Media outlets are reporting that Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon (left) and independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon are each attempting to establish themselves as the next conservative presidential contenders by expanding their contacts with pro-Yoon factions. [Photo=Yonhap News] 

Lately, I have been receiving quite a few requests to join groups dedicated to "making" someone or other the next president. I find myself wondering what kind of people these individuals really are.

President Yoon Suk-yeol, who is being called a traitor and has been illegally impeached and imprisoned, is still very much alive.

Because of this, the people have risen up, shouting for the nullification of the impeachment and calling for "Yoon Again." Yet, some despicable individuals are busy behind the scenes forming "groups to make [so-and-so] president," focused only on their own survival.

In the end, aren't they just trying to latch onto the "opposition to election fraud" and "Yoon Again" movements led by patriots, all while plotting to seize power themselves? Some are even pushing to make the person they "fawn over" the president, hoping to get a piece of the pie for themselves.

This has led to a situation where those shouting for "Yoon Again" and those solely focused on "opposing election fraud"—both within the same conservative right-wing camp—are now engaging in the unfortunate spectacle of disparaging one another.

Even if the Lee Jae-myung regime were to collapse, these same people would, from the very next day, split from the "Yoon Again" crowd and once again fracture the conservative right-wing to promote their own presidential candidates.

Can we truly consider such people patriots? Why are these individuals—who did nothing when they held important positions and instead handed over both the government and the party to the enemy—still so greedy for power?

Furthermore, the conservative right-wing, which has already handed the presidency it won to the enemy twice, seems to have forgotten its past sins and is back to fawning over their preferred candidates, clamoring to make them president. Are they not ashamed of such behavior?

This is no different from the case of a failed nation where people set up their own "Provisional Government in Shanghai," playing pretend president and fighting among their own kind.

When President Yoon Suk-yeol was being illegally impeached, the people organized death squads in the freezing winter, spending nights on the asphalt shouting against the impeachment.

Yet, those drunk on power, even before the sound of the impeachment hammer had faded in the National Assembly, abandoned their roles as prime ministers, ministers, and governors to declare their own presidential bids.

Remember back then: while Lee Jae-myung was the sole candidate for the main opposition party, over 12 people from the ruling party scrambled to run, fighting among themselves to be the one to hold the presidency.

I will say it again: the conservative right-wing should be ashamed of the time they spent arguing over whether to make Han Duck-soo, Kim Moon-soo, Han Dong-hoon, Hong Joon-pyo, Lee Jun-seok, Ahn Cheol-soo, Hwang Kyo-ahn, or Na Kyung-won president, only to end up like a dog chasing chickens.

Yet, even now, there are those who talk about making the traitor Han Dong-hoon president. Even the media is getting involved, and Oh Se-hoon is also circling around.

When North Koreans saw Kim Dae-jung visit Pyongyang in June 2000 and grovel before Kim Jong-il, they found it incredibly strange, thinking, "How on earth does a person like that become president in South Korea?"

But having come to Korea and seen it for myself, I realize that Korea is truly a politically backward country where anyone—be it a traitor, a criminal, a spy-like figure, or an incompetent person—can clamor to become president.

A true patriot should now cast aside all greed and self-interest, join forces to uncover election fraud, reclaim the government, and restore the illegal impeachment to its rightful state.

◆ Advisor Kim Tae-san

Advisor to the Hanmi Ilbo, former representative of a North Korean trading company in the Czech Republic. In South Korea, he serves as the Vice President of the Institute for North Korean Society, providing profound insights and experience regarding inter-Korean relations and North Korean issues.