IMMATURE DEMOCRACIES... WHERE ARE THE ISSUES?
General Elections in South Korea on April 15th

It is interesting to be in South Korea during the time of its general elections, and as I prepare to soon leave for the U.S. for good in early May I'm reflecting on my time here. During the the past four years of my life in South Korea, I never went through an analysis of its political system or election system because I was consumed by my professional life and I just wanted to be an ignorant American. Obviously, I know the general facts of politics in this nation and hear various insider stories through my family members and native Korean friends, but I never went through an exercise of conducting researching and writing an analysis of South Korea's political system or the health of its democracy. And this post will not be it... light blogging as I typically do :)

Anyways, I was having dinner with my parents and girlfriend a few days ago and we were discussing various topics. We began talking about the upcoming elections and how immature South Korea's democracy was. One representative action was the recent effort by the GNP (opposition party) that impeached President Roh. As I wrote before, it was so stupid for them to react emotionally and move to such actions without planning for it or polling people to help calculate the potential consequences. Also the grounds on which they impeached Roh was weak and really had no leg to stand on.

The conversation shifted to the general elections, so I began thinking about what factors are important to the Korean people. Much of the elections are based on affinity and regionalism. When Kim Dae-jung got elected, he received almost 100% of the vote from his home province, Jeolla, which had been a region under scorn and unfair prejudice. His successful election somewhat changed the negative prejudices against people from that region, but the regionalism continued.

People in South Korea vote more on affinity and personal charactertistics rather than political and social issues. My mother stated that night that she's never seen a candidate run on an issues-based platform. While I don't know if this is completely true, it is reflective of the majority of election campaigns.

It's even funny, in the article below, how the parties position themselves during this upcoming election:

The parties' leading campaigners are downplaying their chances of victory in an apparent attempt to win sympathy votes.

Sympathy votes? Who votes out of sympathy when an election is at stake to determining how you would be represented in government and how the person would best serve any of your needs or concerns?

Also the election watchdog televised his wisdom to inform people to "take a close look at the information on candidates such as tax payments and any criminal history to see if you think they are suitable for the job." Tax payments? Criminal history? Of course this is basic in the U.S., but sometimes I forget how young South Korea's democratic system is.

A candidate should run on more than where he or she is from, what school he went to, what family, or whatever else. It should be more on the quality of his ideas, how he wants to change and improve the nation, and what systems he wants to change to improve the quality of life for his constituents.

On the flipside, the voters in Korea should be thinking about these things, but it really hasn't progressed to the point of the average voter caring about such issues. About how to their elected representative should work to improve their quality of life, fight to improve the healthcare system, eliminate corruption so their business runs better, sweat to improve their schools so all children get a quality election, etc. But do citizens in Korea believe this is the role of their elected officials? Are elected officials capable to initiate such changes? I really don't know the answers to these questions, and it would be interesting to see some statistical and objective analysis of the citizens in Korea and how their views are changing or stagnant.

I'm also wondering how the progression of a democratic system is affected or hindered by the culture of a people. One of the most common phrases I hear during my time in Korea is, "Oh, that won't change. It's just the Korean way." Resistance to change is natural for individuals and corporate cultures, but for such thinking to be embedded in the average citizen can affect how much people believe in change and progress. Also how much faith they have in their elected officials to initiate changes and whether they should even bother to try.

It will be interesting to see how democracy matures in South Korea. Of course, I'm going to keep a close eye from across the Pacific. Interesting how things can become more important once you're farther away.


Last-minute campaigns seek to lure undecided voters

The Korea Herald
By Joo Sang-min
April 13, 2004

In the home stretch for Thursday's general elections, the rival parties are concentrating their last-minute campaigns on the increasing number of undecided voters and hotly contested districts to raise their chances of success.

Media reports said the election battle between the majority Grand National Party and the pro-government Uri Party was becoming too close to call in many districts across the nation.
.....
"Some GNP supporters, who moved to support the Uri Party after the impeachment vote, apparently became undecided," Kim Hyun-ki, a pollster at the polling firm Research & Research told The Korea Herald.
.....
The parties' leading campaigners are downplaying their chances of victory in an apparent attempt to win sympathy votes.
.....
In a televised news conference, Yoo Ji-dam, head of the election watchdog, advised voters to take a close look at information on candidates such as tax payments and any criminal history to see if they think they are suitable for the job. (full article)