What does it truly mean to be conservative?

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What does it truly mean to be conservative?

Published: 03 Apr. 2025, 00:01

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Lee Sang-ryeol

The author is a senior editorial writer at the JoongAng Ilbo.

The Constitutional Court will deliver its ruling on the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday. Should the motion be upheld, it would mark the second time a conservative president has been removed from office. The conservative camp must confront a difficult question: Why do conservative presidents repeatedly find themselves on the brink of impeachment? Without an honest reckoning, conservatism in Korea has no future.

Conservatives often point to the relentless efforts of progressives to bring down right-leaning presidents. They are not entirely wrong. Yet blame-shifting alone is not enough. Much of the crisis has been self-inflicted. The political scandal that led to President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment was born within her own administration. Yoon’s current ordeal, too, stems from the controversial Dec. 3 martial law draft. His camp has decried the opposition's impeachment spree and legislative overreach, but martial law — no matter the justification — is an extreme measure unacceptable to most Koreans. The sustained 60-percent public support for impeachment over nearly three months, according to Gallup Korea, reflects that reality.

Perhaps the conservative bloc’s real crisis has yet to arrive. In late March, surveys showed support for regime change leading by nearly 20 percentage points over support for the status quo, 53 percent to 34 percent. Among moderates — those who often decide elections — the gap was even starker: 62 percent versus 24 percent.

President Yoon Suk Yeol, center, speaks on the results of the general election during a Cabinet meeting at the Yongsan presidential office in central Seoul on April 16, 2024. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

I recently met a retired bureaucrat who proudly identified themselves as a “dyed-in-the-wool freedom-loving conservative.” He was buoyed by the growing presence of young people at rallies in Gwanghwamun and Yeouido. Yet he dismissed as unreliable the polling that showed overwhelming support for regime change among people in their 20s and 30s, 47 to 28 percent and 55 to 23 percent, respectively.

It’s not hard to imagine the future of a conservative movement abandoned by both moderates and the younger generation. How did it come to this?

Despite the trauma of Park Geun-hye’s downfall, the conservative camp still failed to internalize the core democratic principle of sovereignty residing with the people. Yoon may well be remembered as the leader least willing to engage in dialogue or compromise with his political opponents. Martial law is not a tool to break political deadlock — it is a last resort in times of existential national crisis. The notion of “warning martial law” is a dangerous absurdity in any democratic society.

Responsibility is a defining virtue of true conservatism — the willingness to bear the burden for what must be protected, to make sacrifices when called upon and to reject cowardice. A genuine conservative detests moral hazard and embraces the ideal of noblesse oblige.

Yet Yoon’s administration has shown a stark aversion to accountability. Not a single high-ranking official took responsibility for the Itaewon disaster that claimed the lives of 159 young people. In the case of the tragic death of a young Marine, the administration seemed more preoccupied with shielding itself than revealing the truth. A week after the Itaewon tragedy, President Yoon remarked, “Responsibility should be assigned only to those who actually have it. Asking everyone to take responsibility is unrealistic in a modern society.” He then proceeded to protect his close aides, including Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min.

When the government abruptly pushed through a 2,000-seat increase in medical school admissions, the resulting chaos pushed Korea’s health care system to the brink. No one stepped down. Only patients and the public suffered.

It is no surprise, then, that the ruling party suffered a crushing defeat in the April 10 general election, which served as a de facto midterm judgment on Yoon’s presidency. Yet most of the president’s senior aides retained their posts. Neither the prime minister nor cabinet ministers were replaced. Even after a catastrophic plane crash late last year that killed 179 passengers, the transportation minister offered his resignation — only to remain in office.

Supporters of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol hold a ceremony marking the launch of a so-called public defense team at Cheonggye Plaza in central Seoul on Feb. 13. [NEWS1]

Under President Yoon, high-level officials have rarely faced consequences, even when serious lapses occur. As long as one did not cross the president, job security seemed assured. The honor and sense of duty that once defined public service have been hollowed out. No wonder morale within the civil service is at an all-time low. The Dec. 3 martial law debacle capped it all. Despite plunging the nation into months of political turmoil, neither the president who initiated it nor the ruling party that failed to stop it has taken responsibility.

This administration calls itself conservative, but it has been anything but. That is why the public has turned away. History now poses a question to Korea’s conservatives: What does it truly mean to be conservative?

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.