Guest Editorialist. ROK Military Academy Class of '84Today, South Korea is descending into a "total civil war" without gunshots and without mediators. The government is adrift due to leaders lacking legitimacy, and while facing immense attacks from both sides in a diplomatic tightrope walk is a heavy penalty, the ruling party hurls extreme rhetoric like "insurrection" and "historical insurrection" at political opposition. This internal conflict, trapped in partisan logic, continues endlessly. The ruling party's unilateral passage of bills, leveraging its majority, undermines the essence of parliamentary democracy – the spirit of dialogue and compromise – and transforms the entire nation into a "battlefield."  

The special prosecutor on sedition, despite being mocked as "Jack Smith" by President Trump, remains unable to escape its role as a political tool for a specific faction. It frames military operations as treason and, with a blunt executioner's sword, only exacerbates the overall distrust in the national system. What is the special prosecutor on sedition doing now? I will attempt to explain it using the human life cycle: birth, aging, sickness, and death. 

1. The Strange Birth (嘆生) of the Special Prosecutor on Sedition

The Democratic Party declared the President's martial law order, issued under his supreme command in an emergency, as sedition, and created a special prosecutor on sedition to impeach and conclude the act of governance as sedition. The National Assembly recommended candidates, and the President appointed Jo Eun-seok as the special prosecutor. 

Unlike regular prosecutors, a special prosecutor is formed with the consent of the National Assembly, thus not under the command of the Prosecutor General, and conducts independent investigations with their own team. Special prosecutors appointed by left-wing governments have lost political neutrality and have falsely accused innocent people through unreasonable investigations and manipulations. Currently, the special prosecutor on sedition is conducting "targeted investigations," even attempting to raid the opposition party's headquarters. 

The special prosecutor's atrocities, while a novel-like analogy, are akin to a firefighter committing arson while pretending to put out a fire. It is unavoidable to perceive the special prosecutor not as a tool for justice, but as a reckless prosecutor driving a seditious narrative for political gain and seeking to destroy the opposition party. The special prosecutor on sedition, seemingly unaware of the watchful public eye, wields an increasingly blind sword. 

2. The Senility (老妄) of the Special Prosecutor on Sedition

The special prosecutor on sedition is desperately trying to conclude the emergency martial law as sedition by investigating even military operations and framing them as treason. The political motive appears clear. Last year's covert response operations involving reconnaissance flights by our military's armed helicopters near the NLL (Northern Limit Line) and the deployment of drones to Pyongyang were a response to North Korea's prior drone provocations. However, the special prosecutor is turning sensitive military operations related to national security into a political debate. Beyond this, the special prosecutor is expanding its investigation to include commissioned and non-commissioned military commanders involved in the "infiltration of the National Assembly." This is truly a cruel act. 

They are conducting a forced investigation to include in the indictment the claim that former President Yoon Suk-yeol orchestrated North Korean provocations and conducted "North Wind operations" to create grounds for declaring emergency martial law, intending to use the military as evidence of "sedition conspiracy." This behavior by the special prosecutor has drawn criticism that it stems from political intent rather than judicial objectives. The special prosecutor must cease investigations related to military operations that are destroying the military and its personnel.  

The special prosecutor's atrocities are like an unqualified doctor driving a healthy person mad, labeling them as ill, and turning them into a wreck. If emergency martial law were defined as an act of governance, there would be no reason for impeachment nor grounds for impeachment. However, through the reckless political maneuvering and coercion of a few leaders, even acts of governance are being plunged into the deep quagmire of sedition and impeachment, annihilating truth and justice.  

In terms of medicine, this is akin to a quack doctor branding a healthy person as mentally ill, and not only confining them to a psychiatric hospital but, in an attempt to "cure" them, actually driving a healthy person to their death – a destruction of life and a violation of human rights.  

In South Korea, there are approximately 40,000 lawyers, 3,151 judges, and 2,172 prosecutors. Yet, there is no just voice being raised to state that emergency martial law is not sedition. History will later record this as a judicial upheaval in 2025, caused by the ignorance and cowardly silence of legal professionals. 

3. The Death from Illness (病死) of the Special Prosecutor on Sedition

The Supreme Court strongly opposed the amendment to the special prosecutor law and the establishment of a special tribunal proposed by the Democratic Party, stating they contained "many unconstitutional elements and were contrary to common legal sense." This is because the Supreme Court perceived the political intention to extend the special prosecutor's investigation period indefinitely, targeting the local elections next year, and considered the attempt to form a tribunal with judges favorable to the Democratic Party, rather than the existing judiciary, as an act that undermines judicial independence and shakes the foundation of the rule of law. The special prosecutor on sedition is hastening its own death from illness. 

Given the nature of investigating a vast case in a short period, the special prosecutor is likely to become a political spectacle rather than a profound truth-finding endeavor. The current special prosecutor, unable to investigate and punish a supposed seditious group that cannot logically exist, is instead transforming itself into the very seditious group, creating a "sedition hunt" and threatening judicial functions and the continuity of the state.  

This is like the police arresting the homeowner instead of the thief, to use a novel-like analogy. Contradictions of turning things upside down, political self-harm, and human rights violations will not last long. The oxygen mask of a regime lacking legitimacy will be removed by an indignant populace.  

Twelve military officers, from colonel rank and above, have been indicted and are on trial for "engaging in important duties related to sedition," despite merely following orders. Disregarding and mistreating military personnel and using them politically will lead to a decline in military morale. The enemy will inevitably provoke in tangible and intangible forms through the gaps in national security created by social chaos, national division, and extreme conflict. The special prosecutor on sedition, which claims to end political sedition while committing actual sedition itself, should reflect on the lessons of the Goryeo military coup.