Some three million young people in Seoul and elsewhere around the country were burning with excitement the night Korea made it to the second round of the World Cup. There was something in the air when they hugged each other yelling ˇ°Koreaˇ± and when cars honked to the rhythm and when people yelled from the tops of cars roaming the streets, something that can not be explained by a passion for sports alone.
It was a beautiful sight to see those orderly waves of scarlet, and the sound of them all cheering for Korea gave you a thrilling sense of satisfaction. No one told them to gather like that, but their sudden assembly has already become the greatest street party in history.
In their faces you see happiness, joy, satisfaction, and a sense of being moved. They way they just let go with excitement makes you think about how Korean society and politics has been dry and uninspiring. There have not been space and festivals that give young people the room to have fun. Instead of work that excites them, they have been stuck with work that is annoying and weary. Instead of fun and invigoration, they have been suppressed by an atmosphere dominated by twisted and distorted events. In a negative society full of loud fabrications of public opinion and conspiracies that has nothing to do with real popular sentiment, the people have been frustrated and bored.
Young people put that whole atmosphere behind them and ran out into the streets. As seen in recent elections, political leadership is not inspiring the people and giving them reason to dream. The country's politicians and other leaders need to look at Korea's truest self, inherent in the scarlet passion and cheering. It's time to pools everyone's wisdom together to turn the explosive energy and strength and the mature civic consciousness into a driving force behind better fortunes for the country.
(June 16, 2002)
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