The Guardian is reporting that "Moon Jae-in, a left-leaning liberal who favours engagement with North Korea, has won South Korea’s presidential election, raising hopes of a potential rapprochement with Pyongyang. The former human rights lawyer won 41.4% of the vote, according to an exit poll cited by the Yonhap news agency, placing him comfortably ahead of his nearest rivals, the centrist software entrepreneur Ahn Cheol-soo and the conservative hardliner Hong Joon-pyo, both of whom have conceded defeat.
South Koreans who backed Moon, 64, will be hoping the election result will mark a clean break from the corruption scandal surrounding his disgraced predecessor Park Geun-hye. Hours before polls closed, the national election commission forecast that turnout would exceed 80% – the highest since Kim Dae-jung was elected in 1997."
So we have just witnessed a wonderful example of democracy in action within South Korea. There were massive peaceful protests in South Korea where the people demanded the president resign over corruption allegations. He resigned and they had an election to vote for a new president. That is a perfect example of democracy. In contrast, that would never have happened in North Korea or in China. In Tiananmen square when people protested for democracy the Communist government dispersed the crowd with live ammunition.
North Korea calls itself the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. That isn't even a bad joke. It is a bold faced lie North Korea is not a democracy or a free republic. It is a totalitarian dictatorship. There is no voting for leaders, there is no free speech, there is no lawful assembly. There is no civl liberty. No protection from unlawful arrest. Those rights do not exist in North Korea or Communist China. Communism is bad. History had recorded that.
North Korea says it will have dialog with U.S. under right conditions
Spotlight on the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea
So, of those who actually bothered to vote, 60% voted against this guy and yet, just like in Canada, he gets to be the de facto government head ...
ReplyDeleteIt was a 59.9% voter turnout (according to the National Election Commission (NEC)). Therefore another 40% of the population (voting age and registered to vote) did not vote for this man.
60% turnout is a lot less that 80% but it's still more than us. We rarely get over 50% voter turnout. The massive demonstrations calling for the previous president to step down would imply a lot of people were concerned about their political situation. Here, not nearly as much. People here like to complain but generally speaking are much less likely to anything about it.
DeleteI agree about the people in Canada (and the West in general) not doing enough to help keep the powers that be accountable. (They have been conditioned over the decades to merely watch television, listen to mindless music, play video games, engage in social media and other pressure relief valves - not to mention social guilt and stigma for actually standing up for what is right (i.e. the case of the Pro-Life flag in Ontario)).
DeleteIf the governments of the West really cared for "democracy" they would require all citizens to vote and they would ensure all citizens have fair say in voting for legislation after an unbiased presentation of the issue. That is democracy - we do not have democracy, despite what the governments in the West may try to claim.
Athens had democracy - not without its problems (just ask Socrates who was martyred in Athens (the citizens voted on trials and death penalties - that's democracy!) because he refused to sacrifice to the false gods of the Greek mythos (remember how he used pure logic and reason to determine there was only one God).
At least in the USA they, sometimes, admit they have a republic, not a democracy, but in the very same breath will go on and on about the (I would posit mostly false!) democracy of their country.
You should read about the political alternative of Distributism, as put forth by Hillaire Belloc and G.K. Chesterton (http://www.crisismagazine.com/2014/distributism-understanding-controversial-alternative-socialism-plutocracy). I think you would agree with much, if not all, of it.
As for communism being "bad", it is downright evil! History has also recorded that (and some good friends in Turkey have made an amazing documentary about the 'Bloody History of Communism' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GE8Cznl58s) that exposes how truly evil and divisive socialism is.
The last provincial election approx. 51% of British Columbians voted, this election approx. 53%.
ReplyDeleteWhat is interesting is the large number of protestors who come out in Japan and Korea when they are unhappy. If Canadians did the same, things might be different.
The new President of South Korea may now be on a collision course with Trump. Moon is more interested in negotiating with the north, while Trump wants to shot it up. of course the war won't be held on American soil, so I'm sure the Americans will forgive the Koreans if they aren't interested in turning their country into another Syria. they've been there, done it and don't want to do it again.
Trump has already said he wants S.Korea to pay for the latest hard ware, the American Generals said, no it was a freebie. it will be funny if Trump wants payment and Moon tell trump come and get the hard ware out of here. Another fun thing to watch. Can hardly wait for the pictures to come back from his visit to Saudi.
I have to check and confirm but I saw an article in the Vancouver Province the other day that claimed our last election had a 60% turnout which would be a huge leap forward for us.
DeleteElections B.C. the official election result site will have accurate information also. I don't trust much of anything the Vancouver Sun writes. Post Media owns it and they support the right wing, my humble opinion.
ReplyDelete[img]http://fsspx.news/sites/sspx/files/styles/dici_image_full_width/public/news/moonjae-ina_la_messe.jpg?itok=wsbViFTU[/img]
ReplyDeleteLooks like a very good development for the new President of Korea:
South Korea: A Catholic Head of State for the Land of the Morning Calm
The new South Korean president has just been sworn in: an open Catholic, devoted to the Blessed Virgin, Moon Jae-in began his mandate with an unusual move in the eyes of a secular society: he had the presidential residence blessed by his parish priest.
Moon Jae-in is the name of the new president of South Korea, who just won the election with more than 41% of the votes. The new head of state happens to be Catholic and proud of it: sworn in on May 10, he announced the day after his election that he wanted his new presidential apartments blessed on May 13, on the anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady of Fatima.
The Blue House is the name of the official residence of the President of the Republic. The building also houses the offices of the Presidency and it is where heads of state who visit Korea are received. To bless the residence, President Moon simply called his parish priest from the church of the Most Blessed Trinity, in the Hongje-dong neighborhood, in the northwest of Seoul.
The priest in question, Fr. Paolo Ryu Jong-Man, welcomed the invitation and went to the Blue House on May 13. During the solemn blessing, the priest, who was accompanied by some religious, imposed his hands on the President and his wife, praying that he might be “wise as King Solomon”. He then declared: “Before making any decision regarding the State, pray to the Holy Ghost. He will come down upon you and give you His light and His strength.”
Fr. Paolo Ryu Jong-Man presents President Moon, whom he knows very well, as “a very humble, open, and pious man”. President Moon, added the priest, always wears a rosary ring on his left ring finger as a sign of his devotion to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary.
No doubt the new president will count on the intercession of the Queen of Heaven in the different challenges he will have to face both internally, with the worrisome slow-down in growth, and externally, with his North Korean neighbors that are as aggressive as they are unpredictable, and where Communism continues to wreak its havoc.
That sounds awesome. No disrespect to the Protestants but sometimes the born agains can get a bit weird. This new president does sound stable. Exactly what the country needs right now.
Delete