Before going to sleep, I came across an absurd and hard-to-believe message in a group chat on a mobile messaging app stating that a state of emergency had been declared, so I immediately checked the breaking news. Seeing the President’s resolute expression and listening to his address on the screen, I realized that this was not a simulation but a grave, real-life situation unfolding on the Korean Peninsula. As I listened to the address, which stated its purpose was to root out forces within South Korea that were undermining the Constitution and anti-state movements, and to defend the system of liberal democracy, I couldn’t help but think of the current situation: impeachment motions being filed one after another—first against the Minister of the Interior and Safety, then the Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, the Minister of National Defense, and finally even the Auditor General, who was rigorously investigating allegations of fatal corruption involving the previous administration. It was the moment I instinctively realized that the impeachment offensive by the legislature—which had reached a level of paralyzing the nation—was ultimately targeting the entire executive branch.
At that very moment, the financial and virtual asset markets reacted immediately. Bitcoin plummeted by more than 30% in an instant on major exchanges such as Upbit, and Ripple (XRP)—which had recently been surging with daily trading volumes exceeding 10 trillion won—also halved in value in the blink of an eye, creating a scene of chaos so shocking it was hard to believe. Soon after, as exchange servers went down and access was completely blocked, it was nearly impossible to fathom the fear and panic experienced by those engaged in leveraged trading or ultra-high-frequency speculative trading. The won-dollar exchange rate also broke through the financial crisis threshold of 1,430 won, forcing everyone to feel firsthand just how severely South Korea’s political risks were shaking the entire economic ecosystem.
Setting aside the flood of superficial political analyses and cost-benefit calculations surrounding this unprecedented declaration of a state of emergency, as a South Korean citizen who lived through the entire five-year term of the previous administration—including the impeachment crisis of former President Park Geun-hye—this situation felt like the opening act of “Presidential Impeachment Crisis Season 2.” I was reminded of the process leading up to the impeachment of the former president—when, amid the blame game over the national tragedy of the Sewol ferry disaster and the outbreak of the Choi Soon-sil scandal, the impeachment motion was upheld in a mere three months, driven by pressure from the media and public protests, even before a final judicial ruling had been handed down. At the time, the public firmly believed they had become the protagonists of history, standing on the side of justice in the public squares to bring a corrupt regime to justice. Around that time, I was working at the Creative Economy Innovation Center—a core policy initiative of the Park Geun-hye administration—so I witnessed the barrage of sensational news and the waves of crowds filling Gwanghwamun every weekend up close, which caused me some psychological turmoil. Fortunately, however, I did not join the ranks in the square.
As time passed and I reflected on those events, I came to realize the essence of what had happened: a combination of the spark ignited by a controversial tablet PC report from a specific media outlet, the meticulous planning of well-organized protest groups, and the media’s role in inciting the crowds ultimately led to the ousting of the sitting president and the birth of a new administration amid that massive emotional upheaval. Even after the digital forensic results were released and the special political ties of key figures who led the candlelight protests were exposed, as Gustave Le Bon pointed out in his seminal work *The Psychology of Crowds*, the public—whose emotions had already overpowered reason—remained hypnotized by the massive propaganda campaign, convinced that they were absolutely in the right. To my shame, I, too, was once one of those ignorant members of the crowd who was not free from that distorted narrative.
Recently, major domestic media outlets, while covering the U.S. presidential election, continued to speculate until the very end about the possibility of a certain progressive candidate’s victory, or and have thoroughly downplayed or ignored the unprecedented “Christian United Worship Service” held on October 27, when over a million believers gathered at Seoul City Hall Plaza to block the enactment of a populist anti-discrimination law—I have once again become convinced of the shadow of a massive faction lurking behind the media landscape. Although it is difficult to prove the true nature of these forces—which operate under the guise of legality while hiding behind the curtain of mainstream media and politics—at a glance, they share a common trait: they have persistently denied the legitimacy of the Republic of Korea as a liberal democracy for a very long time.
They share a peculiar historical perspective, insisting on retroactively dating the Republic of Korea’s national legitimacy and the establishment of its government not to August 15, 1948, but to the founding of the Provisional Government in Shanghai in 1919—a time before the three elements of a state (sovereignty, territory, and people) were fully established. Despite having miraculously preserved the free market economy and democracy—and achieved the “Miracle on the Han River”—amid the fierce ideological struggle that has persisted since the nation’s founding, they seek to define the Provisional Government system—which failed to overcome the geopolitical limitations of the Cold War—as the nation’s sole root, while thoroughly erasing the contributions of President Syngman Rhee, who laid the great foundation and designed the long-term plan.
On the night of December 3, as the sitting president played the extreme constitutional card of martial law to declare the eradication of forces seeking to overthrow the regime, and the opposition party immediately labeled this an authoritarian outrage and an act of insurrection, pushing for the president’s arrest and impeachment—witnessing this unprecedented, all-out confrontation—I deeply reflected on what God, who rules over this land, must be thinking. In the darkness of the late Joseon Dynasty—when the vast majority of the people lived lives little better than slavery, stripped of their sovereignty, and the era was marred by ruinous factional strife and diplomatic failures—the seeds of the Gospel, sown with the blood of blue-eyed foreign missionaries, became the miraculous soil from which the Republic of Korea sprang. As a Christian in this land—which passed through the icy tunnel of Japanese colonial rule to embrace the joy of liberation, and which has been gasping for breath ever since amid the devastation of the Korean War triggered by the communist invasion, enduring the world’s only state of division and armistice—I am spiritually reflecting on the current situation.
Suddenly, a scene flashed before my eyes: the core powers in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula—which have long maintained a system of idolatry and totalitarianism—and the movements within South Korea that share the same ideological trajectory and dream of regime change, all launching political offensives and celebrating as if their world had finally arrived. Yet I believe that behind the raucous clamor of humanity, God’s justice never ceases but continues to work quietly. Amid the tense martial law situation—with military maneuvers, physical clashes within political circles, and the countless news reports surrounding them—I reflected on the divine principle of “making a noise in the east while striking in the west” (聲東擊西).
Just as Elijah, standing alone on Mount Carmel, defiantly confronted the deception and overwhelming numbers of the 850 false prophets who served Baal and Asherah—and triumphed through the judgment of righteousness in the name of the living Lord of Hosts—so too… No matter how fiercely the world’s agitation and human schemes may rage, we reaffirm that believers who stand on the side of truth have no reason to fear or waver, and we solemnly begin each day with dawn prayers seeking the discernment to illuminate this chaotic age.
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