President Lee Jae-myung and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi are seen jamming on drums during a reception after their summit on the 13th in Nara, Japan. [Photo=Yonhap News]

Netflix's hit series, 'Squid Game,' depicts a fictional world where life-or-death gambles are made for money within the pathological structures of a sick material world, delivering a shocking portrayal.

Within that world, there is an order. Simply put, this order is the rule of force by armed personnel with firearms, the freedom of choice to decide whether to participate and how to play, and the inability of game participants to see the upper structure that creates and enjoys the illegal games while watching.

While game participants choose whether to participate and how to play according to their personal will, they are manipulated by the will of the game designers who exploit human material desires to set and enjoy unilateral game rules, much like special laws and exceptional legal acts.

This fictional device illustrates both the foolish decisions humans make when cornered and presented with freedom of choice, and how making the wrong life-or-death choice can lead to a futile and reckless end.

'Squid Game' delivers a message that administrations and security leadership must be cautious in making choices that affect national survival.

International relations demand far more ruthless choices than Squid Game

Amidst the solidification of a new Cold War structure, Venezuela and Iran, which were core strongholds of the anti-American and anti-Western bloc, are simultaneously facing systemic collapse. Despite possessing vast resources, these nations have lost the credibility essential for a regime and state due to dictatorship, corruption, and overambitious foreign policies, bringing them to the brink of collapse.

The citizens of these countries elected politicians who promised popular policies, pushing their nations into crisis. These elected officials, in turn, resorted to fraudulent elections to prolong their rule, becoming sacrificial lambs of the new Cold War structure.

The characters in 'Squid Game' are largely debtors who have lost social trust. They are reminiscent of the over 70 countries that have become victims of China's Belt and Road Initiative.

Venezuela squandered its national treasury through populist policies and left-wing alliances, destroying its economic foundation. The Maduro regime, entangled in election fraud and drug cartels, lost all domestic and international trust and met its end.

Iran, too, has lost the trust of its people due to its long-standing theocratic dictatorship. Economic collapse has led to large-scale protests, shaking the very existence of the regime. The classic tactic of maintaining internal cohesion by emphasizing external enemies no longer works as internal trust, the economy, and public sentiment have crumbled.

Some commentators express concern that we might be following Venezuela's path of turning the judiciary into a tool of dictatorship and suggest that after Iran, North Korea will be next.

Just as there is no middle ground in Squid Game, there is no middle ground in the security game

In 'Squid Game,' players engage in games where they choose partners and teams, and these choices lead to either victory or defeat. Defeated players are shot by armed security personnel according to the rules. In the life-or-death security game, there is no middle ground.

Ambiguity in security policy becomes a vacuum, a vacuum invites misjudgment, and misjudgment leads to crisis. In a clearly defined bloc, ambiguous stances and backward-stepping remarks endanger national survival.

The current international situation is not one where one can afford to be leisurely, taking selfies with foreign leaders and playing drums. Security issues must be resolved first. With China and Russia losing strategic footholds and facing increased diplomatic burdens, it will not be easy for them to launch new military provocations in Taiwan, the Middle East, and East Asia.

North Korea's possibility of full-scale provocation is also slim due to the reduced capacity of China and Russia. However, this unstable state of stability is not due to structural change but to a temporary realignment of blocs and therefore will not last long.

What we need now is to take a firm stance. International relations no longer benefit countries that delay choosing sides and adopt dual attitudes. To do so is to invite harm in some form.

Alliances are not options that can be adjusted according to circumstances like partners in 'Squid Game'; they are integral safety devices that must function together in times of crisis. If the firmly established safety device is broken, arduous hardships such as extreme weather, artificial earthquakes, malicious fires, computer failures, and currency surges are anticipated.

Squid Game and International Relations are Alike… A Game Board Where Participants Constantly Conflict and Divide

In 'Squid Game,' there are many scenes of characters struggling to find partners and decide which side to join. Hesitating or delaying a choice means being subjected to a choice. The rules of choice are either voluntary or involuntary.

A nation's choice must be voluntary. While internal conflicts and disagreements within a nation may exist, they do not serve as justification for postponing a choice in the face of the prevailing trend and external threats.

Security abhors internal division. Division only invites external attacks. Just as participants in 'Squid Game' are forced to make choices according to the rules, nations are required to adopt a unified direction and stance in moments of survival.

While a certain degree of conflict is permissible in the security game, losing direction is fatal. Suspending choices by applying neutrality and pragmatism to security, or moving in the opposite direction, will lead to abandonment by allies and invite misjudgment from enemies.

China and Russia have utilized Venezuela and Iran, respectively, as strategic bridgeheads in Latin America and the Middle East, but they now lack the capacity to support them. The cracks in the anti-Western alliance have ultimately tilted the balance of the new Cold War in favor of the United States. In the current clear geopolitical landscape, leaning towards China is an act of national suicide.

Read the Changes in the New Cold War and Show a Clear Stance

In 'Squid Game,' the 456 participants are helplessly subjected to armed personnel. Even if one makes the right choice in 'Squid Game,' if they lose the game, they are immediately eliminated and become corpses.

Police may infiltrate illegal game facilities, but if overpowered, they are merely individuals. They cannot punish the game designers and investors who view humans as mere entertainment for horse racing. The justice of a few cannot change the upper structure of a cartel built on force.

In the military and security domain, the terms 'balance and pragmatism' are an avoidance of choice and an expression of ambiguity.

Ambiguity in security and the search for new avenues are not strategy but dangerous actions. What is needed now is not 'communication among Korea, China, and Japan' but 'cooperation among Korea, the US, and Japan.'

Public sentiment and military morale demand that the government not engage in reckless gambles with national security like in 'Squid Game,' but rather express a clear position. Furthermore, the military must maintain a state of readiness with a unified, firm, and clear chain of command.

◆ Park Pil-kyu

Editor, Hankyoreh

Class of '40, Korea Military Academy