총 32페이지

Owl of
News Desk
Societal Anxiety Sneaks
in on You
ByJeonSeong-jin
EditorialConsultant
S
ummer was hot this year like it always is. The atmosphere of the Korean political community endured a
similar situation. The National Assembly and its members passed a motion to issue an arrest warrant in
the investigation of Assembly member, Lee Seok-ki, who had also been previously arrested on a charge of
violatingtheNationalSecurityLaw.
ConsideringthesituationthattheKoreanpeninsulaisdividedintotwopartsunderaceasefire,ideologicalissues
still possess a very significant effect on the Korean society. The Republic of Korea is one of the leading countries
where citizens deserve to be called guardians of the peace; however, life continues on in the country as well. The
accusedmemberoftheNationalAssemblywassupposedtorepresenttheopinionsofhisconstituentsasaleaderof
society,unfortunatelyheseemedtofocusmoreonvaluingtheopinionsoftheopposingside.
People naturally cannot help being disappointed by a sense of betrayal caused by the societal leaders’ untruthful
attitude and fall from grace. This is not just a recent issue. Plenty of similar historic incidents have occurred, and
new ideological proposals have also arisen in societies, applied to the masses, and are studied by philosophers.
Notlongago,inthe19thcentury,existentialphilosophyemergedagainstpositivism,whichdeniesepistemological
existence. This philosophical trend suggested a Copernican revolution and emphasized a focus on an individual’s
internal state such as feelings of anxiety, fear, nervousness, etc. During those times, people usually could not but
worryabouttheirsurvival,protectingthemselvesfromwar,socialsystemsoranysortofthreat.Asimilarcasecan
beseenwithliterature.Certainly,literatureandgreatwritersaredirectlyconnectedtotheeraorsituationinwhich
theauthorswereliving.
Now that people exist in the 21st century, time moves on. It is true that the people of Korea are living in a
democratic society and are protected from any foreign threatening gesture. This time, however, it happened inside
of the country and has left people with a certain negative state of mind. People are feeling the same anxiety, fear,
and nervousness that was predominantly famous in the 19th century. Then why do people still flounder in the old
emotions?Thisarticlewouldliketostressthatitis‘SocialAnxiety’whichmakesyoufeelthatway.Ifitissaidthat
the people in the past felt mental fear, then societal anxiety can be a factor that gives people depressed emotions.
Furthermore,societybecomesanotherreasoncitizensfeelfear.
The Assembly member who was arrested will be investigated and punished if he indeed committed something
which is wrong from a Korean perspective. Some might declare what is right and wrong, however, valuing an
opposing country’s perspective is a clear threat to the citizens in the home nation. The suspicious figure of the
member and his behavior was not only a violation of the Korean armistice, but also it makes social members feel
anxietyagaininanewway.Contemporarysocietalanxietywillcontinueunlessthecountry’sleadinggrouphasa
highlevelofmoralstandards.Lastly,weallneedtoagainconsiderwhereonearththisanxietyiscomingfrom.
richard@hufs.ac.kr
25
OCTOBER 2013

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