South Korean Presidential Politics Turns Liberal: Transformative Change or Business as Usual?

Jörg Michael Dostal

doi:10.1111/1467-923x.12394

Abstract

AbstractThe impeachment of President Park Gyeun‐hye on 10 March 2017 saw South Korean politics enter a period of crisis. Her removal from office, the result of an unprecedented mass movement of citizen protests, provided a springboard for the subsequent success of the liberal candidate, Moon Jae‐in, in the presidential election of 9 May 2017. This article suggests that political change in South Korea is only possible if actors move beyond the politics of personality, and tackle the structural reasons for the policy failures of recent times. Further, if democracy, a humane economic system and responsive political institutions are going to be developed and nourished, the country's ‘imperial presidency’ needs to be reformed. In particular, the current ‘winner‐takes‐all’ politics, with the presidency as the main locus of power, needs to be reformed in ways that promote a more balanced political system, increasing the influence of other actors and institutions.

Highlights

THE UNPRECEDENTED IMPEACHMENT of Park Gyeun-hye by the South Korean constitutional court on 10 March 2017, and her subsequent arrest on abuse of power and corruption allegations, constitutes the most dramatic event in South Korea’s history since the transition to democracy in the late 1980s
Does the current political crisis suggest a transformation of the country’s constitution, political system and social fabric? Or will it be remembered as just another clash between opposing conservative and liberal political tendencies? In particular, will recent events precipitate the decline of the current ‘winnertakes-all’ political system, concentrating power in the hands of an ‘imperial presidency’ of South Korea?1 What kind of development is the country going to face in a world in which geopolitical tensions between China and the USA might directly affect its future prospects —given that South Korea has more trade with China than the USA, but remains under a US security umbrella that is increasingly at odds with China’s regional aspirations?
This second stage policy, the most important period in the country’s economic history, saw direct state control of the financial sector, and targeted credit provision for chaebols in exchange for their ability to meet export targets set by state officials. These policies have usually been described as the South Korean version of a developmental state; a concept initially developed to analyse the political economy of Japan

Summary

Introduction

THE UNPRECEDENTED IMPEACHMENT of Park Gyeun-hye by the South Korean constitutional court on 10 March 2017, and her subsequent arrest on abuse of power and corruption allegations, constitutes the most dramatic event in South Korea’s history since the transition to democracy in the late 1980s. Written by state-appointed authors, and in a spirit favoured by some conservatives, the project was designed to do justice to the historical achievements of her father, but it was strongly opposed by liberals and the overwhelming majority of teachers It took two more years for the general public to discover that people working for the Park presidency had blacklisted artists, writers, publishers and other cultural figures that were regarded as unreliable by conservatives who, instead, supported those considered to be on the side of the President.[4]. The cults, chaired by Choi’s father, had primarily served to provide ‘spiritual’ support for the military regime but had, in parallel, collected money from businesses Such donations were ‘offered’ by the chaebols (the Korean term for ‘rich clan’), the family-led industrial conglomerates in South Korea, which had been created under the regime of Park’s father to facilitate industrialisation since the 1960s.

Main features of South Korean politics

Main cleavages of contemporary South Korea

Findings

Conclusion