On Nov. 20th, I went to the Chungcheongbuk-do Provincial Office where a candlelight rally was held. The rally was in a festive mood: I saw citizens¡¯ free speeches, which promoted people¡¯s participation, and heard some songs flowing, like ¡®Haya-song(Haya means resignation).¡¯ The most interesting thing was that everyone was marching through the streets and singing together. At that time, I didn¡¯t know the name of the song, but I remember its lyrics clearly: ¡®Korea is a democratic republic. All power comes from the people of the Republic of Korea.¡¯
Its lyrics are from the Korean constitution. Paragraph 1 of Article 1 of the constitution says that Korea is a democratic republic, and paragraph 2 of the constitution says that all power comes from the citizens of the Republic of Korea. All citizens have power and sovereignty to vote for their leaders.
When I was young, I learned that with great power comes great responsibility. However, I didn¡¯t learn about how citizens take responsibility for the results they made by voting. When I merely learned was that voting is the citizens¡¯ power and right. I now think that ¡®the moment when citizens should take responsibility may come.¡¯
Nevertheless, people take responsibility in their own ways. ¡®I am so sorry for voting for her,¡¯ some citizens declaim in front of the crowd during speech time. They say that the leader whom they have voted for diminished the country and that they made young peoples¡¯ lives hard as a result of their choice. Recently, many Korean citizens have gone to Gwanghwamun Square with candles, and they are yelling out for the president to resign. The president who was elected by our votes hasn¡¯t governed Korea, but another person has governed our country. The shadowy person controlled most things that have happened in Korea, and the president, who promised to cooperate with the prosecution¡¯s investigation with her utmost sincerity, is asking us what is wrong.
Citizens have taken responsibility for the erroneous results because we have learned from past mistakes that we should do so. Therefore, it is time for the president, who has yielded absolute power to a mysterious person, to take the responsibility.