President Donald J. Trump overcame a number of ridiculous prosecutions that almost prevented him from taking office. In 2024, a New York case was prosecuted alleging hush-money payments made before the 2016 election. In 2023, a case was dismissed against then-former President Trump claiming the mishandling of sensitive information, while the same government ignored similar allegations against President Joe Biden. There were more cases brought for the purpose of preventing Trump from regaining the White House.

Now we are seeing a similar situation play out in Brazil with former President Jair Bolsonaro being put in jail by his successors for 27 years for election interference — sound familiar?

The word for this is lawfare, which is politic use of public resources by corrupt governments. It’s what fascists do, but the people who are ostensibly “anti-fascist” sure love its tools.  

A similar pattern is playing out as the President of South Korea is taking aim at one of the authors of South Korea’s current cultural blitz. South Korean entertainment company HYBE’s Bang Si-hyuk is a successful Korean businessperson who has built a billion-dollar company with global influence. HYBE was the creator of the successful K-Pop band BTS.

Bang’s company launched an initial public offering (IPO) five years ago for the purposes of maintaining long-term growth for the company. The allegation is that he did so for his own personal enrichment. The charges brought against Bang are part of a much larger pattern of politically motivated persecution by South Korean government officials and President Lee.

As we have witnessed here in the U.S., politically motivated lawfare is being used in South Korea for political persecution. While targeting political opponents of the government is relatively new here in the United States, it has long been used against individuals who threaten the political or cultural establishment in South Korea.

President Lee has issued sweeping presidential pardons to 2,188 individuals, including individuals who committed far worse crimes than the allegations against Bang Si-Hyuk. But Bang, who created one of Korea’s most successful global companies, faces harsher scrutiny because he is one of the wealthiest individuals in that nation.

This process needs to play out, but the company has promised to fully explain that allegations against the company are not based in fact. The Korea Times quoted HYBE as saying in a statement “it may take some time, but we will fully explain that the listing at the time was carried out in compliance with laws and regulations.” Bang has pursued long-term growth of his company and understands that entertainment IPOs are not preferred to private investment because the growth of the company is volatile and talent-dependent.

This is an individual who paid taxes on his earnings and reinvested $100 million into the company after the IPO. Not the actions of an individual engaged in fraud, certainly not those of someone who deserves to be arrested, humiliated publicly, and subjected to a 14-hour police interrogation.  

One reason developing nations don’t develop is that corrupt government leaders target successful businesses to enrich themselves. The lawfare leveled at Bang has more an air of authority than, say, a shakedown by organized crime — but it has more an air of authoritarianism. This kind of behavior would be unacceptable from a banana republic, it’s unconscionable from the 15th largest economy in the world.

This year, South Korea has faced a martial law crisis, an impeachment, a rocky transition of power to a new president, and accusations of human rights abuses. It’s not new to see corruption within the South Korea government — which many insist is really just a branch of Samsung. On the global stage, any ongoing lapse in the rule of law signals instability that could scare away financial relationships and foreign investments.

Without these relationships, the tiny peninsula couldn’t survive.

Entertainment has been among South Korea’s most important cultural exports and its strongest form of global influence. It’s astonishing that in just a few decades, Korea has transformed itself from an agrarian society to a 21st century economic juggernaut. We can now enjoy entertainment from Korea — Parasite, Squid Game, KPop Demon Hunters — on our Korean-made electronics and not even think twice about it. This cultural connection between Korea and the United States advances both our countries’ economic interests and provides a check against Chinese aggression.

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