Guest Editorial Board Member, Korea Military Academy Class of 40In August, a young Korean man died in Cambodia after being held captive and tortured. For two months, his family knocked on the embassy's door, but the only response they received was an irresponsible and cynical reply: "Report it yourself using Google Translate." The Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that he only became aware of the situation "last week." Meanwhile, a citizen died without receiving any action or protection from the nation and its government. This situation demands a level of concern more profound than any other incident. It appears that the issue has been recognized since 2021, yet no action has been taken. The nation of Korea was absent, and the government was incompetent.

Crimes targeting Koreans in Cambodia are soaring. Reported incidents, which numbered around 10 in 2021, reached 330 by August of this year. These range from voice phishing and employment scams to kidnapping and torture. However, since the current administration took office, the local ambassador position has been vacant, and there has been no dispatched police force or a dedicated "Korean Desk" for crime response.

If the essence of a nation lies in protecting the lives and safety of its citizens, then the current government has lost its reason for existence, legitimacy, and function in managing and operating the nation. The nation exists, but there is no government functioning properly.

1. The Essence of a Nation is Citizen Protection

The murder case in Cambodia revealed the stern truth that a nation exists only when it protects its citizens. The four elements that constitute a nation—territory, population, government, and sovereignty—only hold meaning when the nation fulfills the 'minimal social contract' of guaranteeing the lives and safety of its people. However, our government took no substantive action when a citizen was tortured and died in a foreign country.

The Korean victim situation in Cambodia is a grave incident resulting from the neglect of the nation's duty to protect its citizens. While the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should handle such matters, it is the National Intelligence Service (NIS) that invisibly exercises the functions of national maintenance and citizen protection. The fact that even the NIS has been reduced to a politically subservient organization makes this a man-made disaster. This is a complete paralysis of national functions and a breach of the most basic contract: the right to life of the citizens.

A nation is only qualified to exist when it protects its citizens. On this occasion, we must thoroughly investigate whether there are other countries, besides Cambodia, where enticement kidnappings, confinement, and torture are occurring under the guise of job offers. The National Assembly should establish a missing persons reporting center.

2. An Incompetent Government Has No Right to Remain in Power

This incident is not merely a diplomatic failure. It is a tragedy brought about by a government that prioritizes regime survival over the lives of its citizens, lacking a sense of mission and philosophy in its governance. The internal strife and ideological focus of this "civil war-like politics" have led to the neglect of citizens' lives.

If a government cannot hear the cries of its citizens suffering abroad, it is not a government of the people. Citizens have the right to be protected, and the government has the duty to fulfill that obligation. A regime that evades its responsibility has no right to exist or remain in power any longer. It must immediately cease political bickering and transform into a true government that prioritizes "the lives of citizens above all else."

3. Transition from a 'Civil War State' to a 'People's Livelihood State' and Implement Structural Reforms

First, the current government must not merely blame the previous administration but comprehensively review its current governance and re-establish its national philosophy. The right to life of citizens, not the regime, must be set as the highest value. We must declare "active digital sovereignty" to expand the scope of citizen protection beyond territorial borders to cyberspace.

Second, command and intelligence systems must be integrated. Initial responses are impossible if the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the police, and intelligence agencies operate independently. A "National Center for Integrated Command and Control (NCIC)" should be established directly under the Director of the National Intelligence Service or the Minister of Foreign Affairs to operate a 24-hour real-time response system.

Third, on-site response capabilities must be revolutionized. An unarmed quasi-military response team, such as a "Korean Guardian Force (KGF)," should be created and continuously dispatched to vulnerable overseas areas to cooperate with local authorities. Diplomatic missions' administrative reports and personnel changes are insufficient to save citizens.

4. National Resolve—Consider Military Deployment

The Cambodia incident goes beyond diplomatic failure; it reveals the absence of the nation's will to protect its citizens. All means to protect citizens, including diplomatic, intelligence, and military options, must be considered. Israel's "Entebbe Operation (1976)" proved the reason for a nation's existence by rescuing hostages thousands of kilometers away. Under its "Citizen Protection Doctrine," the United States also resorts to military operations if a local government is incompetent.

Similarly, we have the example of the "Operation Dawn of Gulf of Aden" conducted by the ROK Navy's Cheonghae Unit in January 2011 in the Gulf of Aden, near Somalia, to rescue the crew of the Samho Jewelry, which had been hijacked by Somali pirates. Like the "Operation Dawn of Gulf of Aden," we must rush to the aid of our citizens wherever they are in danger. This is the duty of a nation and the reason for a government's existence.

A nation must always respond when called by its citizens. A government that fails to protect its citizens has no right to remain in power. What is needed now are not excuses, investigation committees, or the badges of special prosecutors. We must stop distributing politically motivated and superficial consumption coupons with future elections in mind and invest that budget in reforming and resolving safety, security, and disaster forecasting systems for the protection of citizens' lives.

Citizens pay taxes because they trust in the nation's function to protect their lives and property in any disaster, including war. Only when the nation and government save and protect citizens through substantive actions when they are in crisis can we truly call it a 'nation.' We eagerly await the day when such a Republic of Korea arrives.

Park Pil-kyu, Guest Editorial Board Member