South Korean politics in transition: democratization, elections and the voters

Abstract

The restoration of direct presidential elections in 1987 provided momentum for democratization in South Korea. Indeed, popular election of the president had become a symbol of democratization since President Park Chung-hee abolished it in 1972. It may be still a matter for debate whether South Korea is a fully democratized country, but since the democratic 'founding' election of 1987, it has held free and competitive elections five times nationwide (a second presidential election in 1992, three more National Assembly elections in 1988, 1992 and 1996, and an election in 1995 for local government bodies) and the electoral process has begun to occupy a central place in South Korean politics. This paper focuses on the meaning of elections in South Korea during the democratization period (1985-92). It begins by briefly reviewing the political process from 19455 to 1987, with particular attention to South Korea's democratic experiments, and then discusses how the old and new cleavages - that is, the cleavages of government versus opposition, and of course regionalism - have shaped electoral choice in elections during the democratization period. The paper also discusses the role played by regional cleavages, which have continued to prevail in electoral contests since 1987, within the current presidential system of government in South Korea.