Illegality, Dignity, and the Ethics of Existence

Soyo Ethics of Existence in Turmoil

Law, Ethics, and the Face of the Nation

A nation's laws and order are not merely a collection of norms or institutions. They are the minimal fence sustaining the safety and lives of its citizens, and simultaneously the face revealing the nation's political philosophy and the level of its civic consciousness. Guarding borders and controlling illegality is the state's pledge of protection to its people; neglecting this shakes the very foundation of the nation's existence.

America is a nation built upon the blood and sweat of immigrants, yet its resolve to firmly guard its borders is equally strong. America's appeal lies not only in its boundless land and resources. It resides in a market where the fruits of labor are fairly rewarded, and in the legal order that underpins this. That is why countless people worldwide aspire to enter America, flocking in search of work and opportunity. In this context, illegal residency and illegal employment, which undermine the law, are not mere loopholes, but crimes that trade the dignity of existence.

The Nature of Illegality and Corporate Responsibility

Recently, illegal immigrant workers were discovered and arrested at factories operated by major Korean corporations in the United States. While this incident appeared superficially to be a result of the U.S. government's strict crackdown, a far more weighty question lies beneath. Why did Korean conglomerates push their own citizens into illegal residency? Under the guise of U.S. investment, these companies promised large-scale construction and production, yet treated people solely as ‘labor’ in the process. Forcing workers into illegal residency by breaking the law was not a mere administrative error, but an ethical betrayal that reduced human existence to a tool of material power.

Soyo's ethics of existence declares, the moment illegality is imposed, humans lose their dignity and become mere mechanical parts. Corporations trading human lives into illegality for capital's profit: a sin that no alliance or cooperation can justify.

The Significance of the Trump Administration's Policies and Enforcement

The Trump administration's core policy was a simple yet clear declaration: “Let's stand up with the strength of our own people.” The reduction of immigration policy and the protection of domestic jobs were issues directly tied to the nation's fundamental order, transcending mere economic sensitivity. While Trump's trade tariff policy certainly produced the side effect of inflation, the issues of illegal immigration and labor demanded national legitimacy in their own right.

Therefore, viewing this crackdown solely as an “insult to allies” obscures the essence. Illegal is illegal. The state must enforce the law to protect its citizens and maintain legal order. While the methods may appear somewhat extreme, the root of the problem lies not with the enforcers but with the structural crimes that fostered illegality.

The Perspective of Existential Ethics on the Power That Made Humans Illegal

Existential ethics views human existence itself as the source of ethics. If existence is ethics, then no system or power should push humans into an illegal state. Yet, Korean conglomerates, for profit and material gain, placed their own citizens on American soil as illegal residents.

This goes beyond mere legal violation; it is an act that tramples the ethics of existence. Humans are inherently noble beings created by the breath of God, yet corporations calculated these beings solely as tools and means. Workers placed in illegal residency status were betrayed not only before the law, but also before the dignity of their own existence. Therefore, the problem in this incident is not the U.S. government's crackdown, but the ignorance and greed of corporations that rendered humans illegal. Existential ethics declares unequivocally, any power, be it corporate or state, that pushes humans into illegality must be dismantled and vanish.

Law, Ethics, and the Restoration of Existence

While one column criticized the U.S. government's crackdown methods and appealed for respect among allies, the unrest poses a question at a deeper level.

Respect is not an issue of alliance, but of existence. Structures that create illegality destroy existence, constituting an ethical crime that transcends the justification for inter-state cooperation. Law is not mere regulation, but the minimum order necessary to protect human existence. The greed of corporations that dismantled this order is the fundamental problem. Ultimately, this incident reveals not merely a crisis in the ROK-US alliance, but the tragedy of modern society where human existence has become a sacrificial lamb to materialism and power. Existential Ethics asks:

“Who made humans illegal?”

The answer to that question is clear: The power that pushed humans into a state of illegality is the very force that has destroyed the ethics of existence, a symbol of greed that must vanish.

Soyo (逍遙) – Founder of 『Soyo Existential Ethics』, Author of The Silence of Being, The Flame of Truth

Soyo Philosophy. All rights reserved.

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