Vichy applies to the seat of the French government that willingly collaborated with the German Nazis from 1940-1944.
For the patrons of Rick’s bar in Casablanca (1942) to break into La Marseillaise, the French national anthem, was a big fuck you very much to the Nazis and Vichy collaborators on the premises.
La Marseillaise, the French national anthem, at Rick's bar in Vichy controlled Casablanca.
I canceled my on-line subscription to The Washington Post, and I don’t need Amazon.com.
Fuck Jeff Bezos for “killing” the paper’s endorsement of Kamala Harris. I really must shut the door to Facebook – or try to justify my hypocrisy for using the platform.
Mark Zuckerberg, a Gold-Star player in Vichy America. He is the Enemy of the People.
I spent 20-years in the newsroom of The Ponca City News in North-Central Oklahoma. This was not what I had in mind for the best years of my life. Yet my odyssey was largely unscripted, as if I were constantly building an airplane in flight. Now I’m in Seoul, and some days I feel like I’ve had nine-plus lives.
Oklahoma is a Turd World state on the southern plains. The stereotype is Jesus-loving white trailer trash who seldom practice what they preach. There is only one political party, and it is the Republican version. Socio-economic measurements used to depict standards and quality of life, are never higher than 47-out-of-50 states. Sometimes the statistics are just rock bottom. The words “quality” and “education” do not belong in the same sentence regarding the Sooner State.
And for the longest time, I thought the reference to the Sooner State meant the sooner one left, the sooner life would improve.
One of the few things I learned to appreciate was the common newspaper exchange with surrounding towns and cities. So, every day there was an opportunity to compare The Daily Oklahoman - from Oklahoma City; The Tulsa World - from the namesake city; and the Wichita Eagle - also from the namesake city.
During my Oklahoma period, the Gaylord family owned the daily newspaper in Oklahoma City, the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville and produced Hee-Haw. That speaks volumes about the editorial stance of the newspaper – even to this day.
Both the Tulsa and Wichita daily newspapers are moderate by comparison, though not full-blown progressive.
To replicate a three-source approach to reputable media coverage in America as an expat, I relied for quite some time on subscriptions for digital access to The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Guardian (which does have corporate headquarters in both London and New York City, making it an authentic American-Anglo paper).
When it became obvious that the once vaunted New York Times was (to use a newly coined word) “sanewashing” Trump in its coverage, I cancelled and have not looked back.
Once Jeff Bezos shitcanned the editorial endorsement of Kamala Harris in The WaPo, I canceled and have not looked back.
I’m down to The Guardian, and have zero interest in relying on YouTube for any credible news.
There is the world of Podcasts, an updated version of radio programs – yet with the exception of Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell and Ari Melber, I’m not impressed.
North Korea should appeal to no one, especially South Koreans. It is simply a gangster state – neither communist (left) or fascist (right). There is no dogma, other than blind obedience. While most of the population exists in a prison camp, some select few have developed outstanding computer hacking skills, and cyber attacks on banking systems in Third World countries have netted Kim Jong-un millions in stolen money. Another way North Korea generates money is in cheap knock-off drugs. It’s a fairly open secret that most of the Viagra hustled on the streets of Bangkok and Manila is manufactured in North Korea.
Kim Jong-un has made a practice of sending male slave labor to other countries – like Qatar during the building of its soccer stadium for World Cup matches, and pocketing the money. None of those wages go to the families of the Korean labor force.
The same is true with the North Koreans fighting alongside the Russians in Ukraine. Allegedly, the Russians use the North Koreans as the first wave in offensive fighting, and many of those who are taken as prisoners of war commit suicide. In exchange for providing soldiers, Kim Jong-un receives Russian missiles and the corresponding technology to launch them. Why use money for payment, when human currency will do as well?
Thomas Paine was right: these are the times that try men’s souls.
Who will write the next chapters of the American Crisis ... the South Korean Crisis .... the Ukraine Crisis ... the Gaza Strip Crisis .... the German Crisis, where the rise of Neo-Nazis is alarmingly on the rise?
Pro-President Yoon Rally in Seoul March 11, 2025
If it’s Saturday in Seoul, there is a rally or demonstration at Gwanghwamun Square in this city of 9.6 million people.
Ten days ago, an estimated several hundred thousand people gathered at Gwanghwamun Square to commemorate the March First Movement – when Koreans staged a mass uprising in 1919 against the Japanese Military, which took control of the country in August, 1910.
The annual commemoration is a matter of national pride, and cuts across all political lines.
Over 50,000 people staged a rally at Gwanghwamun Square this past Saturday for a very political agenda. It was to show support for embattled President Yoon Suk Yeoul, leader of the conservative People Power Party.
If you live on a peninsula that has been divided politically for nearly 75-years, and your immediate neighbor is China, with former enemy Japan very close by – and Russia not far away, politics is a way of life.
President Yoon shocked the nation when he declared Martial Law on December 3, 2024. Ten days later he was impeached, temporarily removed from office, had his passport confiscated and was taken into custody about a month later for incarceration at a bare-bones detention center – pending the outcome of his case before Korea’s version of a Supreme Court.
For those of you playing Jeopardy at home:
“Alex, I’ll take Fuck Around, and Find Out for $400.
“The Jeopardy question is: What Korean President was sentenced to prison for bribery and corruption”
“Who is President Park Geun-hye?”
The Koreans take politics very seriously, and the court system handed down a 25-year prison sentence to former President Park for betraying her oath of office. Ironically, it was Yoon Suk Yeoul who prosecuted her in 2017. Former President Park was granted a pardon in 2021 by President Moon Jae-in, of the Democratic Party.
During this past Saturday rally at Gwanghwamun Square, President Yoon was released from jail.
The following is from The Guardian, for March 9, 2025 – with contributions from the Associated Press and Reuters.
The white and red signs translate to English as Dismiss the Impeachment Charges.
The tri-color white, yellow and blue signs translate to English as Expel all Corrupt Politicians from the National Assembly.
The Seoul central district court accepted Yoon’s petition to cancel his custody, in a ruling delivered on Friday and seen by the Guardian, though the president still faces serious criminal charges that could result in life imprisonment or even the death penalty if convicted.
After walking out of a detention center near Seoul on Saturday, Yoon waved, clenched his fists and bowed deeply to his supporters who were shouting his name and waving South Korean and US flags. Yoon climbed into a black van headed to his presidential residence in the capital.
In a statement distributed by his lawyers,
Yoon said that he “appreciates the courage and decision by the Seoul central district court to correct illegality,” in an apparent reference to legal disputes over his arrest. He said he also thanked his supporters and asked those who were on hunger strike against his impeachment to end it.
The public, however, remains largely anti-Yoon, with 60% of respondents saying he should be removed from office and 35% opposing removal, according to a Gallup Korea poll on Friday.
The Seoul central district court said on Friday it accepted Yoon’s request to be released from prison, citing the need to address questions over the legality of the investigations of the president. Yoon’s lawyers have accused the investigative agency that detained him before his formal arrest of lacking legal authority to investigate rebellion charges.
The Seoul court also said the legal period of his formal arrest expired before he was indicted.
Yoon’s release came after prosecutors decided not to appeal against the decision by the Seoul court. South Korean law allows prosecutors to continue to hold a suspect while pursuing an appeal, even after his or her arrest is cancelled by a court.
The main liberal opposition Democratic Party, which led Yoon’s December 14 impeachment, lashed out at the prosecutors’ decision, calling them “henchmen” of Yoon, a former prosecutor general. Party spokesperson Cho Seung-rae urged the constitutional court to dismiss Yoon as soon as possible to avoid further public unrest and anxiety.
Investigators have alleged Yoon’s Martial Law decree amounted to rebellion. If he is convicted of that offence, he would face the death penalty or life imprisonment. Yoon has presidential immunity from most criminal prosecutions but that does not cover grave charges like rebellion and treason.
Yoon has said he did not intend to maintain Martial Law for long as he only attempted to inform the public of the danger of the Democratic Party, which obstructed his agenda and impeached many senior officials and prosecutors. In his martial law announcement, Yoon called the assembly “a den of criminals” and “anti-state forces.”
Korea’s conservative-liberal divide is severe and rallies either supporting or denouncing Yoon’s impeachment have divided Seoul streets. Experts say whatever decision the constitutional court makes the division is certain to worsen.
