Unexpected, unsuspected events and developments sprung up around the world. Foreboding helplessness overwhelms us as we wake up to news that could potentially change our way of life.
We wonder if things that are happening around us are real, as they are so unforeseen and seemingly beyond rational explanation. We wonder with dark fear if perhaps this is the new reality -- principles and ideals that we hold to be universal and absolute now being questioned, shaken up.
A sense of the surreal has been with us these past few months. Merriam-Webster’s pick of the word “surreal” -- which it defines as “marked by the intense irrational reality of a dream” -- as word of the year earlier this week is grounded in reality and entirely apropos. The selection was based on a surge in searches for the word via its online dictionary, after all. The sense of surreal is a feeling that is shared by many.
In the US, President-elect Donald Trump’s victory seemed surreal. The fact that Trump won the presidency despite coming in nearly 3 million votes behind Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the popular vote certainly contributes to the surreal quality of the billionaire real estate developer’s victory.
That a man who has repeatedly demonstrated little or no respect for women -- despite his protests otherwise -- will soon be calling the shots seems surreal. During the final presidential debate, Trump said, “Nobody has more respect for women than I do. Nobody.” That statement was met with laughter from the audience.
That a man who all but boasted of his own intelligence in evading income taxes, who believes that climate change is a myth, who promised to build a wall on the US-Mexican border with Mexico footing the bill, will be in charge of the White House seems surreal.
With hushed anxiety, the world awaits Jan. 21. The list of things Trump promised to do on his first day in office includes withdrawing from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, reviewing work visa programs and removing restrictions on energy production, among many other pledges.
Trump’s presidency will have repercussions that reverberate around the world. That is why the recent CIA conclusion that Russia’s Vladimir Putin meddled in the US elections to help Trump win, and the FBI’s agreement with the CIA on the finding, is as surreal as it gets. It is the stuff of which movies are made, but this is reality, we are told.
At home, the entire Park Geun-hye and Choi Soon-sil scandal is chillingly surreal. Park is accused, among other things, of passing on confidential government information to Choi, her longtime confidante, allowing Choi to peddle influence and soliciting chaebol for donations to two foundations established by Choi. After weeks of massive candlelight protests, the National Assembly voted 234 to 56 to impeach Park. Now, the country awaits the Constitutional Court’s ruling on the case.
The story of Park and Choi is surreal. Choi’s father Choi Tae-min, a religious leader, accosts Park in the 1970s claiming he was able to speak to her deceased mother who was gunned down in an assassination attempt on Park’s father, former President Park Chung-hee.
Choi Tae-min then uses his relationship with Park, the young acting first lady, to amass great wealth through “donations” from chaebol. The intelligence agency warns Park Chung-hee about Choi’s activities and Park’s role, but the relationship continues. KCIA chief Kim Jae-kyu, who assassinated Park Chung-hee, said that the Park-Choi tie was one of his reasons for shooting Park.
Unknown to the public, the Park-Choi relationship continues through Choi soon-sil who replaces her late father as Park’s confidante. And that relationship now haunts the country some 40 years on. We find ourselves living in a surreal Korea: The Korea of 2016 is not much different from the Korea of the ‘70s, trapped in a time warp.
The events that have come to light in recent months show us that things have not changed much after all. The authoritarian leader’s daughter rules the country, determined to “set history right” in the evaluation of her father’s legacy. The collusion between politicians and businesses continues and influence-peddling by acquaintances of the president and high-ranking officials is an ever-present fact of life.
Watching film footage from the 1970s showing a young Park Geun-hye and Choi Tae-min meeting with elderly chaebol chiefs and then a clip from last year showing the now older Park Geun-hye shaking hands with a group of younger chaebol, the sons of the chaebol chiefs in the old footage, raised goosebumps. It was too surreal.
Korea has made great strides since the democratization of 1987. Thanks to ordinary people who fought for democratization, we now have a vibrant democracy; we have also become an economic power and a pop-culture powerhouse. Yet, ill practices persist, rotting our country at the very core. In hindsight, it is nothing short of a miracle that the country has come this far while it was all festering on the inside.
Watching the masses of ordinary citizens peacefully take to the streets week after week demanding the resignation of Park has also been surreal. They are the people who have sustained Korea thus far, while those with great power have imperiled the country. It is with the everyday people that the country’s future lies.
It has been a mirthless season. In all likelihood, this feeling of living in a surreal world will continue into the new year. Yet, there must be an end to this dark tunnel. We are ready to leave the surreal world behind us and build a new reality.
By Kim Hoo-ran
The writer is the lifestyle desk editor of The Korea Herald. She can be reached at khooran@heraldcorp.com. -- Ed.
