"Those in Power Trample on Democracy
in Pursuit of Greater Authority"
Former President Moon Jae-in recommended the book 'Yangsim' (Conscience) by Choi Jae-chun, Ewha Womans University Distinguished Professor, saying, "The word 'conscience,' which seemed to have become clich?, has recently been piercing our society sharply."
On the 11th, former President Moon wrote on his Facebook about the book 'Yangsim,' stating, "It is a book that selects seven episodes related to the keyword 'conscience' from over 300 videos on the YouTube channel 'Choi Jae-chun's Amazon' by Korea's leading ecologist Professor Choi Jae-chun, and newly elaborates in writing on content that was not fully covered in the broadcasts."
He also mentioned the novel 'Boy Comes' by author Han Kang, saying, "Conscience was the power that allowed a 16-year-old boy to stand against overwhelming state violence and injustice even in the face of the fear of death."
He added, "The entire nation is witnessing the extreme of unscrupulousness where those in power trample on democracy to seize greater power and shamelessly tell lies just to evade responsibility," and said, "This dramatic intersection of conscience and unscrupulousness is posing the question to us about what conscience really is and what kind of person you are."
Former President Moon said, "Professor Choi expresses conscience with the words 'I cannot... anyway... rather...,'" explaining, "It means participating with the intention of 'I cannot turn a blind eye, since the criticism will come anyway, I might as well take it boldly.'"
He continued, "We can understand his spirit from his participation in opposing the Donggang Dam construction, the movement to abolish the family registry system, opposition to the Four Major Rivers Project, the campaign to release Jedorii into the wild, his tenure as co-chair of the Korean Federation for Environmental Movements, and his role as co-chair of the COVID-19 Recovery Support Committee in the previous government."
Former President Moon also said, "He says fairness becomes justice only when fairness meets conscience. Giving the same chair to people of different heights is fairness, but providing taller chairs to those who are shorter makes the world just and warm," and concluded his post by saying, "Reading Choi Jae-chun's 'Yangsim' gave me a precious opportunity to think about both personal conscience and social conscience together."
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