Yoon on Politician Terror: "Democracy Can't Function Properly Rooted in Anti-Intellectualism"

President Yoon's New Year Special Interview

President Yoon Suk-yeol criticized the recent political violence, stating, "Democracy cannot function properly when anti-intellectualism and lies or fake news take root."

In a New Year's special interview with KBS aired that day, when the anchor asked, "The attacks on People Power Party lawmaker Bae Hyun-jin and Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung are not just simple political issues. President Yoon, what do you think went wrong to cause such phenomena?" he responded accordingly.

President Yoon first said, "This is not a problem of just a day or two. I see it as something accumulated over decades," adding, "Positive politics is very difficult. It is really hard to promote one's good deeds to gain public support, requiring a lot of effort and with limited effect, whereas it is quite easy to gain reflexive benefits by slandering and attacking others."

He continued, "Because politics of hatred and attack is much more effective and helps in gaining votes, hasn't it come to this? Moreover, with digital communication and the active use of social networking services (SNS), the physical conditions have also been established. It seems difficult to find a clear answer," he added.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

President Yoon particularly emphasized, "Lies, fake news, slander, and attacks are not only physical violence but stem from the underlying thought that the opponent must be subdued by any means, even through falsehoods, which leads to violence. It is truly regrettable that our culture has changed this way, and I believe this is an issue that all of us need to reflect on and reconsider."

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