[The Editors' Verdict] The Yoon Mihyang Case Must Not Become a 'Second Cho Kuk Incident'

The year 2019 is remembered by our people as a year of conflict. In early August last year, Cho Kuk, who served as the first presidential chief of civil affairs under the Moon Jae-in administration, was nominated as Minister of Justice, but allegations arose regarding his daughter's admission fraud and his wife Jung Kyung-shim, a professor at Dongyang University, related to private equity fund investments. The controversy over Cho's appointment escalated uncontrollably, dividing public opinion into two camps. After much debate, Cho resigned after 35 days, but the trial did not end.

This year, our people have demonstrated mature civic consciousness in response to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) situation, establishing themselves as a global model for quarantine. There was no room for the Cho Kuk controversy to interfere with overcoming COVID-19.

However, even before COVID-19 has ended, public sentiment is shaken as various allegations pour out surrounding Yoon Mi-hyang, a proportional representative elected member of the Democratic Party of Korea. Reports have surfaced about accounting fraud at the Justice and Memory Foundation (Jeonguiyeondae), where Yoon served as chairperson, personal misuse of government subsidies and donations, and various allegations related to the Anseong Shelter.

The United Future Party, which suffered a crushing defeat in the April 15 general election, is seizing this opportunity to attack the ruling party daily. The ruling party counters by calling it an "offensive by pro-Japanese forces." While it is problematic that the opposition party seeks to politically exploit Yoon's allegations, the ruling party's attempt to divide the issue into "pro-Japanese and anti-Japanese" camps is also undesirable. Regardless of left-right ideology or political color, many citizens currently have doubts about the various allegations against Yoon. The ruling party's claims sound like threats telling citizens harboring reasonable suspicion to keep silent if they do not want to be labeled as "pro-Japanese forces" or "native Japanese collaborators (tochakwaegu)."

The fact that the majority of citizens gave the ruling party 177 seats in the last general election was out of hope that they would work hard to overcome COVID-19. It was not a mandate to divide the people again or fall into factional logic. If the political sphere fails to resolve the current situation and only seeks to exploit it politically, the political situation may face a second Cho Kuk incident. We would return to last year, where truth was absent and only blind following and opposition existed. We clearly remember the enormous social costs we paid during last year's conflicts.

We do not have time to waste on internal conflicts. The whole world is now facing the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s due to COVID-19. It is uncertain when vaccines and treatments will be developed. Korea has responded relatively well so far, but it is not yet time to be complacent.

Especially as major export countries like the United States and Europe implement lockdowns and shutdowns, our economy is facing an unprecedented crisis. Domestic demand has frozen, and small self-employed business owners are struggling to survive day by day. Office workers at large corporations are equally anxious.

One fortunate aspect is that, unlike the U.S. and Europe, COVID-19 has not spread to a large-scale outbreak here, so the shock is relatively less. Many experts diagnose that now is a golden opportunity for our economy to advance to the next level. To turn this crisis into an opportunity, the will of the people must unite. If social conflicts are further escalated in this situation, we will only become the laughingstock of the world.

Now, with the plenary session on the 20th, the 20th National Assembly will effectively come to an end. On the 5th of next month, the 21st National Assembly will begin full-scale activities. President Moon Jae-in also enters his fourth year in office with the highest approval rating ever. We hope for politics of harmony and inclusion rather than conflict.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.