President Yoon Suk Yeol [Photo=Yonhap News] 

This is a time for reflection and repentance. Even if the long, dark, and painful night deepens, I believe the day of dawn is not far off for this land of Samcheolli. I believe there will come a day when our compatriots will rise up. I believe there will come a day when the bell of freedom will ring all the way across the Pacific, over mountains and seas.

I believe there will come a day when darkness recedes across the hazy sea, and tears and sighs recede with it, and our compatriots will clasp their hands together and shout “Manse!” I believe there will come a day when the flag of liberation will fly beyond the Military Demarcation Line, beyond the Amnok and Tumen Rivers, and across the vast Siberian plains.

"It would have been better to impose martial law," voices of repentance

History seems to repeat itself in different ways. When darkness is deep and long, people's consciousness also resembles the night, losing clarity. It becomes inverted. It stands on its head. What is right becomes wrong, injustice dons the guise of justice, and coercion and oppression mimic the megaphone of freedom. However, there will be a day of true freedom and liberation. The day will come when people reclaim the sovereignty that has been stolen from them.

Signs and omens are appearing.

First, there is a 'confession' sent by a writer.

"Immediately after martial law was declared, if there was clear evidence of electoral fraud, martial law would have been justified. However, in a state where that was not the case, I believed President Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of martial law was inappropriate and wrote an article criticizing the president, arguing that martial law was too extreme and that other methods should have been used. But now, looking at the current state of South Korea's judiciary, election commission, media, and the People Power Party, as well as the electoral fraud that occurred in the United States and its background, I feel it would have been better to impose martial law. I apologize for criticizing President Yoon's decision to declare martial law."

Looking back, the framework of thought is indeed frightening. Once thought is trapped within a certain framework, it is never easy to escape.

If this person accepted that martial law was a decisive factor in electoral fraud and that it was not an act of rebellion, and even showed the courage to apologize for their past criticism, then they have escaped the 'frame' that was blinding them. Perhaps this person possesses an immunity that prevents them from easily being trapped by such frames.

1,385 Yongin City Civil Servants Refuse to Participate in Local Elections

Next, we hear news that 1,385 civil servants in Yongin City have announced their refusal to participate in the local elections scheduled for June.

This number reportedly represents more than half of the civil servants belonging to the Yongin City Civil Servants' Union. The media has interpreted this as a reaction to the recent controversy over electoral fraud and the fact that civil servants assigned to election duties have been subject to accusations.

Come to think of it, it was in Yongin that a district saw ballots that had already been marked found within returned envelopes during last year's elections. The 'collective refusal' by civil servants can be evaluated as a response to last year's incident of electoral fraud.

Legacy Media Mentions US-Based Electoral Fraud

The fact that so-called legacy media outlets have been broadcasting mentions of US presidential electoral fraud "without filtering" is also a significant change.

U.S. President Donald Trump [AP=Yonhap News] 

A report by Channel A. A local reporter asks U.S. President Donald Trump what he means by the statement that the federal government should oversee elections.

"I want to see elections run honestly. When we see fraud happening, we've seen plenty of examples of that. The federal government has to get involved. Look at 2020. What's coming out now is that it was a rigged, corrupt election. Look at Detroit. Look at Pennsylvania. Look at Philadelphia. Look at Atlanta. These are areas where there was tremendous, terrible corruption in the election. The federal government cannot stand by and do nothing. If you can't count the votes legally and honestly, somebody else has to take over."

What the Return of the "Former Academy Instructor" Signifies

The signs continue. A "former academy instructor," whom we could only encounter through YouTube videos during his long stay in the United States, has finally made a decisive return for the premiere of the film about electoral fraud, 'December 3, 2024: The Day – Fabricated Rebellion, Hidden Truth.'

It would not have been easy to decide to return to this country after 162 days, risking potential detention. While stating he did not wish to evade the law, he believed more strongly that the time was ripe enough to accept such risks.

"I hope that the trial presided over by Judge Ji Gui-yeon on February 19th will be decided solely on the basis of the Constitution, laws, and substantive truth."

This can be interpreted as his belief that to demand honesty from the judge in a ruling that will decisively influence the fate of this nation, one must first be willing to risk personal danger. If he can sacrifice himself, others may also walk the same path together.

Pledge from the Commander of the 707th Special Mission Battalion

Furthermore, there was the incident where the commander of the 707th Special Mission Battalion, who was deployed to the National Assembly on the night of December 3rd, clarified his stance.

"I, who told my parents, who trusted YouTube more than legacy media, not to believe it too much because it was fake news, am now opening my eyes to the truth. The National Assembly of the Republic of Korea has collapsed, and the media has already become politically biased. The prosecution and the judiciary have become tools of politics, and even the military I love is becoming politicized and collapsing due to political soldiers. Sadly, the ROK military is becoming a military that cannot fight and win. Unthinkable things are happening, and the military leadership that is tolerating and cooperating with this will become sinners in history."

Soldiers who have not lost their duty, soldiers who do not fear dismissal or prison for the sake of justice, how difficult it must have been for you. But you should not be ashamed. Time will restore your honor.

"A lamp has been lit in the dead of night, impossible to hide"

Now, I must write about one final matter. He wrote that he suffered from and had surgery for a rare disease, ampullary cancer, and even received a complete recovery diagnosis, but it recurred and metastasized to his lungs, reaching a point where "recovery would be difficult without a miracle." He wrote, "I have developed a habit of calculating the remaining days these days."

His sentences, containing these words, revealed the 'inner landscape' of a soul that had transcended all the burdens of life. In this state of transparent soul, he wrote about December 3rd:

"President Yoon's martial law on December 3, 2024, finally marked the end of a chapter in my life. This is because the work I have been doing has now been elevated to a discourse that no longer needs to be hidden. A lamp has been lit in the dead of night, impossible to hide. Therefore, I owe President Yoon a debt of gratitude for my life."

As it turned out, he was my junior by five years from the same university. We did not know each other during our school days, nor did I know what he did for a living, but I have never felt such a profound connection to someone's life.

In the past few years, precious people in my life have departed through the 'event' of death. Among them were those with whom I could not adequately express the affection I had for them.

Now, seeing him, whom I have never met before, write, "I want to rest under a broom tree like Elijah," I search. The 'broom tree' is described as a "tree that grows sparsely in deserts or wilderness" and as a tree with "little shade and useless fruit."

Therefore, the 'broom tree' is said to symbolize "the minimal rest for a brief respite." Thus, this scene signifies "the burnout of a prophet who felt their mission was complete." It further explains that "Elijah performed great miracles, but the world did not change, and he was left with the feeling of fighting alone."

Therefore, under the 'broom tree' is described as "a place of emptiness after victory, spiritual exhaustion, and complete isolation." I do not know the Bible, so I do not know how Elijah's story unfolds.

"God did not rebuke Elijah. He gave him food, let him sleep, gave him food again, and let him sleep again." Therefore, the 'broom tree' is not a "place of failure" but "a point where recovery begins."

What is True 'Freedom' and 'Liberation'?

As I come to know all this, my eyes well up with tears. How lonely you must have been, how difficult it must have been, I want to embrace you. This is a time for reflection and repentance.

In the late 1980s, when he and I might have crossed paths multiple times, I was within a completely different 'framework of thought.' I strived to make that ideology my own, like a religion, like destiny. Although it was not the religion of North Korea, for a long time afterward, I struggled to break free from the frame of 'old' ideology.

I have been a wanderer of thought until today. I have had to move forward in blizzards and dust storms, unable to even open my eyes properly. For the past year and two months, I have wanted to question and re-question everything I thought I stood firmly upon.

The intention to help the poor is not itself an ideology. Hating killing and war is still merely the first step in understanding ideology. How should we pursue these things, what is the nature of humanity, and what should the 'freedom' and 'liberation' mentioned in the songs sung then be?

I must ask and ask again. But before I can even find the answers, "In the secluded and dark corners of my heart," "the first rooster crows and the dogs bark." "Friends, do you hear it too?"

◆ Professor Bang Min-ho

Doctor of Literature, Professor of Korean Language and Literature at Seoul National University. He has been actively working as the chief editor of the quarterly literary magazine 'Mac' (from 2022), as well as a poet, novelist, and literary critic. His works include 'Lover Shim Cheong' (2015), 'The Language of Pain' (2019), 'Rethinking Korean Criticism' (2021), and 'Seoul Literary Travel' (2024).