Last updated on August 16, 2024
November is nearly upon us and it will soon turn to December, the month of Korea’s presidential election every five years.
Under normal circumstances, the election season stirs frequent talk as Koreans focus on their future but the current election season is remarkable for the high level of disinterest. What is going on and what does it say about the state of Korean politics?
A major part of the problem is the candidates themselves. Park Geun-hye, the ruling Saenuri Party candidate, Moon Jae-in of the Democratic United Party candidate, and independent Ahn Cheol-soo all have interesting personal stories.
Park, the daughter of former President Park Chung-hee, lost both her parents in assassinations and is the first woman to receive the nomination for president of a major party. Moon, a loyal aide to former President Roh Moo-hyun, has a distinguished career as a human rights lawyer, and Ahn, founder of the successful AhnLab antivirus software company, is a model information technology entrepreneur. Voters can find something to like and dislike in each of the candidates.
The problem with them is not their likability but their inability to stir passion and build broad coalitions. They have strong support from their core support groups but have failed to reach out to other groups. This has been a trend in all Korean elections but successful candidates have always built bridges to other groups to create a winning coalition.
Opposition candidates Moon and Ahn have talked about fielding a unified candidate, but the method of doing so has yet to be determined. Polls show that a split opposition greatly raises the possibility of a Park victory. A question mark hanging over the opposition candidates is dampening interest in the election among voters who want change.
The main problem is the issues. None of the candidates seems to offer a coherent set of policies to deal with the most important issue of the day: the slowing economy.
In their own way, each of them has come up with a number of populist positions to address the economy but voters do not believe that the ideas will work or that the politicians have the will to put them in place. They know that Korea is facing deep structural problems that require new thinking. At the same time, they are deeply disappointed by the current administration because Lee Myung-bak was elected in 2007 to revive the economy.
Compared to most other advanced countries, the Korean economy is doing fine. Unemployment is low, growth is about 2 percent, inflation is under control, and the national debt remains low as a percentage of the gross domestic product.
Korea weathered the economic crisis in 2008 better than most countries and its exports, including “hallyu,” or Korean wave, cultural exports, have remained expanded. Compared to the U.S., Japan and most countries in Europe, Korea is a star.
The problem with the economy in Korea is one of perception and that problem is related to the changes brought by the aging of the population. Despite what the macroeconomic statistics say, the huge population of aging baby boomers in their 40s and 50s are worried about retirement.
Compared to other advanced countries, retirement ages are low, the national pension is small and a large percentage of the workforce in Korea is self-employed. This leaves only civil servants with a pension that pays the bills; others are forced to rely on savings. Many baby boomers are burdened by debt, which creates a sense of limited possibilities and in turn the current malaise.
Younger people have the same sense of limited possibilities but for different reasons. Like younger people in many advanced countries, they feel that good jobs are hard to find and hard to keep when found. They feel that they will never be able to afford a house and a good education for their children. Their response is to cut back, give up or both.
The current malaise spans several generations and explains the high level of disinterest in the current election. Voters are waiting to see which candidate offers the most believable set of policies for reviving the Korean dream of growth and expanding opportunities. At heart, the malaise is conservative in its focus on reenergizing the paradigm of growth that has dominated Korea since the 1960s.
The conservative character of the malaise creates a dilemma for the candidates. Voters are too smart to fall for vague promises of strong economic growth. They are equally wary of idealistic promises of dramatic reform.
The enduring strength of the Korean dream amid a weakness of vision and leadership explains this unusually dull election season.
Under normal circumstances, the election season stirs frequent talk as Koreans focus on their future but the current election season is remarkable for the high level of disinterest. What is going on and what does it say about the state of Korean politics?
A major part of the problem is the candidates themselves. Park Geun-hye, the ruling Saenuri Party candidate, Moon Jae-in of the Democratic United Party candidate, and independent Ahn Cheol-soo all have interesting personal stories.
Park, the daughter of former President Park Chung-hee, lost both her parents in assassinations and is the first woman to receive the nomination for president of a major party. Moon, a loyal aide to former President Roh Moo-hyun, has a distinguished career as a human rights lawyer, and Ahn, founder of the successful AhnLab antivirus software company, is a model information technology entrepreneur. Voters can find something to like and dislike in each of the candidates.
The problem with them is not their likability but their inability to stir passion and build broad coalitions. They have strong support from their core support groups but have failed to reach out to other groups. This has been a trend in all Korean elections but successful candidates have always built bridges to other groups to create a winning coalition.
Opposition candidates Moon and Ahn have talked about fielding a unified candidate, but the method of doing so has yet to be determined. Polls show that a split opposition greatly raises the possibility of a Park victory. A question mark hanging over the opposition candidates is dampening interest in the election among voters who want change.
The main problem is the issues. None of the candidates seems to offer a coherent set of policies to deal with the most important issue of the day: the slowing economy.
In their own way, each of them has come up with a number of populist positions to address the economy but voters do not believe that the ideas will work or that the politicians have the will to put them in place. They know that Korea is facing deep structural problems that require new thinking. At the same time, they are deeply disappointed by the current administration because Lee Myung-bak was elected in 2007 to revive the economy.
Compared to most other advanced countries, the Korean economy is doing fine. Unemployment is low, growth is about 2 percent, inflation is under control, and the national debt remains low as a percentage of the gross domestic product.
Korea weathered the economic crisis in 2008 better than most countries and its exports, including “hallyu,” or Korean wave, cultural exports, have remained expanded. Compared to the U.S., Japan and most countries in Europe, Korea is a star.
The problem with the economy in Korea is one of perception and that problem is related to the changes brought by the aging of the population. Despite what the macroeconomic statistics say, the huge population of aging baby boomers in their 40s and 50s are worried about retirement.
Compared to other advanced countries, retirement ages are low, the national pension is small and a large percentage of the workforce in Korea is self-employed. This leaves only civil servants with a pension that pays the bills; others are forced to rely on savings. Many baby boomers are burdened by debt, which creates a sense of limited possibilities and in turn the current malaise.
Younger people have the same sense of limited possibilities but for different reasons. Like younger people in many advanced countries, they feel that good jobs are hard to find and hard to keep when found. They feel that they will never be able to afford a house and a good education for their children. Their response is to cut back, give up or both.
The current malaise spans several generations and explains the high level of disinterest in the current election. Voters are waiting to see which candidate offers the most believable set of policies for reviving the Korean dream of growth and expanding opportunities. At heart, the malaise is conservative in its focus on reenergizing the paradigm of growth that has dominated Korea since the 1960s.
The conservative character of the malaise creates a dilemma for the candidates. Voters are too smart to fall for vague promises of strong economic growth. They are equally wary of idealistic promises of dramatic reform.
The enduring strength of the Korean dream amid a weakness of vision and leadership explains this unusually dull election season.