AUTHOR: JANICE LEUNG, FREQUENT CONTRIBUTOR, THE LONDON GLOBALIST

Around two weeks ago, South Korea exploded in what is probably the biggest political scandal of its democratic era. Park Geun-hye’s confidant Choi Soon-sil has been running a massive slush fund, as she extorted millions from Korea’s largest corporations, including Federation of Korean Industries members, Samsung and Hyundai. She has also been receiving confidential policy briefings, including those of economic and foreign policy, and draft presidential speeches. Whilst the level of corruption is significant, it’s nothing new for Koreans. It’s almost expected for leaders of the country to be neck deep in dirty money. Even the democratically elected presidents of Korea suffered from corruption charges. Lee Myung-bak, Park’s immediate predecessor, saw his older brother go to prison over bribery. Lee’s Four Rivers Project, which cost nearly $20bn, was widely seen as a massive graft project to push government funding to his supporters and cronies who were operating construction companies. So if Koreans are so used to such behavior from their leaders, why is the entire country so devastated and shocked with the revelation of Park’s behavior? If it’s not the scale of corruption, then what makes this case so different?

For some context, let’s look at a completely different country at a completely different time – Tsarist Russia. More specifically, the end of Tsarist Russia, 1912-15. Even more specifically, the infamous Grigori Rasputin. Rasputin was allegedly a member of a secret sect of the Russian Orthodox faith called the ‘hlysty’. They believed that the only way to reach God was through sinful actions. In 1903, the infant heir to the Tsarist throne, Alexei, was diagnosed with haemophilia. Tsarina Aleksandra lost faith in doctors and called upon Rasputin, then a cult celebrity in St. Petersburg’s aristocratic circles, to help Alexei. As a result, he gained Tsar Nicholas and Tsarina Aleksandra’s undivided support, with Nicholas trusting his advice unconditionally and Aleksandra allegedly being sexually involved with him. After 1911, his appointees filled several roles within high government, allowing him great influence over matters of state. This perceived weakness of the Tsar and Tsarina helped destroy general respect for them, and indirectly led to the downfall of Tsarist Russia.

Korea, apparently, had a Rasputin of its own – Choi Tae-min. Choi was a pseudo-Christian pastor, having set up a religious group called Yongsae-gyo (“Church of Eternity”) and declared himself a Maitreya (“Future Buddha”). He befriended Park soon after her mother was assassinated in 1974, telling her that her mother had appeared in his dreams, asking him to help her. You could only imagine how dependent Park, an isolated young woman who had just lost her mother, was on Choi. From then on, Park would defend Choi at every turn, even when her father President Park Chung-hee personally interrogated Choi on a level of corruption that even the dictator could not turn a blind eye to. So what does all this have to do with Park Geun-hye’s corruption scandal? Well, everything. One of Park’s selling points as the presidential candidate was that she was less likely to be corrupt because she had no family. Her parents were dead, and she was estranged from her siblings. But the lack of family did not stop her from being corrupt, because she apparently had to help Choi, a private citizen. Why? Because Choi Soon-sil is Choi Tae-min’s daughter. Choi Tae-min died in 1994, at which point Park’s confidence moved to Choi’s daughter, Choi Soon-sil. Park entered politics in 1997, winning her first election as an assemblywoman in 1998. She lost in the presidential primaries to Lee Myung-bak in 2007, but came back to win the nomination and eventually the presidency in 2012. Although Park’s relationship with the Choi family briefly became an issue during her two presidential runs, she dismissed them as baseless rumours, claiming that they were not involved in her works as a politician. As it turned out, Choi owned Park just as much as her father did. Peddling the presidential influence, Choi extorted tens of millions of dollars from Korea’s largest corporations. More importantly, Choi effectively controlled the presidential power – a private citizen, who had never held public office, had absolute access to all of South Korea’s secrets. Every day, Choi would receive a stack of policy briefs from the presidential residence. She would receive ultra-confidential information detailing secret meetings between South and North Korean military authorities. She would receive in advance the government budget proposals and distribute them to her friends’ projects. When all this came to light, the Korean people’s collective heads exploded. It takes quite a bit for Korean politics to shock the Korean people. They are not naïve; few believe South Korean democracy is completely democratic and free from private machinations. South Koreans may be the world’s most cynical consumers of politics- but this! Even the most cynical Koreans were not, could never have been, ready for this. And if this was true, who knows what else about the President, about the government, is also true? If Rasputin’s tale plays out in South Korea as it did in Tsarist Russia, I fear the worst for Korea’s hard-won democratic system. Whilst Rasputin brought the downfall of an autocratic state, Choi and Park may just have struck a lethal blow at people’s trust in government and the political parties.

Although Park’s relationship with the Choi family briefly became an issue during her two presidential runs, she dismissed them as baseless rumours, claiming that they were not involved in her works as a politician. As it turned out, Choi owned Park just as much as her father did. Peddling the presidential influence, Choi extorted tens of millions of dollars from Korea’s largest corporations. More importantly, Choi effectively controlled the presidential power – a private citizen, who had never held public office, had absolute access to all of South Korea’s secrets. Every day, Choi would receive a stack of policy briefs from the presidential residence. She would receive ultra-confidential information detailing secret meetings between South and North Korean military authorities. She would receive in advance the government budget proposals and distribute them to her friends’ projects. When all this came to light, the Korean people’s collective heads exploded. It takes quite a bit for Korean politics to shock the Korean people. They are not naïve; few believe South Korean democracy is completely democratic and free from private machinations. South Koreans may be the world’s most cynical consumers of politics- but this! Even the most cynical Koreans were not, could never have been, ready for this. And if this was true, who knows what else about the President, about the government, is also true? If Rasputin’s tale plays out in South Korea as it did in Tsarist Russia, I fear the worst for Korea’s hard-won democratic system. Whilst Rasputin brought the downfall of an autocratic state, Choi and Park may just have struck a lethal blow at people’s trust in government and the political parties.