[Reporter’s Notebook] Ten Minutes That Contained Five Years of the Moon Administration

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Former President Moon Jae-in, who completed his five-year term, boarded a train bound for Yangsan at Seoul Station the day before. The journey to the train was truly heated. About 1,000 supporters gathered at Seoul Station, cheering for the 10 minutes it took for him to board the train. Perhaps finding it hard to pass by the supporters seeing him off, former President Moon stopped in his tracks and expressed his gratitude to the supporters, saying, "I have met a beautiful farewell." During this process, whenever former President Moon reached out his hand, supporters suddenly crowded in one place to shake it, creating a dangerous situation.

Those 10 minutes contained his five years. Former President Moon spent five years building a strong support base. He showed little interest in coordinating conflicting interests when implementing policies. The real estate policy, considered the biggest failure of the Moon administration, was not implemented after dialogue but was released first to observe reactions. The COVID-19 quarantine policy was similar. The government mobilized national power to demand sacrifices from the people. The previous administration achieved undeniable quarantine results. However, self-employed workers and irregular workers, who were overshadowed by these achievements, were left bewildered as they watched the supporters enthusiastically celebrating the quarantine success.

Former President Moon’s past five years are still ongoing. An environment where opposition and counterarguments cannot be raised has been created. Park Ji-hyun, co-chair of the Democratic Party’s Emergency Response Committee, received 10,000 text message attacks immediately after ordering a fact-finding investigation into Representative Choi Kang-wook of the Democratic Party, who was embroiled in a sexual harassment controversy. This was because Choi, who had always been defended and was the public official discipline secretary during the Moon administration, was targeted. Although there may be a sense of victory in suppressing counterarguments for the time being, it is far from a true victory. Former President Moon himself is an example, having failed to recreate his administration despite leaving office with a 40% approval rating.

At the time former President Moon was being seen off, conservative groups held a rally not far away, criticizing him. Whenever insults toward former President Moon came through the speakers, his supporters drowned out the noise by chanting his name. It was certainly unpleasant and uncomfortable to hear. But if he was president, he should have heard even those voices over the past five years. Of course, former President Moon boarded the train without hearing those voices until the last 10 minutes.