Hypocritical behavior
We Koreans often use “nae-ro nam-bul,” an expression certain to make non-Korean speakers tilt their heads and question: “What does this mean?”
It is a coined Korean term (with an English word inserted), a four-syllable abbreviation from “naega hamyeon, ‘romance’; nami hamyeon, bullyun.” In short, it means: “If I love someone, it is a romance; but if others do, it is an affair.”
This acronym has been on everybody’s lips since President Moon Jae-in nominated Cho Kuk, his former senior secretary for civil affairs, as justice minister in early August and finally appointed him Sept. 9, despite a pile of questions about Cho’s qualification.
It is often used in our daily lives to cynically criticize the “hypocritical” behavior of people, particularly those in our society’s “elite” such as lawmakers and high-ranking government officials: “I can do this, but you cannot.”
Here are some instances.
A famed professor has always been stressing the need to obey traffic rules, of course, for “your safety” on roads.
Actually, however, he turns crazy once he takes the wheel. It is his practice to cut in all of a sudden and ignore traffic lights. Many people, including a lawmaker, condemn drinking and driving as a felony. A son of the lawmaker was caught driving while intoxicated a week ago.
A famous Korean chef told other chefs not to appear on TV for fun, but he is still doing it, enjoying the work to fatten his wallet.
Toronto Blue Jays’ Jose Bautista from the Dominican Republic used to have a negative view of bat flipping, but he flipped his bat high into the air before running the bases after hitting a three-run home-run against the Texas Rangers that sent Toronto to the American League Championship Series in 2015. His controversial action ended up in a bench clearing.
History also shows a signature case of “nae-ro nam-bul.” Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca (4 B.C.A.D. 65) said that wealth is the slave of a wise man and the master of a fool. But he was the target of criticism for the excessive wealth he made through loan sharking.
Many people, especially those in politics, love to portray their own predicament as “a beautiful situation,” but harshly criticize others who are in a similar situation.
It is Cho who prompted the use of the term. The Seoul National University law professor, now on a leave of absence for government posts, has been criticizing the evils of capitalism such as the inheritance of wealth, and the polarization of wealth, lamenting that “(the rich) teach their kids how to invest in stocks, real estate and funds.”
But Cho, who has finally become the justice minister of the Republic of Korea, faces allegations: His wife and children invested a huge amount of money into a private equity fund shortly after he became a senior presidential secretary in 2017.
Cho had also blamed the so-called “polifessor,” a coined Konglish term for “political professor” who puts aside research or teaching to follow around a presidential candidate, hoping for a government position or parliamentary seat, calling for them to resign immediately. Yet, he still holds the professorship of the prestigious school even after becoming justice minister.
With regard to a mountain of suspicions involving Cho and his family members now under investigation by the prosecution, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea is determined to seek legislation to ban the prosecution from making public details about the charges criminal suspects may face. This move is seen as an apparent bid to protect the justice minister and his family.
However, the ruling party, when it was the opposition during the past governments of Lee Myungbak and Park Geun-hye, used to oppose what it is doing now as a clear example of “nae-ro nam-bul.”
The former opposition party went all-out to reject the appointment of Cabinet ministers with the records of a false resident registration aimed at helping their children enter a high school they wanted, drunk driving or plagiarism. Actually in the past, many of them failed to make it due to the objection of the opposition and the public.
But the Moon Jae-in government and the ruling party appear to have not the slightest idea of taking a lesson from what they did in the past.
The Gospel of Matthew gives good advice to the negative phenomenon of “nae-ro nam-bul.” It reads in 7:12, “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”