President, you may regret not reading this

This is the seventh in a series of suggestions for new President Moon Jae-in. — ED.

Seeing the flood of open letters to President Moon Jae-in reminded me of a few years ago when a flood of open letters were directed at former President Park Geun-hye. She received advice from so many sides that she must not have known which way to turn, like the main character in “The Marriage of Figaro” (“The Day of Madness”). It turns out she turned the wrong direction, ending up in jail.

After Park was elected, I wrote an open letter to the open letter writers, advising them to focus on what they can do rather than telling Park what she should do. As I wrote in early 2013: “My first reason for this is that by the time 2018 rolls around, many South Koreans will be happy to see Park on her way home or behind bars.”

I was wrong about how soon Park would be ejected from the presidency. Friends are surprised by my prediction, inviting to take me to the casino or horse-races, but long-timers in Korea certainly know South Koreans hated the dictators who rigged elections and hate the leaders they elect in democratic elections.

Based on South Korean history, there is little reason to be optimistic that President Moon’s term will meet the expectations of his supporters. But could his administration be as damaging as his critics charge?

“The Defectors’ Collective Asylum Promotion Committee,” supposedly composed of 3,000 refugees in South Korea, threatened to leave the country rather than endure living under President Moon.

Now that Moon has won, perhaps they will find a way to quietly remain, like Hollywood actors and celebrities who threatened to leave if President Trump won.

I’m happy the refugees now have the freedom to have their voices heard as part of the political process.

They need to realize, however, that this is a democracy, with all of its flaws. Elections are held — sometimes your candidate wins, sometimes your candidate loses, or there is no candidate for you — and in many cases, you are so busy with your own life that you don’t really care which punching bag has been elected to office.

We don’t have to put our lives on hold with “all-or-nothing,” “win-or-leave” ultimatums. But could it be different for those defectors? Are they a special case? They said they were “losing sleep” over the prospects of a Moon presidency.

They make a strong case that Moon may harm them, that this is not just any president or change of power. They cite the Roh Moo-hyun administration, of which Moon was a part, even repatriating 22 North Koreans back to North Korea in 2008.

Leaving is always an option, but with democracy, just wait one or two election cycles. The party in power will eventually disgrace itself, there will be the usual calls for “new ideas,” “fresh faces,” and “new leadership” or new diverse leaders (female, minority or young). That new leadership will also fail, regardless of the advice from a flood of open letters.

Three thousand refugees organized for or against a certain cause sounds like an incredibly strong political constituency. Can they remain united beyond Moon being elected? Will they really leave?

Those 3,000 refugees could educate the public about Moon’s actions, track his every move and encourage civil society to counter his policies.

In North Korea, dissenters are executed, quickly. In South Korea, they can set up their own podcasts and websites or, as in this case, publicly threaten to leave the country.

Casey Lartigue Jr. is the co-founder of the Teach North Korean Refugees Global Education Center (TNKR) in Seoul. He can be reached atCJL@post.harvard.edu.