Albert Park on the Recent Election and Future of Politics in South Korea

Albert L. Park is the Bank of America Associate Professor of Pacific Basin Studies at Claremont McKenna College. As a historian of modern Korea and East Asia, his current research project focuses on the roots of environmentalism in modern Korean history and its relationship to locality and local autonomy. This book project is tentatively titled Imagining Nature and the Creation of Environmental Movements in Modern Korea. He is the author of Building a Heaven on Earth: Religion, Activism and Protest in Japanese Occupied Korea and is the co-editor of Encountering Modernity: Christianity and East Asia. Dr. Park is the Co-Principal Investigator of EnviroLab Asia—a Henry Luce Foundation-funded initiative at the Claremont Colleges ($1.5 million award) that carries out research on environmental issues in Asia through a cross disciplinary lens. Alongside being an Associate Editor at the Journal of Asian Studies, he is the Co-Editor of the book series Environments of East Asia--a multidisciplinary book series on environmental issues in East Asia that is published by Cornell University Press. He is the recipient of four Fulbright Fellowships for Research, an Abe Fellowship from the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) and fellowships from the Korea Foundation and the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Chicago. A native of Chicago, he received his B.A. with honors from Northwestern University, an M.A. from Columbia University and Ph.D. in History from the University of Chicago.
 
India Soranson Way CMC '23 interviewed Dr. Albert L. Park on on February 22, 2022.
Photograph and biography courtesy of Dr. Albert L. Park.

Since its transition to democracy in the late 1980s, South Korea serves as a case of the "third wave of democratization." What is the current status of democracy in South Korea? How does it compare with other democracies around the world in terms of economic performances, consolidation of democratic norms, and strong civil society?

Generally speaking, people and experts say that South Korea has a very healthy, vibrant democracy. I was looking at Freedom House which ranks democracies and speaks about the transparency of countries and South Korea ranks quite high in democratic systems in terms of its functioning. You do see that in that country now, where there are a number of civil liberties protected unlike during the 60s and 70s, when it was under authoritarian rule. You have a democratic process of election where people vote, elect their representatives, and those representatives then represent the interests of the people. That system generally works well. There hasn't been any outright or systematic corruption in the voting system. If you want to look beyond that, another important aspect of a democracy is a healthy civil society. South Korea certainly has a very healthy civil society, ranging from association to organizations that represent the interests of various people There are various types of groups.  For example, the LGBTQ community has grown considerably in South Korea. 

Lastly, in South Korea if you look at the ground level, there's a lot of local movements, collective movements, and organizations like cooperatives where people combine their resources. They  push for a lot of economic and social reforms. So generally speaking, South Korea is very healthy democracy.  But there's a caveat here. The Korean Peninsula is divided. So, there are laws in place since the 1950s that still prohibit certain types of activities. You can't visit North Korea or speak out about North Korea in certain ways it could get you in trouble. And in the end, even though you have a strong presence of the left in South Korea, you never had a Communist Party because that's basically illegal. In that sense, national security laws really do limit certain types of democratic participation. If you compare it to other countries like Japan, which has a Communist Party. In Japan, it's not illegal. So, I think South Korea is a model for a democracy, but we also have to remember that there are limits to democratic practices and in South Korea.

South Korea has experienced a slight democratic backslide when the Park Geun-Hye administration was in power.  How does the current president of South Korea try to correct the democratic practices?

Park Geun-Hye was first woman elected as president, which I think is significant, considering that South Korea has a lot of patriarchal norms that still structure society. That being said, Park Geun-Hye who is the daughter Park Chung Hee.  The conservative party that supported her was in the majority. Generally speaking, there was a lot of corruptive activities within the Park administration, especially her dealings with some of her friends and some other advisors that eventually led to her being impeached. Probably the most troubling thing she did was that she had a cultural blacklist of a large number of artists who tend to be a little to the left and very critical Park Geun-Hye. In other words, they weren't given all state funds. In South Korea, a lot of artists do rely on the government for money to help fund their projects. It was this type of environment that led people to push for her impeachment. 

Then, Moon Jae In came into power. To answer your question, what Moon Jae In did first was bring in a level of transparency. He wanted to make a transparent government Of course, you can't make a government totally transparent. That is impossible, but there are some things that you can do. I'll give you one clear example of how he wanted to be transparent.  When Park Geun-Hye was close to being impeached, there were these discussions of creating another nuclear reactor in South Korea. Nuclear energy is a controversial subject South Koreans generally were not as supportive of after Fukushima meltdown in Japan in 2011. Nevertheless, the government was pushing for nuclear energy because they were limiting the use of fossil fuels and wanted to get rid of their coal reactors.

Moon Jae-in inherited this plan and he assembled a group of citizens, about200-300 intellectuals, ordinary individuals, some other professionals, and they were given the authority to vote on whether to continue with this project or not. Ultimately, the committee of these hundreds of people voted to continue this project despite its controversy. What this did for Moon was it gave him some legitimacy as being this president that he has been transparent. 

How would you evaluate the record of the outgoing president Moon Jae-in?

It's a mix because there are some things that he accomplished, like trying to make a transparent government, making the government more responsible to the people. Another big issue is always the economy, especially overcoming the gross inequality that exists in South Korea today and disproportionately affects young people, usually 18- to 30-year-old with a higher unemployment rate. One of the first things he did was to push ahead with raising the minimum wage in South Korea, which was very controversial and very difficult. So, in that way, one could say that he accomplished something that was trying to address a serious concern in South Korea. He also pushed ahead with green energy and green technology. So, I would give him a lot of support for what he's done. 

Back to the economy, the biggest issue with the economy is the inequality and inequality in large part stems from the power of the conglomerates, such as Samsung, that produce almost 80% of the GDP. These are controlled by families. Large corporations like Samsung Electronics, Hyundai, and Kia also control a lot of small medium sized enterprises, through their extended family. So, their influence spread widely. Now, that has led to the concentration of wealth among certain families in Korea. 

There was some legislation put forward but never approved by the National Assembly. And in large part it's because there's a lot of pushbacks against reforming the chaebols. And the chaebols have a lot of influence in politics, too. This is where Moon has never been able to do something about the chaebols.  To be fair, not a lot of South Korean presidents have been able to do that. I would say the only South Korean president who was able to really control chaebols was Park Chung-hee, but after that, I don't think any South Korean president has been successful.

The last thing I would say is what's been disappointing is that he has been very conservative on some cultural issues. A lot of his supporters in the beginning were from the LGBTQ community. And considering that the LGBTQ community has been highly discriminated against historically in South Korea. But he has not done very well in trying to address this issue. 

The two leading contenders that have no legislative experience in the National Assembly.  How will that translate to the outcome of the election? What does their inexperience say about the process of becoming president in South Korea?

The two main candidates who are Lee Jae-myung, who’s Moon’s anointed successor. Then you have Yoon Suk-yeol, who is the head of the People Power Party, which is the more conservative party and the opposition party right now. Yoon is a former prosecutor and the head prosecutor in the South Korean government. So they have no national assembly experience, but I think that works to their advantage.  No one really respects National Assembly members well. Being outsiders helps them a great deal.  Now, we have to qualify that by saying that they are not totally outsiders because they have been part of the politics there. Then even though Yoon is a former prosecutor, that's a very highly political position. It's one of the most powerful positions in South Korea because they're responsible for prosecuting these large cases usually against like Samsung, LG, large conglomerates. Yoon, from what I heard he's not a very seasoned candidate whereas Lee is more of a candidate because he was the former governor, which is elected position. Despite not being National Assembly, they're quite experienced as politicians and know how to play the game. 

What is the green political party's role in this election? How did the green political party emerge in South Korea?

Since its transition to democracy in the late 1980s, South Korea serves as a case of the "third wave of democratization." What is the current status of democracy in South Korea? How does it compare with other democracies around the world in terms of economic performances, consolidation of democratic norms, and strong civil society?

Generally speaking, people and experts say that South Korea has a very healthy, vibrant democracy. I was looking at Freedom House which ranks democracies and speaks about the transparency of countries and South Korea ranks quite high in democratic systems in terms of its functioning. You do see that in that country now, where there are a number of civil liberties protected unlike during the 60s and 70s, when it was under authoritarian rule. You have a democratic process of election where people vote, elect their representatives, and those representatives then represent the interests of the people. That system generally works well. There hasn't been any outright or systematic corruption in the voting system. If you want to look beyond that, another important aspect of a democracy is a healthy civil society. South Korea certainly has a very healthy civil society, ranging from association to organizations that represent the interests of various people There are various types of groups.  For example, the LGBTQ community has grown considerably in South Korea. 

Lastly, in South Korea if you look at the ground level, there's a lot of local movements, collective movements, and organizations like cooperatives where people combine their resources. They  push for a lot of economic and social reforms. So generally speaking, South Korea is very healthy democracy.  But there's a caveat here. The Korean Peninsula is divided. So, there are laws in place since the 1950s that still prohibit certain types of activities. You can't visit North Korea or speak out about North Korea in certain ways it could get you in trouble. And in the end, even though you have a strong presence of the left in South Korea, you never had a Communist Party because that's basically illegal. In that sense, national security laws really do limit certain types of democratic participation. If you compare it to other countries like Japan, which has a Communist Party. In Japan, it's not illegal. So, I think South Korea is a model for a democracy, but we also have to remember that there are limits to democratic practices and in South Korea.

South Korea has experienced a slight democratic backslide when the Park Geun-Hye administration was in power.  How does the current president of South Korea try to correct the democratic practices?

Park Geun-Hye was first woman elected as president, which I think is significant, considering that South Korea has a lot of patriarchal norms that still structure society. That being said, Park Geun-Hye who is the daughter Park Chung Hee.  The conservative party that supported her was in the majority. Generally speaking, there was a lot of corruptive activities within the Park administration, especially her dealings with some of her friends and some other advisors that eventually led to her being impeached. Probably the most troubling thing she did was that she had a cultural blacklist of a large number of artists who tend to be a little to the left and very critical Park Geun-Hye. In other words, they weren't given all state funds. In South Korea, a lot of artists do rely on the government for money to help fund their projects. It was this type of environment that led people to push for her impeachment.

Then, Moon Jae In came into power. To answer your question, what Moon Jae In did first was bring in a level of transparency. He wanted to make a transparent government Of course, you can't make a government totally transparent. That is impossible, but there are some things that you can do. I'll give you one clear example of how he wanted to be transparent.  When Park Geun-Hye was close to being impeached, there were these discussions of creating another nuclear reactor in South Korea. Nuclear energy is a controversial subject South Koreans generally were not as supportive of after Fukushima meltdown in Japan in 2011. Nevertheless, the government was pushing for nuclear energy because they were limiting the use of fossil fuels and wanted to get rid of their coal reactors.

Moon Jae-in inherited this plan and he assembled a group of citizens, about200-300 intellectuals, ordinary individuals, some other professionals, and they were given the authority to vote on whether to continue with this project or not. Ultimately, the committee of these hundreds of people voted to continue this project despite its controversy. What this did for Moon was it gave him some legitimacy as being this president that he has been transparent. 

How would you evaluate the record of the outgoing president Moon Jae-in?

It's a mix because there are some things that he accomplished, like trying to make a transparent government, making the government more responsible to the people. Another big issue is always the economy, especially overcoming the gross inequality that exists in South Korea today and disproportionately affects young people, usually 18- to 30-year-old with a higher unemployment rate. One of the first things he did was to push ahead with raising the minimum wage in South Korea, which was very controversial and very difficult. So, in that way, one could say that he accomplished something that was trying to address a serious concern in South Korea. He also pushed ahead with green energy and green technology. So, I would give him a lot of support for what he's done. 

Back to the economy, the biggest issue with the economy is the inequality and inequality in large part stems from the power of the conglomerates, such as Samsung, that produce almost 80% of the GDP. These are controlled by families. Large corporations like Samsung Electronics, Hyundai, and Kia also control a lot of small medium sized enterprises, through their extended family. So, their influence spread widely. Now, that has led to the concentration of wealth among certain families in Korea. 

There was some legislation put forward but never approved by the National Assembly. And in large part it's because there's a lot of pushbacks against reforming the chaebols. And the chaebols have a lot of influence in politics, too. This is where Moon has never been able to do something about the chaebols.  To be fair, not a lot of South Korean presidents have been able to do that. I would say the only South Korean president who was able to really control chaebols was Park Chung-hee, but after that, I don't think any South Korean president has been successful.

The last thing I would say is what's been disappointing is that he has been very conservative on some cultural issues. A lot of his supporters in the beginning were from the LGBTQ community. And considering that the LGBTQ community has been highly discriminated against historically in South Korea. But he has not done very well in trying to address this issue. 

The two leading contenders that have no legislative experience in the National Assembly.  How will that translate to the outcome of the election? What does their inexperience say about the process of becoming president in South Korea?

The two main candidates who are Lee Jae-myung, who’s Moon’s anointed successor. Then you have Yoon Suk-yeol, who is the head of the People Power Party, which is the more conservative party and the opposition party right now. Yoon is a former prosecutor and the head prosecutor in the South Korean government. So they have no national assembly experience, but I think that works to their advantage.  No one really respects National Assembly members well. Being outsiders helps them a great deal.  Now, we have to qualify that by saying that they are not totally outsiders because they have been part of the politics there. Then even though Yoon is a former prosecutor, that's a very highly political position. It's one of the most powerful positions in South Korea because they're responsible for prosecuting these large cases usually against like Samsung, LG, large conglomerates. Yoon, from what I heard he's not a very seasoned candidate whereas Lee is more of a candidate because he was the former governor, which is elected position. Despite not being National Assembly, they're quite experienced as politicians and know how to play the game. 

What is the green political party's role in this election? How did the green political party emerge in South Korea?

To simply answer your question, in this presidential election, no. They have no major role in it other than, and I'll go into real briefly the history, Shin Ji-hye, who was the former head of the Green Party and ran in the mayoral election of Seoul as a green candidate. She came in second or third, I was very surprised. She was very devout Green Party member and leader, and I had a couple of chances to meet her and interview her - no doubt her politics are definitely progressive. The interesting thing is that she recently voiced her support for Yoon and, and the People Power Party, which kind of baffled all her supporters and even the Green Party members, because the people power party, at least from what I know, is no friend to the environment or to women. It's a little complicated as to explain why she jumped to support Yoon. But because of Shin's reversal, I don't think hardcore Green Party members are going to support the People Power Party. 

The Green Party started in 2012. It's a party that has ties to the Green Party in Europe, Germany in particular. It has a platform where they speak about environmental reforms and radical political reforms in Korea. It's very much in line with green politics. It has never elected anyone to the National Assembly. There are representatives of the Greens in local government. There are a number of local associations of the Green Party who seem to be very healthy in terms of their activities and what they're doing. So I think at the ground level, you have a burgeoning Green Party movement, but it's a very diverse movement. Again, I've interviewed quite a few members of the Green Party and maybe it's the environment that brings them together, but they all have these different views in some other sense. There's not this one single view that really ties them together, other than perhaps that they want to just break the political system and the dominance of the two parties. The Green Party will have a very hard time getting large scale public support. Because of South Korea’s history of anti-communism, which is still very strong amongst many older people, it's very hard to support a party that appears to be very leftist. 

India Soranson Way CMC '23Student Journalist

대한민국 대통령실, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

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