eastasia.at
Vol.
1, No. 2, July 2002
ISSN 1684-629X
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On
December 19, 2002, the Republic of Korea (South Korea) elected
a new president. After a very close race the winner was Roh
Moo-hyun, a former human rights lawyer from the ruling
Millennium Democratic Party (MDP). Roh defeated Lee Hoi-chang,
the candidate of the opposition Grand National Party (GNP) by
half a million votes (see Table
1).. Voter turnout stood at 70.8%, a drop from
92.5% in the previous elections. The election has been
described as a conflict of generations, and also as a conflict
between left and right. In the end, the more liberal-minded
Roh won with the support of the younger generation. For Roh,
the road to victory was a challenging journey. Roh
Moo-hyun (56) was born in Kimhae, in southeast Korea. Coming
from a poor farming family he did not attend college but
taught himself law at night to pass the bar exam. During the
1980s he gained a reputation as a liberal lawyer, working on
human rights cases. In 1987, he spent time in prison as a
result of his activities. In the 2002-election campaign, Roh's
main concerns were clean politics, the eradication of
corruption and an end to regional rivalries. He also pledged
to reduce the gap between rich and poor and increase social
welfare. Roh expressed an independent view regarding Korea's
relationship with the US and favoured a 'more equal'
relationship between the two countries. These promises
attracted the support of younger voters who were fed up with
the old-style 'money politics' that benefited mostly
politicians and business and also dissatisfied with the
American military presence in the country. The preparations
for the presidential elections began in spring 2002 with the
nomination race within the MDP. In an effort to make the
process more open and democratic, the party introduced a
system comparable to US-primaries. Roh, without support from
any faction in the MDP, emerged as the surprise winner in
April 2002. Following
Roh's nomination, the MDP experienced an overwhelming defeat
in both local elections and in parliamentary by-elections.
Many party members blamed Roh for the bad results and demanded
another nomination race. Roh resisted pressure to step down
but his popularity ratings continuously declined during the
summer. This drop reflected the disappointment among Koreans
with the ruling government. After initial successes Kim
Dae-jung's reform drive lost momentum, and many tasks to
change the economic and political system remain yet to be
completed. Kim Dae-jung had also pledged clean politics at the
beginning of his presidency but during the summer of 2002, two
of his sons were implicated in corruption scandals showing
that the problem persisted. Koreans grew impatient with the
slow progress of change and in turn with the ruling party. Roh's
main challenger was Lee Hoi-chang (67). This was Lee's second
attempt to win the presidential elections, after narrowly
loosing to Kim Dae-jung in 1997. Lee had entered politics
relatively late after a career in the country's judicial
service. He had a reputation of honesty and integrity with
conservative values while others called him dry and boring.
Lee tried to overcome his dull image by wearing more casual
clothes and dyeing his hair brown. His family hailed from
North Korea, so he was not connected to either of the two
rival regions of South Korea, Honam in the southwest and
Youngnam in the southeast. Lee pledged clean politics and
support for market economy. His pro-business stance also
included the promise of crackdowns of illegal strikes. His
campaign was not without scandals, mostly concerning his two
sons who were accused of avoiding military service by loosing
weight before the necessary examination. Lee criticized Kim
Dae-jung's engagement policy with North Korea harshly and
promised a more hard-line course with the northern regime,
closer to the policy of US-President Bush. He was also seen as
pro-American, an issue that evolved during the election
campaign. Lee was supported by the United Liberal Democrats (ULD),
another conservative party with a base in the central
Chungchong-region. Beside
the two main candidates were several other minor candidates.
The most prominent was Kwon Young Ghil, who made a second
attempt after his run in 1997. Kwon stood as a candidate of
the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) and was well-known as the
leader of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), a
radical alliance of trade unions. In 2002, Kwon won 3.9% of
the vote, an increase from 1.2% in the previous election.
Former home-minister Lee Han-dong represented the small Hanaro
National Union. Kim Young-Kyu stood for the radical Socialist
Party of Korea. Lastly, the Buddhist monk Kim Kil-su
campaigned for the Hoguk Dang (Party for the Defence of the
Fatherland). Two issues dominated the election campaign: the
relationship with North Korea and the relationship with the
United States. Roh favoured Kim Dae-jung's sunshine policy of
engagement with North Korea and promised to continue this
strategy. Lee in contrast had been an outspoken critic and
vowed to be less generous with the Kim Jong-il regime. He
pledged to stop all financial aid until the North becomes more
cooperative in the dismantling of its nuclear facilities. During
late 2002, the issue of American military presence on the
peninsula became an important political issue. In Summer 2002,
two teenage girls were killed by an American armoured vehicle.
South Koreans demanded a trial for the two soldiers involved
and when in due course an American court martial acquitted
them, demonstrations against this 'unfair judgement' sprang up
all over the country. The demonstrators' main demands were a
retrial in a Korean court and a personal and sincere apology
by President George W. Bush. The main presidential candidates
also joined the calls for revisions to the legal code
governing the status of the 37,000 American forces stationed
on the peninsula. The
incumbent president Kim Dae-jung was constitutionally barred
from running again. He will remain in office until Roh's
official inauguration in February 2003. Lee Hoi-chang declared
his retirement from politics, leaving the door open for a
change in leadership of the opposition party. The tasks for
the new president are challenging: the reform of the economy
needs to be furthered to ensure the future growth of Korea's
economy. Both labour and business have to accept the need for
further changes. The political system needs to be reformed to
reduce corruption and regionalism and deepen democracy. This
will be made more difficult by an opposition majority in the
National Assembly. In foreign policy, Roh needs to balance an
engagement policy with North Korea with the demands of the
more hawkish American administration. North Korea's
belligerent attitude and the outspoken Anti-Americanism in
South Korea make this task difficult for Roh. With the
departure of Kim Dae-jung, a new area in Korean politics will
begin in 2003. In the last decade politics had been dominated
by the 'three Kims', Kim Dae-jung, Kim Young-sam and Kim
Jong-pil, who had spent most of their political life under
authoritarian regimes and often acted in the same manor as
their authoritarian predecessors. The new and much younger
leadership gives Korea a chance for a real change. Many of the
younger voters were certainly hoping for this when they voted
for Roh Moo-hyun.
Footnotes (1) In 1987, Roh Tae-woo was elected by less than 37% of the votes, while Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-sam gained 27 and 28% respectively. In 1997, the conservative vote was divided between Lee Hoi-chang and Rhee In-je, leaving the victory to Kim Dae-jung)
© 2002 by Austrian Association of East Asian Studies |