I had an ominous feeling when I saw the news of Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon’s sexual misconduct allegations go public and his disappearance reported, but when I woke up in the morning and searched Twitter news, I was immediately stunned by the news of his death. Seeing the president’s best friend, who was practically the number one person in the country, who was expected to be responsible and accountable to society, go down in flames like this reminded me of the horror of sin. Contrary to his publicly known image and social position, he was living a double life, and his words and actions may have all been public performances. I wonder if he collapsed at the moment when his guilt was revealed and the gap between his public persona and the real Park Won-soon was revealed. It is also unfortunate that even after his death, the police investigated the sexual misconduct allegations, but the investigation was eventually closed due to lack of prosecution, and even after that, his party used the neologism of victimization to perpetrate secondary attacks on the victimized women.

As I thought about how I wish Mayor Park Won-soon had paid for his sins and apologized to his victims, their families, and the Korean people instead of dying irresponsibly, I was reminded of former Representative Ahn Hee-jung, who was jailed for similar sexual misconduct in 2018, and I meditated on the need for the Korean people to be more vigilant and discern the right politicians.

Put off the old way of life, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, and be transformed by the renewal of your mind and spirit, so that you may be created in the image of God, which is holiness of righteousness and truth.
Ephesians 4:22-24 NIV