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Toward Revolution of Light 2.0
Remarks in Celebration of the Election of President Lee Jae-myung in Seattle

빛의 혁명 2.0을 향하여:

이재명 대통령 당선 기념 시애틀 축하 만찬 축사

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Hosted by the Korean Progressive Coalition of Seattle, June 14, 2025 Simone Chun Dear Chairman Hwang Kyu-ho and Comrades of the Korean Progressive Coalition of Seattle, Warm greetings to you all. Today, as Israel’s airstrikes on Iran bring the world once again to the brink of war, I am reminded of how fortunate we were this past week to witness the inauguration of President Lee Jae-myung. It underscores just how crucial the role of a single leader can be. On this day, I am once again struck by the significance of the Light of Revolution and the birth of the Lee Jae-myung administration, which has prevented Yoon Suk-yeol’s reckless gamble with war. I never imagined a day like this would come—but here we are. As Chairman Hwang so aptly put it in his opening remarks, “We have supported President Lee Jae-myung with one heart and walked this path together.” I have long supported Lee Jae-myung, but to be honest, I never truly believed the day would come when he would become preside...
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>Candlelight for Two Korean Girls Crushed by U.S. Soldiers

효순이와 미선이의 촛불

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Yesterday, as reports of Israel’s airstrikes on Iran spread, one of the most devastating scenes was the bombing of an apartment building in the capital, Tehran. For Koreans, the name "Teheran" carries a familiar ring. One of Seoul’s major thoroughfares, Teheran-ro, was named in 1976 to commemorate the sister-city relationship between Seoul and the Iranian capital. News reports say many civilians—including women and children—were killed or wounded. Peaceful, ordinary families, asleep in their homes, were thrust into unspeakable horror in a single night. What was it like for those who survived? And what is it like for those far from Iran—those who still call it home—watching helplessly as the streets they once walked, the schools they once attended, the bakeries they once visited are reduced to rubble? It defies imagination. Civilian casualties—especially among children—are always tragic, whether intended or not. The suffering of families reverberates far beyond b...
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President Lee Orders Shutdown of DMZ Loudspeakers Blasting Anti-North Korea Propaganda

이재명 정부, 대북 확성기 방송 중단 지시
대북 전단 살포 중단 촉구

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Updated on June 11, 2025 The other day, while sorting through an old family album from my late mother-in-law, I came across a black-and-white photograph of my husband as a baby—barely a year old. He stood in a sea of flowers, gazing intently at a single blossom, as if the rest of the world had faded away. His quiet focus, his reverence for something small and beautiful—that was him. “This is him,” I whispered, struck by how completely the photo captured the essence of the man I love. Then came the ache of regret. I wished I had asked his mother about that moment—where it was taken, what she remembered. She passed away last September, and with her, the story behind the image was lost. I wasn’t just mourning her absence—I was grieving the disappearance of a memory I never thought to preserve. That photograph made me think of another kind of loss: the millions of Korean families torn apart by war and division. Many still hold photos of parents, siblings, or children they haven’...
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Longing for Kumgang Mountain

그리운 금강산

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Simone Chun "How many years have a beautiful mountain been desecrated for tens of thousands of years?" "Has the day to find you come today, Mt. Geumgang is calling" At a recent webinar , I was asked a seemingly simple question: “What do you think about North Korea?” It caught me off guard. The question was broad, almost too general, and though I should have had a ready answer, I found myself fumbling. My response felt disjointed, more like a murmur than a message. I began by saying this: Korea is one nation, but one that has been tragically divided for over 80 years—longer than World War II, the Korean War, or the Vietnam War. Indeed, it has outlasted every major conflict of the 20th and 21st centuries. I belong to the post-war generation—a generation that, under Park Chung-hee, received a thorough anti-communist and anti–North Korea education—and one that has never known a unified homeland. In fact, my first speech contest in fifth grade, where I receiv...
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The Revolution of Light and Korea’s Democratic Triumph:

Why Washington Should Pay Attention

이재명 대통령과 빛의 혁명:

워싱턴이 직시해야 할 한국 민주주의의 위대한 승리

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Key Points: The “Revolution of Light” that brought Lee Jae-myung to the presidency transcends the dismissive portrayals offered by foreign media. For 124 days, from December 3, 2024, to April 4, 2025, millions of Korean people stood unwavering. Yoon Suk-yeol’s collapse highlights a simple truth: any US policy in Korea that ignores Korean public opinion is bound to fail. A unique asset that President Trump brings is his past outreach to North Korea, which, while ultimately unsuccessful, was widely supported by Koreans and broke with Washington orthodoxy. One of the most consequential missteps in US Korea policy under the Biden administration was the failure to engage with South Korea’s domestic political realities, particularly the widespread public opposition to President Yoon Suk-yeol’s increasingly authoritarian rule. By relentlessly propping up Yoon to serve Washington’s geopolitical agenda and its escalating Cold War posture toward China, the Biden administration not onl...
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Korea’s 2025 Presidential Election: President Lee Jae-myung and the Democratic Revolution of Light—A Mandate for Sovereignty and Justice
이재명 대통령과 함께 여는 빛의 민주주의, 국민주권 혁명의 시대

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Korea’s Democratic Revolution of Light: A Mandate for Sovereignty and Justice Simone Chun Seventeen million South Koreans have spoken—resoundingly. On June 3, they elected Lee Jae-myung as the nation’s 21st president, delivering not just a victory at the ballot box, but a powerful mandate for democracy, justice, and popular sovereignty. This was not just an election. It was a revolution—peaceful, resolute, and democratic. In an extraordinary snap presidential election triggered by the impeachment of President Yoon Suk-yeol, voters turned out in record numbers. Of 44.39 million eligible voters, 35.24 million cast their ballots—a staggering 79.4%, the highest turnout in nearly three decades. Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party won 49.42% of the vote, the highest share in any presidential race since South Korea’s democratization in 1987, and became the first Korean president to receive over 17 million votes. His far-right opponent, Kim Moon-soo of the People Power Party, trail...
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