In March 2022, South Korea's general election ended, and Yoon Seok-wook, a prosecutor by training, became South Korea's new president.
As soon as the president took office, he thanked his constituents while applying to the South Korean government to move the presidential palace from the Blue House.
More than half a century after the founding of South Korea, more than half of the 12 presidents have not had a good ending, either in prison or tragically.
Among them, the most tragic death was the 3rd president Park Chung-hee, who was shot in the head at the banquet by his trusted men; the most humiliating death was the 9th president Roh Moo-hyun, who was slandered by the chaebols after he stepped down and was forced to jump off a cliff to commit suicide.
The death of South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun is controversial in South Korean politics, and the "grassroots president" was once considered the hope of the bottom of South Korea, and South Koreans once called him a "gentleman politician", but was eventually forced to commit suicide.
After his death, Moon, who was his best friend, aspired to avenge him.
Later, Moon spent 10 years climbing to the throne of South Korea's president and personally throwing his enemy who killed his friend, Lee Myung-bak, the spokesman of the chaebol, into prison.
The friendship between Moon Jae-in and Roh Moo-hyun is talked about by Koreans, and Moon's revenge story is even forwarded by domestic netizens as a "cool text", living out of a modern version of "lying down and tasting guts".
So, what kind of person is Moon Jae-in? What is his relationship with Roh Moo-hyun, and why are he willing to spend 10 years to avenge his friends? After Moon became president, how did he clean up Lee Myung-bak?
First, Moon Jae-in, the rebirth of a "defector"
In December 1950, the Chinese Volunteer Army launched the "Second Campaign" in northern Korea, known in the West as the "Battle of Cheongchang".
The campaign drove the U.S. army and the South Korean puppet army out of northern Korea, especially in the northeast of Chosin Lake, and the U.S. 10th Army was surrounded and blocked by the volunteer army, and finally gave up its weight and fled to the port of Hingnam.
The U.S. military had planned to board ships at Xingnan Port, Wonsan Port, and Chengjian Port to go south, but instead encountered tens of thousands of North Korean refugees in the local area.
With 100,000 U.S. troops, it was difficult to retreat with refugees, but in the end Truman signed an order that the U.S. troops must take the North Koreans south, which is known as the "Heungnam Retreat."
Among the refugees who went south were Moon Jae-in's father, Moon Yong-hyun, and mother, Jiang Hanyu. The Southbound North Koreans took a boat to the Busan area and were installed on the Korean island of Geoje.
In 1953, in a refugee camp, Moon was born.
Moon grew up in the era of poverty after the end of the Korean War, when the lives of ordinary South Koreans were very difficult, and these "North Korean" refugees who went south were even more in the water.
Moon's father worked odd jobs in the local area, his mother grew vegetables and raised chickens, and exchanged some living expenses in the market, and the family often worried about eating.
As the eldest son in the family, Moon Jae-in earned money by working odd jobs while going to school, selling briquettes, working as a porter, and occasionally going to church on weekends to eat miscellaneous meals.
Because of the long-term struggle at the bottom, Moon Jae-in is very dissatisfied with the inequality of rich and poor in South Korea, which leads to his adolescence to be a little rich-hating and anti-social, and he is a well-known problem teenager.
Moon Jae-in, who now looks very polite, likes to fight, drink, and engage in clubs in middle school, and was once expelled from school for organizing student parades.
In high school, Moon studied hard under the supervision of his parents, and in 1972, he was admitted to Kyung Hee University to study law.
But Moon remains the same as a teenager and remains restless in college, taking part in repeated demonstrations against dictator Park Chung-hee.
In 1975, a junior, Moon Jae-in was arrested by South Korean police during a demonstration and subsequently indicted as a reactionary and imprisoned for six months.
Around the world, universities could not accept criminal offenders, so Kyung Hee University expelled Moon Jae-in, and the young Moon Jae-in became a social wanderer.
After months of prison meals, Moon Jae-in, who was confused about the future, received a military service notice and chose to join the Army as a member of the "South Korean Air Loss Unit".
Defending Chinese criminals, Moon jae-in is willing to become an enemy of the state
South Korea's "air-lost troops" are what we call "airborne troops," the elite of the military, often breaking into enemy lines to fight, nine dead.
At that time, South Korea and North Korea had constant friction, and the airborne troops were very dangerous, so the South Korean government looked for all kinds of people who were dissatisfied with the government or defectors to join the army.
Despite the arduous training and high dangers of the air-lost troops, Moon enjoyed it.
During the 1976 military demarcation line conflict, Moon's unit exchanged fire with North Korean forces, and he himself received troop commendations after the battle.
When Moon was retired from the military in 1978, when Park Chung-hee was still in power, South Korea's civilian democracy movement was in full swing, and young people were discussing politics and law.
Although Moon was expelled from the university law department, he still aspired to enter the legal profession and advocate justice for the people at the bottom.
In 1979, Moon passed the first round of the judicial examination, and in 1980, he passed the second round and obtained a legal qualification certificate.
After that, he traveled to various places in South Korea to find a place where he could realize his ambitions, and finally he came to Busan, South Korea, and found roh Moo-hyun, a famous lawyer.
Therefore, Moon Jae-in and Roh Moo-hyun met late, and both respected each other's personality and knowledge, and Moon Jae-in's little Roh Moo-hyun was 6 years old, so he called Lu the eldest brother.
Since they met, Wen and Wu have often been inseparable, and the two have worked together and traveled together, and this life has lasted for nearly 10 years.
In the 1980s, Roh moo-hyun decided to enter politics and became a South Korean lawmaker in 1988, while Moon remained at the law firm to continue the lawsuit.
In 1996, Moon jae-in was involved in the "Sino-South Korean Fishing Wheel Vendetta" case that shocked East Asia, in which seven South Korean crew members and four Indonesian crew members were killed by six Ethnic Chinese Korean crew members.
However, after investigation, these Chinese sailors have long been discriminated against and even abused by South Koreans, and finally they were forced to kill people in order to survive.
Mr. Moon defended the Chinese crew and eventually changed the sentences of six men from death to indefinite sentences, a move that made him controversial at home and instantly famous in East Asia.
But Moon doesn't care about the doubts people have about him, he believes that as long as it is a just cause, it is worth paying for himself, and his good friend Roh Moo-hyun also supports his approach.
By this time, Roh Moo-hyun had become a political celebrity, working hard to become the president of South Korea, and as his comrade-in-arms, Moon Jae-in did not join Roh Moo-hyun's ranks, but also supported him behind his back.
In 2002, when South Korea began a general election, Roh Moo-hyun successfully defeated a chaebol spokesman to become president, and he approached Moon Jae-in to become his secretary.
Moon felt that his personality was not suitable for the government, but he still stubbornly worked hard for a year before resigning.
Third, it is not too late for a gentleman to take revenge for ten years, and Lee Myung-bak received 17 years of imprisonment
Roh Moo-hyun himself came to power by defeating chaebol spokesmans, and after he came to power, he also actively promoted economic reforms, improved South Korea's mega-enterprises, opened up equity, and strengthened audits of large enterprises to prevent them from evading taxes.
This is tantamount to seizing power and wealth from the hands of the chaebols, and Roh Moo-hyun is tantamount to offending the rich people of South Korea.
In 2004, Roh Moo-hyun was in power a year after he came to power, his brother was suspected of accepting bribes, and those who paid bribes to him committed suicide, which led opposition parties to suspect that the president's family had killed people, and Roh Moo-hyun was impeached.
Roh Moo-hyun had difficulties, and Moon Jae-in, who was on vacation abroad, immediately returned to China to serve as Roh Moo-hyun's defense lawyer and help Roh Moo-hyun tide over the difficulties.
Roh Moo-hyun survived the impeachment without any chance, finally completing his five-year term and stepping down in 2008.
In 2009, the new president, Lee Myung-bak, launched an investigation into Roh Moo-hyun's bribery case, and his wife and brother became the subjects of the investigation.
On May 23, 2009, Roh Moo-hyun went for a walk with his bodyguards and committed suicide by jumping off a cliff on the back hill of his home.
Roh Moo-hyun proves his innocence by dying, but Moon Isje-in is so saddened by the news that he presides over the funeral of his eldest brother and secretly vows to avenge his elder brother at his grave.
So, two years after Mr. Roh's death, his aides persuaded Moon to enter politics, after all, to become president in order to avenge his eldest brother.
In 2012, Moon ran for president of South Korea, but was defeated by Park Geun-hye because the right-wing forces were too strong.
But Moon did not give up, and he continued to work in both political and legal circles, actively collecting evidence of park and Lee Myung-bak's crimes.
According to South Korean media reports, Park Geun-hye's later "cronies" have a lot of left-wing political parties behind them. From collecting information, to setting off media discussions, and finally initiating impeachment, Moon Jae-in and his colleagues have contributed to the wave.
In 2017, Moon Jae-in waited for the opportunity, Park Geun-hye stepped down because of the "Crony Gate" incident, South Korea held an early general election, and Moon Jae-in was elected president with a high vote.
As soon as he took office, Moon announced the launching of an investigation into the corruption of former President Lee Myung-bak.
The investigation, which targeted Lee Myung-bak and his subordinates for abusing their powers, accepting bribes, and even selling official titles, was more than 200 pages long, twice as long as Park Geun-hye's investigation report.
Since then, Lee Myung-bak has been quickly arrested by prosecutors and put on trial on May 23, 2018, the day of Mr. Roh's death.
Lee Myung-bak told the media after the trial: "This is a revenge, it is Moon Jae-in's revenge for Roh Moo-hyun's death. ”
Moon jae-in is not hiding his revenge, and after Mr. Lee was sentenced to 17 years in prison in 2020, he opened the knife to the giant Samsung Group behind Mr. Lee.
Soon after, Moon arrested Lee Jae-yong, the head of Samsung, and sent him to prison for bribery.
In May 2020, Samsung President Lee Kin Hee even had to apologize to the whole country, saying that he would hand over the company to the society and the people, rather than the children of indisputable anger.
From the death of his eldest brother Roh Moo-hyun in 2009 to the imprisonment of his enemies in 2020, Moon has completed his revenge in 10 years.
Without amnesty, Lee myung-bak will spend the rest of his life in a cell, and chaebols such as Samsung will be forced to restrain themselves under political and civilian pressure.
Moon Jae-in, who is nearly 70 years old, staged a revenge drama in 10 years, saying Chinese that "soldiers die for confidants", and the pair of confidants Wen and Wu can be called liver and gallbladder, which is particularly dazzling in the "dark" Korean political arena.
Text/Shogakuno
Resources:
1. "Roh Moo-hyun: The Tragic "Grassroots President"", Huang Liying, Wang Gang
2. Will Moon Jae-in pardon Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak? Zhan Xiaohong