The broadcasts in ‘Transmission’ function as one-sided messages that control public emotion and behavior. [Movie Still Cut]The film ‘Transmission’ (2017) is a work that succinctly portrays the collapse of a society characterized by information control and surveillance. 

This film depicts how a society crumbles when information is blocked, distorted, and one-sided messages are repeatedly broadcast. What is interesting is that the structure of this film remarkably resembles the current security reality in Korea.

War begins not with bullets, but with information warfare. In China's doctrine of unlimited war, "chao xian zhan" (超限戰), information and cyber warfare are the preliminary stages and the core axis of conflict. 

Before military clashes, the enemy shakes perceptions through manipulation of information and public opinion, blurs the lines between fact and fiction by distorting information, and disrupts national systems through cyber infiltration. Information warfare weakens the adversary's judgment, amplifies internal divisions, and causes them to collapse from within. 

Monopolization of Information and Politicization of Security Discourse

The broadcasts in ‘Transmission’ are one-sided messages that control emotions and actions. Citizens must receive these messages without choice, and they are not even explained why. The citizens in ‘Transmission’ lose their ability to judge as they are exposed to repeated messages. 

Security historical discourse is similar. Security issues related to peace are exaggerated, other issues are minimized, and certain interpretations of security history do not even allow for free discussion. Anything that does not fit into the logic of a particular camp is branded as 'spreading false information.' 

This is akin to the punishment of beliefs in the Middle Ages, where disbelief in God would lead to being burned at the stake. Religious belief and historical interpretation are different things. 

Attacking someone's views as 'false' simply because they differ is comparable to the tyranny of power that labels relatively weak religious factions as heretical, or calls a state of emergency 'sedition' because the opposing parliamentary faction is weak. 

When security becomes a one-sided tool of political factions, the nation is in peril. It is self-inflicted security harm when our security policies are decided by a small number of sycophantic advisors without public deliberation. 

Security policy and peace do not lie in declarations, but in the organic integration of information acquisition, analysis, and response systems. While attempts are made to integrate military academies under the guise of jointness, there is no attempt to integrate military and state intelligence or security data. 

Blocking, Disconnection, and Surveillance of Information 

The citizens in the film understand reality solely through broadcasts from a specific institution, with their communication with the outside world completely cut off. Disconnection and surveillance of information lead to a disconnection in judgment, ultimately resulting in cowardly compliance. In Korea's security reality, information disconnection leads to a lack of strategy and security disruption. 

With every change of administration, security, diplomacy, energy policies, and strategies are reversed. While the National Assembly liberally enacts bad laws, it fails to process key legislation in a timely manner. 

When policy consistency disappears, citizens cannot discern the nation's direction, and allies and neighboring countries doubt Korea's predictability and intentions. Information disconnection leads to a disconnection in national trust.

Editing, Distortion, and Structural Concealment of Information

The implicit message of ‘Transmission’ is that if information control is not maintained, facts will be intentionally edited and distorted. This erodes the ability and will to sift through noise and extract information. 

Certain factions intentionally amplify that noise for their own small gains. When emotions are stirred without basis, truth disappears, and the ability to judge truth vanishes with it. Information distortion leads to information manipulation and structural concealment.

The distortion of security information inevitably invites crisis. The enemy is experiencing modern warfare on the Russia-Ukraine battlefield and is constantly evolving, yet we have even disallowed the dispatch of a delegation to observe Ukraine. 

While the National Assembly attempts to intervene in defense industry matters, critical issues like the return of wartime operational control, which is unsuitable given the circumstances, are packaged as political messages of 'autonomy' and discussed behind closed doors. 

Manipulated information and public opinion turn a sovereign nation into a league of selfish tribes. When information is distorted, judgment is distorted, and when judgment is distorted, the nation's strategic choices falter. 

Deterrence arises from the magnitude of military power and the predictability of the enemy's movements. We are trying to restore a structure of security blindness that is inherently unpredictable. This creates room for misjudgment, not deterrence.

Alternatives to Prevent Structural Security Collapse

The message conveyed by ‘Transmission’ is clear: information is the foundation that supports a society's ability to judge, and when that foundation is shaken, the nation also shakes. 

The same applies to Korea's security. Peace policies alone cannot protect the nation. Structural elements such as policy consistency, institutional continuity, alliance trust, and the stability of industrial and energy bases must work together. 

While the National Assembly berates the military not to be insulted, it undermines the military through delayed execution of defense budgets, delayed amendments to espionage laws, attempts to abolish security laws, and the creation of unnecessary alliance conflicts. 

The public sees the events but not the covert destructive cartel structure. War begins not when the guns fire, but when the security structure is shaken. 

When information is shaken, judgment and deterrence weaken. When deterrence weakens, the enemy silently unleashes their grief, attacks vulnerabilities, and establishes positions. 

This is how war quietly approaches, and perhaps war has already begun. Experts are raising their voices, stating that sophisticated security destruction by a vast cartel is currently underway. 

Public and military sentiment calls for a complete overhaul of the security line, which is ruining national security, diplomacy, and the economy. Even if it falls on deaf ears, the security system must be reorganized to detect disasters in advance.

◆ Park Pil-kyu

Editor-in-Chief, The Hankook Ilbo

ROK Army Academy, Class of '86 (40th)