Korean Elections Research Articles

The Meaning of the 1971 Korean Elections: A Pattern of Political Development

The Meaning of the 1971 Korean Elections: A Pattern of Political Development

Patterns in the 1967 Korean Elections

W HEN THE KOREAN VOmTS chose their President and National Assembly members in i967, they were participating in the second election which was held under the constitution of the Third Republic of Korea. The presidential election was held on May 3 and the National Assembly election on June 8. Twenty years of political struggle preceded these elections in which the Korean voters chose their sixth President and seventh National Assembly. Liberation from Japanese control in 1945 meant foreign military occupation by the U.S. Armed Forces south of the 38th parallel and the Red Army of the Soviet Union in the north. It also meant the division of the peninsula and the establishment of implacably opposed governments in the north and south. The outbreak of the Korean war in I950 was an outcome of that division and the trauma of independence for the South Korean Republic is still apparent in its general political instability. Since independence the country has had three republics and three constitutions. The autocratic rule of the First Republic of Syngman Rhee was toppled by the student rebels who protested the rigged election in ig60. In i96i, the Second Republic of Chang Myon and Yun Po-son, which had ruled for about a year, was overthrown by a military coup. For about three years thereafter, the country was under the rule of military junta and in i963 the Korean voters approved a junta-sponsored constitution. In the subsequent elections for President and members of the National Assembly, Pak Chong-hi who headed the junta government was elected President, and his Democratic-Republican Party (DRP) won a majority of the seats in the National Assembly.' This article analyses the i967 elections. What is the meaning of the landslide victory for the government party in these elections? (See Tables I and II.) Is there a discernible pattern of political development in Korea ?2 What

Significance of the 1963 Korean Elections

How should we evaluate the 1963 Korean presidential and National Assembly elections and the new institutional framework of the Third Korean Republic? The presidential elections were held on October 15, 1963. Election returns from 7,392 polling booths awarded victory by a narrow margin to General Pak, head of the military junta since its successful coup in May 1961 and the presidential nominee of the Democratic-Republican party. Pak's chief opponent was Yun Po-sun of the Civil Rule party, former president of the Second Republic. Pak polled 4,702,642 votes (47%) and Yun 4,546,614 votes (45%) out of the 10,081,198 total valid votes cast; 954,977 votes were declared invalid and 1,948,840 voters (16% of the 12,985,015 total registration) did not participate in the election. (See Table 1.) If General Pak hoped to use this election to obtain a popular mandate for continued military rule in Korea, he failed to obtain it, as the votes cast for his opponents amounted to 5,378,558, or 675,916 votes more than the votes cast for Pak. Clearly, Pak would not have won the election without the organizational support of the Democratic-Republican party.J This party was organized as the junta's government party by Kim Chong-p'iJ, a young dynamic organizer, the prime mover of the aforementioned successful coup and formerly the head of Korea's powerful Central Intelligence Agency. In his capacity as Chief of the CIA, Kim laid down a blueprint for the new party and its monopoly of the decision-making apparatus of a new republican government.2 The junta's popularity had steadily declined, primarily because of the failure of the financial reform program, its inability to cope with the worsening economic situation, and the termination of a short-lived honeymoon between the military and the intellectuals.3 Kim's scheme was to popularize a party which embraced within its leadership as many civilian

Significance of the 1963 Korean Elections

Significance of the 1963 Korean Elections

Behind the Korean Election

Behind the Korean Election

The Korean Election

The Korean Election

Behind the Korean Election

Behind the Korean Election

The Korean Election

The Korean Election

The Cold War: Korean Elections

prestige. The outcome of the UN-approved elections which are scheduled for May 10 will not only determine the nature of Korea's government, but will be an indication of the future trend of American policy in the Far East and a test of the ability of the United Nations to settle disputes between great powers. The United States is determined to carry out the UN decision to proceed with the elections. But, despite the reported estimate that over ninety percent of the voters have registered, Korean opinion is far from unanimous on the question of the advisability of holding elections at this time to establish a national government. There is no doubt that many of the people have been led by the forces at work to believe that they are under obli? gation to vote. The extreme right wing in Korean politics, headed by Dr. Syngman Rhee, is the group most zealously supporting the plan, because it falls in line with its orig? inal desire to establish a separate government for South Korea. During the early days of deliberation by the United Nations, Dr. Rhee was strongly opposed to any UN observation of Korean elections, fearful of outside scrutiny. But Soviet non-participation in UN plans for Korea has made the situation increasingly favorable to a rightist victory and that group is now using every means possible to assure that the elections be carried out.