단상斷想

Choi Jung-sim, born in 1960, and renamed Choi Min-hee, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, graduated from Hyehwa Girls' High School and Ewha Woman's University with a degree in History. Choi Jung-sim officially changed her pen name 'Choi Min-hee,' which she used as a reporter for the monthly <Mal> of the Council for the Democratic Press Movement in 1985, to her registered name in 2004, abandoning the beautiful name given by her parents and beginning her expansion from the press to a political career. Starting as a reporter, she became a key figure in the organization, serving as a secretary, central committee member, and secretary-general of the Council for the Democratic Press Movement, and then as the planning and management director and secretary-general of the Citizens' Alliance for Democratic Press Movement. Along with the evaluation of being a 'representative figure of the press movement,' she led the 'Anti-Chosun' movement and established a unique position within the progressive camp. Through these activities, she became recognized as a figure representing a critical stance against the conservative press.

Her tenure as Vice-Chairman of the Broadcasting Commission during the Roh Moo-hyun administration was a significant turning point in her political career. It marked a shift in her role from media watchdog to media policy maker. At the same time, she expanded her network with progressive groups by serving as the Steering Committee Chairman of the National Coalition for the Abolition of the National Security Law. In the 2012 19th general election, she entered the National Assembly as a proportional representative of the Democratic United Party, and served as the floor leader, playing an important role within the party. Her 5-hour and 21-minute speech against the Anti-Terrorism Act in the 2016 filibuster is considered an event that highlighted her political presence.

However, his failure in the 2016 20th National Assembly election and the five-year disenfranchisement due to violation of the Public Official Election Act brought a halt to his political activities. However, after being reinstated by Moon Jae-in's special pardon in 2021, he returned as the head of the media special advisory group for the Korea Grand Transformation Election Committee. His candidacy for the Namyangju mayoral election in 2022 can be seen as an attempt to build a local political base. It was a new political network formation strategy that utilized his regional connection with Lee Jae-myung. In the 2024 22nd National Assembly election, he succeeded in being re-elected and was elected as the chairman of the Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Communications Committee, completing his political comeback.

Personally, she revealed personal concerns such as her daughter Jung Yun-seo's education issues and the balance between political activities and family through her appearance on the 2016 EBS 'Real Theater Happiness'. However, the allegations of preferential treatment raised during her daughter's employment process in the National Assembly became a political controversy. It was pointed out that there was a difference from general personnel practices in that her daughter, who was a university student on leave, started as an intern in National Power Party lawmaker Cho Hae-jin's office and was promoted to a 7th-grade secretary in a short period of time. Of course, unlike the image of being considered the originator of 'Gae-ttal', it is questionable in many ways and shows a complex stance that her daughter started as an intern under Cho Hae-jin, who was attacking Lee Jae-myung.

Choi Min-hee's pro-Moon Jae-in and Lee Jae-myung activities can be analyzed as a strategic choice to secure a political position within the party, and the cooperative relationship with Representative Jung Chung-rae shares the common ground of being from the media and sharing progressive tendencies. Jung Chung-rae's broadcasting experience and public recognition, and Choi Min-hee's media movement career and organizational management skills combine to form a unique political influence within the Democratic Party. The alliance with Kim Eo-jun shows that Choi Min-hee's political influence has expanded to the media realm. Continuous appearances and exchanges through programs such as 'News Factory' have played a role in influencing public opinion within the progressive camp. It is evaluated that the background of being from the media movement and Kim Eo-jun's alternative media influence have combined to build a new media network that responds to existing mainstream media. The cooperative network connecting Jung Chung-rae and Kim Eo-jun provided Choi Min-hee with influence in two areas: party politics and public opinion formation, and while representing the views of the progressive faction within the party with Jung Chung-rae, it formed a structure that appealed to readers in the progressive camp through Kim Eo-jun. This is interpreted as a complex political strategy encompassing media influence beyond traditional political activities, but it is uncomfortable as it appears to be an attempt to control public opinion along with her daughter's preferential employment, which is clearly a source of contention, and I am not sure whether it is time for branch politics that go beyond her role.

The transition from a media democratization activist to the chairperson of a National Assembly standing committee signifies a shift in role from a watchdog of power to an exerciser of power, and her ability to respond to the media and utilize media is being used as a means of securing and maintaining political influence. Choi Min-hee's political journey can be seen as political growth through continuous change and adaptation, while the process of strengthening her position and reconstructing her political identity is interpreted as a strategy for achieving consistent political goals. The transformation of her career as a media activist into a political asset, and the establishment of a political network through strategic cooperation between Jung Chung-rae, Kim Eo-jun, and Choi Min-hee, is evaluated as a departure from the self-victory unique to Korean politicians, where recovery after frustration is transformed into a case of personal political survival and growing pains.

In particular, her strategic thinking and networking skills, as demonstrated in her political activities, are noteworthy. She successfully transferred human resources and organizational management experience accumulated in the media to the political arena, and secured influence in both party politics and public opinion formation through cooperation with key partners. Choi Min-hee's case can be analyzed as a specific example of how political influence is built and maintained in modern Korean politics.

In some ways, it was a successful reputation in its own right, but Choi Min-hee, or rather Choi Jeong-sim's politics, reached its limit when, ten days after the night of the insurrection, as chairman of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee plenary session, she proposed a request for personal protection in response to Kim Eo-jun's strange (?) tip-off. It wouldn't have been just one or two people who suddenly thought Kim Eo-jun's claim was bizarre. On the night of the martial law, Kim Eo-jun took refuge, and Lee Jae-myung went live and crossed the wall. Many members of the National Assembly crossed the wall, and there were 190 votes in favor. Choi Min-hee also participated in the approval, so why did Kim Eo-jun's tip-off drag Yang Jeong-cheol in ten days later, and why did Choi Min-hee overreact by proposing personal protection first in response to this strange tip-off?

Not content with shooting himself in the foot, he rushed to pass the Broadcasting Act, which tied Lee Jae-myung's hands and feet, and the Yellow Envelope Act was pushed to the back burner. This Broadcasting Act is aimed at reducing the president's direct appointment power, but rather than 'completely stripping the president of power,' it aims to reduce the political influence of the ruling party-centered political circles, which had a great influence on the appointment of public broadcasting presidents, and to improve the governance structure of public broadcasting in a way that strengthens independence. According to the passed bill, the president selects the final candidate, but the direct appointment power is significantly reduced. This makes Choi Min-hee's intention clear.

I feel sorry for Choi Min-hee, whose mental state seems to have exceeded the critical point after spending the hot summer with 'Ms. Lee Jin-sook,' who is claiming her legal term. However, the Broadcasting Act, a product of dictatorial politics, should have been fundamentally revised from the beginning. Regardless of state-run or public broadcasting, there are numerous tax-eating institutions that have glorified dictatorships since liberation. I wonder why those positions, where even Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye were desperate to plant their own people, had to be passed so diligently at the beginning of Lee Jae-myung's term. I'm worried that she might mentally deteriorate due to the heat and become a similar backdrop to Lee Jin-sook.

Everyone likes to perform well in their job, but a member of the National Assembly is a job for the people, not a job for personal success. The job of a member of the National Assembly of Korea, which cannot be said to be good because it has been around for a long time, made me realize once again through Choi Min-hee that it is urgent to switch to a volunteer position in many ways. When it comes to how women succeed in Korea, the women of the Choi Min-hee era should be re-examined. Lee Jin-sook, who would have been the last chairman of the Broadcasting and Communications Commission, was born in 1961, graduated from Kyungpook National University with a degree in English Education, and her success story at MBC shows that there is no need to ask how lacking in talent the broadcasting company is. The Korean broadcasting industry, which exists for regulation, oppression, and power, is the time to question its necessity in essence. Choi Young-mi, a poet of the same age, graduated from Sunil Girls' High School, Seoul National University with a degree in Western History, and Hongik University with a master's degree in Art History. She confronted the unfortunate era of liberation head-on by informing the world of the sexual harassment of Ko Eun, a giant in the literary world. Ko Eun's Japanese name was Takabayashi Torasuke (高林虎助). The era when names and surnames were changed at will has been completely forgotten, but this history is a remnant of Japanese imperialism.

Gong Ji-young, a novelist connected to Christianity, the student movement, and feminism, was born in 1965 and graduated from Yonsei University's English Literature Department. As an intellectual who writes, speaks, and acts, she struggled to understand life and politics by engaging with them physically. One should not dare to associate Gong Ji-young with today's degenerate radical feminists. Going back further in age, there is Yoon Suk-hwa, a theater actress born in 1956. She graduated from Ewha Girls' High School attached to Ewha Women's University, and the first half of her life was lived as an Ewha graduate, becoming the starting point of academic background MeToo. Choi Hwa-jeong, a broadcaster, was born in 1961 and said she graduated from Sungshin Women's University with the same academic forgery. There are rumors about people born in 1958 (Year of the Dog) and 1959. Han Bi-ya, born in 1958, graduated from Hongik University's English Literature Department under her former name, Han In-soon, and expanded her reach through international relief activities after studying in the United States. She once opened the door for Korean women to travel abroad, but it seems she did not bring happiness to many who were inspired by her book, as naive and innocent Korean women went out unprepared and became targets of rape.

It's pitiful to see how our women, born and raised in the chaos of the post-liberation era, struggled in this rotten country for success, survival, and learning, but truly talented women may be buried and silenced. It breaks my heart that they can only remain as negative examples for future generations, living only on a stage like an old, worn-out skirt, a stage that is not wide enough for Korean intellectual women, through the truly tortuous and miserable journey of our nation's life. Anyone can look back on themselves and their surroundings enough, even in the process of living as they are and filling their self-esteem. Politics may be a good world, but those who have experienced the suffering and distorted identity of Korean women's history would have been able to experience firsthand what this society needs most. The political participation of female writers in the 1980s may be the last struggle of the humanities in our time, and in a world where even one comrade is precious, I fear that no one in the next generation will be ashamed of their selfish desires in this world full of betrayal.

One of the prominent differences between Korea and Japan in historical records is whether or not names were changed. In Japan, whether it was a samurai, a monk, or a pirate or merchant sailing around Southeast Asia, changing names was basic. Whether it was the name they actually used or a rhetorical embellishment inserted for the recreation of Japanese history like a novel is unknown, but the changing of names in Japanese history is similar to the lives of Koreans today who do not cultivate their minds to become prettier but reshape their faces with plastic surgery. The core keywords that penetrate the psychology of changing both surname and given name at will are ‘transformation’ and ‘desire for power’. The legacy that the colony left to Korean women is the selfish desire to run only for themselves without looking around from the identity of living as a woman and as a mother, and their sighs and tears return as the sorrow of the whole world.