President Lee Busy Alone? … A Government That Functions Fine Even Without a Prime Minister for Five Days

[Choice Times=Joo-hyun Park, CEO of Jae-Dam Entertainment] 

Looking at President Lee Jae-myung’s recent remarks, one common thread stands out. He often says things like he can’t sleep at night, that things are moving too slowly and it’s frustrating—in short, he repeatedly emphasizes how extremely busy he is.

Of course, judging by the tweets and retweets he posts, it’s hard to believe anyone other than his hardcore supporters would take this at face value. Still, it raises a half-speculative suspicion: is the public administration actually functioning properly?

Even though Prime Minister Kim Min-seok was absent for five days, acting as the chief mourner, not a single error appeared in this massive government apparatus. If a “core component” is missing and yet the machine runs perfectly? That doesn’t make sense. It would mean the machine wasn’t really running in the first place. If no one is doing any real work, then of course no one’s absence would be noticeable.

The political appointees will probably risk their lives to show loyalty. Their fate is to vanish the moment their “host” disappears. Without a life jacket, they would insist that excrement is soybean paste and say, “The flavor is very rich,” while eagerly joining in. This isn’t loyalty so much as a survival instinct.

The real issue is the career civil servants—the ones who are supposed to be the hands and feet of the system.

If I were one of them, how would I feel? Career officials have experience; once they run the numbers, the answer is obvious. To them, you are merely “temporary tenants” who will stay for five years—perhaps even less. If a tenant shouts about tearing down a wall, would any career official demolish a perfectly sound load-bearing wall? When that wall collapses and someone goes to prison, it won’t be the tenant—it will be them.

On the surface, they may bow ninety degrees and pretend to be loyal. But once they turn around, wouldn’t they mutter “Here we go again,” put in their earphones, and tune out? To them, President Lee’s instructions may feel less like work and more like an unskippable YouTube advertisement—something you just blankly wait to end.

If I were a career bureaucrat, I’d put on a hard hat and crouch somewhere inconspicuous. The reason is obvious. The Democratic Party has shown all too clearly what kind of humiliation awaits those who pledge loyalty to a regime once that regime falls.

#GovernmentDysfunction #BureaucraticReality #PowerAndLoyalty