Anyone who has ever watched the sun rise at dawn knows that it is darkest just before sunrise. Then, as the light gradually begins to appear, the sky brightens before you know it, and the sun rises. At that very moment, it feels as though the order of creation—beginning with the words “Let there be light” at the beginning of time, followed by the separation of the waters and the creation of the heavens, the gathering of the waters beneath the heavens to form the seas and the separation of the seas from the land, the growth of plants on the land through God’s life-giving power, and the creation of the sun, moon, and stars in the heavens—is repeating itself every day. That is why the moment the sun rises so brilliantly is a wondrous time of transition—from darkness to light, from ignorance to enlightenment, and from death to life.
Watching the sun rise every dawn, I realized that, at some point, a major change had taken place in my life. There was a time when I would wake up not out of joy but out of a sense of duty, driving my truck all over Incheon to deliver side dishes to customers’ doorsteps. The burden of having to wake up every dawn, the physical exhaustion, and the overwhelming uncertainty about how long I would have to keep this up weighed heavily on me; all I could think about was how I longed for Sunday to come quickly so I could sleep soundly for just one day.
However, at some point, my heart felt lighter as I left home in the morning, and I began to find joy in the ever-changing delivery routes. When I finished my deliveries on Yeongjong Island and crossed the Incheon Bridge, gazing at the vast sea and sky that greeted me, it felt as though my once-closed heart was opening up. Above all, at the moment when dawn broke and the sun rose over the horizon, I couldn’t help but stop driving and marvel at the sight. And I realized that this was a process of putting off the old self and becoming a new person, just as the Scripture says, “You have been renewed in knowledge in the image of your Creator” (Colossians 3:10). I don’t know if it was because every cell in my body was renewed as I bathed in the morning sunlight, or if the structure of the neurons in my brain was reorganized by the fresh inspiration I received each day, but one thing is certain: I have become a completely different “upgraded 2.0 version” of my former self.
My ability to absorb audiobooks has greatly increased, I’ve gained the capacity to fuse what I read with my own thoughts to generate new insights, and my ability to translate these into practical action in my life is on a whole new level compared to before. My efficiency at work has improved, the scope of my personal business has expanded, my relationships with others have been redefined, and my perspective on the world has begun to change completely. In short, it felt as if the old self had died and I had put on the new self (Ephesians 4:24). On the surface, South Korea appears to be undergoing rapid change thanks to its “hurry-hurry” culture, but when I looked beneath the surface during my visit to Silicon Valley in the U.S., I painfully realized that substantive innovation has come to a standstill. This is because the country remains trapped in outdated ideological conflicts and a standardized education system, preventing any further qualitative leap forward. Politics, in particular, is the most backward sector; the philosophies of today’s key figures are archaic and utterly stifling. To give a telling example, there is no leader in today’s political arena who possesses the same foresight as Syngman Rhee, the founding president who moved the world a century ago with his exceptional judgment of international affairs and his English speeches. While we proclaim the “global era,” we have actually become the most closed-off society, and the bitter reality of higher education is, as Dean Choi Do-sung of Handong University put it, that “20th-century teachers are teaching 21st-century students using a 19th-century system.”
Investment in startups began during the Park Geun-hye administration under the banner of the “Creative Economy,” but this created a distorted structure that relied on government-led seed funds and so-called “blind money” rather than self-sustaining private investment. Reports of moral hazard among some entrepreneurs seeking these subsidies were not uncommon, and when investment dried up after 2022, uncompetitive companies vanished overnight. Even some leaders and investors who had successfully gone public (IPO) appeared more concerned with realizing short-term profits than with responsible management. Whenever I see news reports of even major entertainment companies—which have produced world-class artists—being embroiled in controversies over the loss of trust in their management, my heart grows heavy as I reflect on the current state of our capital market.
What is even more regrettable is the prevailing social atmosphere, which seems to have already forgotten the previous administration’s missteps—failed real estate policies and excessive COVID-19 restrictions that shook the very foundations of survival for 5 million self-employed individuals. It is disheartening to see some citizens being swept up in the agitation of forces seeking to destabilize national leadership once again, using tactics similar to those employed during the past impeachment crisis. In particular, amid the blurring of faith and political discernment, I, too, was among those who mistakenly believed the contradictory logic of the political sphere to be sound—whether it was supporting the faction pushing for an anti-discrimination law that violates biblical values, or criticizing Human Rights Commission Chairman Ahn Chang-ho, who boldly expressed his Christian values, through an ideological lens. It is just like the angry crowd in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago who shouted for Jesus to be crucified.
Currently, South Korea is facing a state of “anomie,” in which national functions are severely paralyzed due to relentless pressure for impeachment and the successive resignations of key cabinet members and heads of law enforcement agencies. The Mu-an Airport plane crash, which occurred at a time when the nation’s attention was focused on the state of emergency declared under the pretext of ensuring election fairness, sent shockwaves throughout the entire country. While we pray for the captain who tragically lost his life attempting a near-miraculous belly landing to save the passengers until the very last moment, the circumstances surrounding the disaster leave us with deep doubts. From the confusing reports about survivors immediately after the accident, to the questionable framing of the accident footage, to the missing four minutes of black box data and the sudden death of an airport official—the full truth behind this tragedy must be thoroughly and transparently investigated.
Coincidentally, the tragedy occurred on the very day of a major public debate questioning the fairness of the election, and as attention was diverted by a series of bizarre media broadcast glitches, a key judicial appointment was carried out at lightning speed, and an unprecedented situation unfolded in which a controversial appointee to the Corruption Investigation Office issued an arrest warrant for the head of state. At that moment, the words “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10) came to mind. Forces seeking to undermine the Republic of Korea’s identity as a liberal democracy are attempting to corrupt the fair electoral system, obscure the truth, and ultimately destroy this nation’s constitutional values. We must carefully discern whether the corrupt and biased media, which incites the public with sensationalist framing, harbors a hidden agenda to overturn the current system, dismantle the pillars of the free-market economy and the ROK-U.S. alliance, and transform the nation into a planned economy with pro-China and anti-U.S. leanings.
However, the deeper the darkness, the brighter the light of truth shines. It is a remarkable historical twist that Elon Musk, a global innovator with hundreds of millions of followers, has taken notice of South Korea’s efforts to defend itself, and that the “Restore Election Fairness (STOP THE STEAL)” movement—which surfaced during past U.S. presidential elections—has been reported by outlets such as Fox News through the spontaneous actions of vigilant citizens and Christians defending the presidential residence in Hannam-dong. The dedication of former lawmakers and leaders who have steadfastly advocated for transparency in the electoral system despite fierce ridicule, along with the explosive response to the documentary *The Cartel*—which addressed this issue—proves that our society is slowly awakening. Believing in this light of life—which will open the eyes of the ignorant masses who were once swept up in false propaganda and expose the hidden evils—I rise at dawn once again today, preparing with hope for a new era of “Republic of Korea 2.0.”
I firmly believe that God will surely do a new thing in His own time, make a way in the parched wilderness, and cause rivers to flow in the desert. (Isaiah 43:19)
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