Faltering democratic consolidation in South Korea: democracy at the end of the ‘three Kims’ era

Abstract

This article is a case study of South Korean democratic consolidation in the ‘three Kims’ era that ended in 2002. The article evaluates the achievements and failures with regard to democratic consolidation. In a negative sense the ‘three Kims’ made great progress toward consolidation, such as reinstituting a firm civilian control over the military, institutionalizing electoral competitions and a peaceful transfer of government. However, with regard to the more positive terms of democratic consolidation, the record is a dismal failure. The ‘three Kims’ handed over some unfavourable legacies, including divisive regionalism, an underdeveloped party system, an imperial but weak and ineffective presidency and political corruption. Korean democracy at the end of the ‘three Kims’ era was at best faltering on the verge of consolidation. Thus although Korea has been classified as a liberal democracy, by Freedom House, it retained many of the elements of ‘defective democracy’