'When Common Sense Standards Collapse' <Part 1> (08.05.2024)

[Pastor Stephen Yang’s ‘Christian Faith Column’]     

 'When Common Sense Standards Collapse' <Part 1>

Written by/Pastor Stephen Yang

Senior Pastor, Goback Church

                                                                                                                                                             http://gobackchurch.org

Recently, I have been taking some time to look at Korean news.

I want to hear about news on politics, economy, society, culture, etc. in my country, but I have been busy with various things, so I have not been able to look at them for a long time due to urgent matters ahead.

However, I do not know why, but I have a feeling that our country is going wrong overall, 

so I have been skimming through the headlines of various news articles recently.

Then, not long ago, I happened to see the personnel hearing of the candidate for the chairman of the Korea Communications Commission on YouTube.

I saw the chairman and members of the Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, one of the standing committees of the National Assembly, directly asking questions to the candidate for the chairman of the Korea Communications Commission at the time, and the candidate answering them.

The questions were so obvious and common sense questions that any citizen of the Republic of Korea would be 

able to answer and follow without difficulty.

However, I was greatly surprised and doubted my eyes when I saw the candidate consistently failing to answer the questions or evading them.

The questions, answers, and contents that were confirmed and reported through various other broadcast programs 

were roughly as follows. 

“Were the Japanese military comfort women forced? Or were they voluntary?”

Candidate’s response: “I will not answer because it is a controversial issue.” 

(Later, he canceled the controversial issue and said that he would not answer because it was an individual issue.)

When asked by a member of the National Assembly whether he could read a brief apology that was posted on the 

screen in the National Assembly confirmation hearing room to the candidate who was the head of the news headquarters at the time for not promptly correcting the false report of the Sewol ferry rescue and instead continuing to broadcast the false report, the candidate’s response was simple.

“No.”

In addition, during the evening hours when the false report of the Sewol ferry rescue was made, the candidate, 

who was the head of the news department at the time, was asked to apologize to the victims and their families for diverting the public’s attention from human lives to money, which deeply hurt the hearts of the victims’ families. 

However, she did not apologize.

In addition, various facts and records that reveal the candidate’s view of history and morality were confirmed. 

This is the kind of person she was.

A person who gets goosebumps just hearing the word democracy, a person who classifies famous broadcasters into progressive and conservative groups and monitors progressive entertainers, a person who publicly supports extreme right-wing politicians who support the claims of the military dictatorship and denigrate the Gwangju May 18th Democratization Movement. She was that kind of person.

I had this thought while watching the confirmation hearing for high-ranking public officials in our country.

Was our country, the Republic of Korea, really this kind of country? 

Is it possible that the president could nominate a person like this kind of candidate as a minister-level official in our country?

This scene What are the thoughts of the countless citizens who watched the broadcast? 

Above all, what I am curious about is how on earth the president analyzes this person, and what on earth were 

the aides around him thinking when they recommended this person as a candidate?

Furthermore, the president nominated a person who has such a seriously flawed view of history and has many problems with moral and ethical values. Does the president not feel sorry, ashamed, or afraid toward the people about his decision? How can he push through the appointment of this person, ignoring the opposition of the National Assembly and the people?

--- Continued in the next part ---