단상斷想

A dual strategy of protecting vested interests and deceiving the public

The People Power Party, the current ruling party, inherits the historically 이어져 온 far-right and New Right political legacy, cleverly packaging it in a modern context to strengthen their vested rights and interests. Launched as the Future United Party in February 2020 and renamed the People Power Party in March 2021, the People Power Party has maintained the essence of the existing conservative party while promoting the inclusive word 'people' to build a deceptive image as if representing the entire people. Since the launch of the Yoon Seok-yeol government in 2022, the People Power Party has been openly strengthening its ties with government-controlled organizations and consolidating its traditional conservative support base. Government support for traditional government-controlled organizations such as the Saemaul Undong Central Association, the Korea Freedom Federation, and the Central Council for the Right Living Movement has been significantly expanded, and these organizations are clearly being used as a means of political mobilization. The fact that government support for these government-controlled organizations has increased by about 30% since 2023 compared to the Moon Jae-in government period clearly shows that the people's taxes are being diverted for the political interests of a specific faction. The People Power Party is cleverly using far-right elements to deceive the public and pursue political and economic interests.

Exaggeration and Abuse of Anti-North Korea Security Discourse: They are employing tactics to rally conservative supporters by exaggerating the North Korean threat more than necessary and intentionally creating security 불안. Since 2022, as North Korea's missile launch tests have increased, they have politically abused this to groundlessly denounce the Moon Jae-in administration's North Korea policy as 'pro-North Korean leftists' and are forming a fictional discourse that their hard-line policies are superior.

Concealing the Truth Through Historical Distortion: Politicians affiliated with the People Power Party are intentionally fueling social conflict by making statements based on the distorted historical perceptions of the New Right regarding past issues such as the May 18 Democratization Movement and the Jeju April 3 Incident. This is a deceptive strategy to conceal the truth of the past, divide the public's historical awareness, and promote their political interests.

Illegal Mobilization of Support Through Government-Affiliated Organizations: Illegal mobilization in which government-affiliated organizations such as the Saemaul Undong organization and the Korean Veterans Association openly support People Power Party candidates continues every election season. Despite the widespread organized mobilization in the 2022 presidential and local elections, punishment has been minimal, which is a serious act of deception that undermines the foundations of democracy.

Manipulating Public Opinion Through Fake News: They are focused on manipulating distorted public opinion that unilaterally advocates government policies through far-right-leaning influencers active on YouTube and social media. These channels indiscriminately spread unverified false information and conspiracy theories, and People Power Party politicians maintain close cooperative relationships with them, actively participating in deceiving the public.

Favoritism towards conglomerates in economic policy: It exhibits a dualistic behavior of promoting biased policies that only benefit large corporations and real estate tycoons, while advocating for 'people's livelihood' and 'economic recovery.' Policies such as deregulation, corporate tax cuts, and real estate deregulation do not benefit ordinary people at all, but reveal a blatant class bias that only protects the interests of the existing economic elite.

Political Abuse of the National Security Law: They are cleverly utilizing the outdated method of groundlessly framing progressive civil society organizations or labor unions as "pro-North Korea" and suppressing them with the National Security Law in a modern context. In 2023, there was a sharp increase in cases of applying the National Security Law to journalists and activists critical of the government, which is a serious act of deception that threatens freedom of expression and the foundation of democracy.

Revival of the Cultural and Artistic Blacklist: The People Power Party is secretly pursuing policies similar to the cultural and artistic blacklist that the Constitutional Court ruled unconstitutional during the Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations. Systematic oppression through exclusion of support and audits for cultural artists with progressive tendencies is an anti-democratic act that undermines cultural diversity and suppresses freedom of expression.

Social Division through Anti-Feminism: Politically exploiting the anti-feminist sentiment that has spread among male voters in their 20s and 30s, thereby fueling gender conflict. This, combined with the patriarchal values ​​emphasized in traditional far-right ideologies, is emerging as a deceptive strategy to divide the people through gender conflict and secure support.

Privileges and Corruption through Regional Development Projects: While promoting large-scale development projects centered on regions where the People Power Party is strong, a structure is being formed in which privileges and interests are given to specific companies and stakeholders in the process. Allegations of such favors have been continuously raised in projects such as the Gadeokdo New Airport in Busan and the Daegu-Gyeongbuk Integrated New Airport in 2023, but even a proper investigation has not been conducted.

Neutralizing the Monitoring Function of Civil Society: Implementing a dual policy of intensifying blatant audits and regulations on progressive civic groups, while significantly expanding government support for conservative civic groups. This is interpreted as an anti-democratic intention to deliberately neutralize the monitoring function of civil society over government policies and suppress critical voices of the people.

Since 2023, the People Power Party has shown a serious democratic regression by blatantly mobilizing power institutions such as the National Intelligence Service, the prosecution, and the police to systematically suppress political opponents. This is even more concerning in that it is a recurrence of the dark history of the past authoritarian era when far-right forces abused state institutions to suppress opposing forces. In particular, the 'targeted investigation of opposition politicians' and 'suppression of journalists criticizing the regime' led by the prosecution are criticized as a serious setback for Korean democracy. The People Power Party is packaging these anti-democratic moves with plausible rhetoric such as 'normalization' and 'rule of law,' but criticism is growing that the intention to deceive the people and protect only the interests of the vested interests is clear in essence.

In the past, far-right forces abused power under the guise of "anti-communism," but now, the People Power Party exhibits contradictory behavior, systematically suppressing the rights of workers and ordinary people while pushing policies favorable to conglomerates and the wealthy under the deceptive pretexts of "economic recovery" and "national competitiveness." This is far from a politics for the true people, but rather for a small privileged class.

In Korean society after liberation, far-rightism began with the support of the US military government and was strengthened as a social control mechanism of authoritarian regimes. Even after democratization, it has subtly maintained its influence in the form of government-affiliated organizations, and in the 2000s, it underwent a new ideological transformation with the emergence of the New Right. Currently, the People Power Party inherits this historical legacy of far-rightism, but cleverly packages it to fit the modern context, deceiving the people and abusing it to maintain their vested interests. Contrary to the name of the People Power Party, the fact that it actually represents only the power of a very small privileged class poses a serious threat to the future of Korean democracy. Their existence is not simply a past mistake, but a potential risk factor that will continue to threaten our society in the present and future.