Iridescent clouds

It is worth pointing out that a flock of glowing clouds far over the sunny sky was clearly being watched by nearly 45,000 attendees, while the inauguration ceremony of Yoon Suk-yeol as the president of the Republic of Korea took place outside the National Assembly at around 11 a.m. on May 10.

The seemingly rainbow-like, colorful, spectacular scene, horizontally spread far into the blue sky, could easily be seen by citizens for about 15 minutes while Yoon was making his inaugural speech not only to the audience in attendance on Yeouido in Seoul but also to listeners outside of Korea.

Thanks to incoming KakaoTalk messages and websites on the meteorological observation, I became aware of the general difference between an iridescent cloud and a rainbow cloud. Iridescent clouds occur very rarely when sunlight diffracts off water droplets or tiny ice crystals in the atmosphere, as a colorful optical phenomenon that occurs in a cloud and appears in the general proximity of the sun. In contrast, rainbow clouds are not just normal clouds we see every day in the sky.

Due to the sun falling behind them, they have the colors of a rainbow within them. The former scarcely occur during clear sunny days, while the latter happen occasionally after rainfall. The good weather on the date of the inauguration, with rare iridescent clouds was, in general, interpreted as a promising sign for the newly formed Yoon government to do well in a fair and righteous direction, for sustainable growth and for the forthcoming prosperity for the sake of 51.6 million people in Korea as a whole.

I used to join regularly a friendship dinner or luncheon meeting at a Taiwanese restaurant named Chaewoon (彩雲, Chaiwin in Mandarin pronunciation) located in Gangnam District in Seoul for a considerable span of decades, but had not been aware of its meaning until Yoon took the oath of office on May 10. Now, I realize that it is an elaborately chosen priceless trademark to be well-preserved henceforth.

Identifying themes in inaugural addresses and watching the different ways in which they are discussed can still illuminate social changes over time. It is my earnest hope and wish that the iridescent clouds might really be a good omen for fulfilling his 10 campaign pledges of ensuring liberal democracy and the market economy, maintaining a strong posture of national security for the sustainable growth and development of the 74-year-old Korea on its prosperous future, by appealing to commonsense intelligence and overcoming feasible obstacles and adversities lying ahead, including continued nuclear threats from North Korea.

Confirming this iridescent sign witnessed at the inaugural moment of the nation’s new presidency, I feel pretty sure that this shining symbol is of the yearning of the Yoon government to take steps toward successful, historic ways: the new administration’s five-year obligation of swift and often dramatic policy planning and coordination, for a happy end to his vested power and duties assigned to the impartial discretion granted brightly to him.