[Opinion] Politics of Life

It was the 1960s when the term `end of ideologies` first emerged. At that time, the world was divided by two cold-war ideologies. Some predicted the rise of the Proletariat class, and others criticized the new theory as opium of intellectuals. The end of ideologies, therefore, seemed most unlikely to happen. Through the 1980s, however, things began to change dramatically. Watching such major events as collapse of Berlin Wall, dissolution of the Soviet Union and Chinese socialism, the world entered a new era of politics of life instead of ideologies.

Yet, here in the Korean Peninsula, ideologies still continue to prevail. It seems as if this part of the world goes against the global political trends. In North Korea, slogans carrying ideological messages abound. South Korea is little different. While saying that it is time for politics to go beyond the rightist-leftist confrontation, the conflicts of ideologies still prevail. Some members of Hanchongryon, a progressive college student council, broke into the training camp of U.S. soldiers a few days ago, showing that this country is still caught in the 1980s` politics of ideologies. It is a tragedy that the society sticks to the ideological confrontation despite the ongoing reconciliatory efforts.

An ideology is expectations for the future as well as a way of thinking. History of the world, however, has proved that politics serving ideologies turn humans into salves of their own thinking. This is why it is important to deal with imminent issues. Both the rightist propensity for stability and the leftist efforts for change can be meaningful only when they are based on sense of reality. Politics of life today blurs the line between allies and enemies. Joining forces for open politics has become a major global trend. And this country is refusing to adopt the global politics.

It is sorry that there are still people chanting such slogans as `free the people` in this country, which paid costly prices such as division and a war due to ideological confrontation. They only further divide the people and pose as an obstacle to development of the country. It seems that they view the country and the people as two different subjects. They are not entitled to talk about the people since they only see groups sharing their ideology as their compatriots. To adopt politics of life, we need to get out of the cold-war confrontational ideology to become more open and accommodating. Making such efforts will become a challenging task for the country as a whole.

Jin Deok-gyu, Guest Writer, Professor at Ewha Womans University, dkjin@ewha.ac.kr

Song Moon-hong, Editorial Writer, songmh@donga.com