Korean Politics after Death of Roh

On the front page of today's daily paper we have a picture of President Obama walking hand in hand with Nancy Reagan the wife of past President Ronald Reagan. The caption on top: "Their Government and Our Government". This is something they would not ordinarily see in Korea: the present administration and the opposition hand in hand. Many of the Koreans do have a very idealized picture of the kind of government we have in the States.

The scenes they do see on Korean TV are fist fights, emotional outbursts, and the brawling during the sessions. After the death of past President Roh, the feeling of many is that the suicide of Roh was brought about by the unfair dealing with the opposition. This is fueling the antagonism that was there but taking it to another level.

There are many of the opposition who are coming out with statements against the present government's approach to our democracy. Many in the universities are coming together to oppose the way the government is dealing with many of the liberties that the citizens have gained over the years.

There are many in our Korean society who disagree strongly in the way he chose to end his life but sympathize greatly with what he tried to do.There are many Catholic in this number who have been very much for President Roh and felt that he was trying to do something to minimize the gap between the rich and the poor. Fr. Pak the executive officer of the Committee for Life in Seoul said ... "We should respect his desire to make a society that would respect the poor."

The difference between the "conservative" and "liberals" here in Korea on social issues would be very similar to those in the States. For many Roh was the American Obama.

Catholic Teaching on Dying

In a recent decision by the Supreme Court in Korea the doctors treating a comatose woman were told that the life support must be removed as her family requested. This is the first time the court has ruled in favor of a patient's right to die. This decision by the court can be interpreted in many different ways but it did not judge for euthanasia which is the way some are taking it.

The Church in a case where there is no hope of a person in a vegetative state trusts the decision of the medical team who are the specialist to make a conscientious judgment on the continuation of medical treatment.

According to an article in the Catholic paper this week the Church is now concerned with the different words that are being used with different meanings by many in our Korean society. The Catechism of the Church says:“Discontinuing medical procedures that are burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary, or disproportionate to the expected outcome can be legitimate; it is the refusal of “over-zealous” treatment. Here one does not will to cause death; one’s inability to impede it is merely accepted.”

The problem comes when the words that are used have different meanings. “Death with dignity” , “Prolonging life”, “Life with no meaning”,” Passive Euthanasia”, These are words that do not mean the same to everybody. We have a problem with terminology. The Church’s thinking in this area goes back 500 years it is surprising how even within the Church there is not always the same understanding of the terms.

"If morality requires respect for the life of the body, it does not make it an absolute value. It rejects a neo-pagan notion that tends to promote the cult of the body, to sacrifice everything for its sake. (Catechism)

In Catholic Teaching it is very clear that no one is required to continue medical treatment that has no prospects of improving ones health.