A Clash of Generations in South Korean Race
By Norimitsu Onishi
The New York Times
April 13, 2004

(Coyner's Comment: This article is one of the better snapshots of S Korea today. Indeed generational splits are widening - and being exploited by - self-proclaimed "progressive" politicians. Cynically speaking, one may describe the age-old power grab game has having switched horses from regionalism to ageism with the false labeling of conservative and liberalism.

(There is indeed a sincere desire by the young progressives to redistribute wealth since wealth makers may be envied but rarely are they respected since the general underlying assumption in S Korea is that the wealthy and successful have achieved their status by unethical or at least unfair means. This plays particularly well to the young who have not yet been able to achieve their own wealth or to those who feel they are being denied the opportunity to get ahead.

(What is interesting is where all this may be headed post-election with a new populist mandate to the national government. In optimistic terms, a new dawn is breaking on Korea where there will be a national assembly filled with well meaning, uncorrupt neophyte politicians. Clean government with a greatly diminished level of corruption may take place and this year's chaotic episodes will be regarded in history as part of the growing pains of a sophisticated democracy.

(On the other hand, pessimistically speaking, this could mark the epitome of Korea in modern history. A more socialist minded national assembly and president may focus too much of its resources on addressing real and imagined past wrongs and not pay adequate attention to keep Korea competitive amongst its increasingly powerful neighbors. Various "tax the rich" schemes will accelerate the hollowing out of Korean multinationals and create a new brain drain as those of ability (and wealth) emigrate abroad. Meantime, the US-Korea relationship will suffer from mutual fatigue and given the disappearing likelihood of the North actually attacking the South, the end of the Cold War, and the diminished strategic importance of Korea both economically and politically, the US will be happy to reduce its forces and possibly withdraw completely as it has done in the Philippines.

(What will likely occur, of course, will be something in between the two above scenarios. What remains is the N Korean wild card that not even Pyongyang may have control. According to recent defectors, the rank and file N Koreans are eager for a war if only to end the eternally damaging stalemate. Yet the elite of Pyongyang dare not launch a war as that would be a certain End Game for them. Rather, they would rather negotiate for concessions and, more importantly, for time since time is on their side given either S Korean scenario detailed above. If given enough time, Pyongyang may in the end succeed in unifying the peninsula politically as market economic and Western military forces tire of the Korean environment while domestic entrepreneurs as individuals and as corporate members realize that they would do much better abroad than in Korea.

(The "wild card" risk factor will be how well can North - and South - Korean governments placate the N Korean common people and military to withstand more of the same for the coming decade or so. Should something within the economic or political N Korean environment snap and force Kim Jong-Il to act against his better judgment, then all bets are off.

(Whatever the outcome, things will remain only all the more interesting in the near-term Korean future as the struggle between Korea' haves and have-nots intensifies on both sides of the DMZ.)

 

DAEGU, South Korea In South Korea, regionalism has traditionally been the deciding factor in elections. People here in the southeast, used to sending military and civilian rulers to Seoul, backed the Grand National Party or other conservative parties. Voters in the southwest have supported the opposition parties.

But in the two-week campaign leading up to South Korea's parliamentary elections on Thursday, age has replaced regionalism as the single most important factor. There are signs that younger voters here will vote based on the issues important to their generation rather than according to their region. Jeong Hae Sun, 24, and her boyfriend, Park Byung Doo, 28, both natives of Daegu, were shopping at a small market here. Jeong said she did not like President Roh Moo Hyun or the Uri Party, which supports him. "I'll support the Grand National Party," she said.

But Park, carrying tofu inside a plastic bag, said he would support the Uri Party because it was "progressive and reform-minded."

At a nearby shoe store, its owner, Lee Beon Yong, 42, said hesitantly that he, too, would support the local candidate for the Uri Party.

"I want this blasted regionalism to disappear," he said. "I'll vote for the best candidate."

Behind the histrionics of South Korean politics - punctuated recently by members of the National Assembly locked in wrestling holds as lawmakers moved to impeach Roh - a generational and ideological divide has emerged more clearly than ever. The results of the elections on Thursday will indicate what direction South Korea will take on issues like North Korea and South Korea's security alliance with the United States.

The conservative Grand National Party, which had a majority in the National Assembly and is popular among older voters, has been struggling since leading the unpopular impeachment. The liberal Uri Party, which draws support from younger voters, looked set to capture a majority, though a gaffe by its chairman appears to have hurt it. Public opinion polls are barred during the campaign period for the assembly's 299 seats. The fate of Roh, elected a little over a year ago for a five-year term, lies with the Constitutional Court. But the voting on Thursday is also seen as a referendum on his presidency and may influence the outcome of the impeachment process.

The campaign's defining moment may have occurred when it was revealed that Chung Dong Young, the chairman of the Uri Party, said that Koreans in their 60s and 70s "don't need to vote" and should "just stay at home and rest." Younger Koreans should decide the country's future, he said.

He has been apologizing ever since, and rivals have pounced on the blunder. A protest over the comment led gray-haired men in checkered jackets and blue suits to tussle in a park in Seoul, grabbing one another's arms and legs.

"Never too old to fight," wrote the newspaper JoongAng Ilbo. A Grand National candidate in Daegu, Joo Seong Young, 46, delivered a speech on Saturday next to a senior citizens' center. Koreans in their 60s and 70s built South Korea with their sweat, he said.

"He's telling these people not to vote," Joo said of the Uri chairman. "How can he even think such thoughts, much less blurt them out?"

In the Shinchon neighborhood of Seoul, the site of several colleges, the chairman, Chung, apologized again for his remark and tried to portray the election as a fight not against old people but against old politics. "This election on April 15 will be a pivotal moment to see whether the people win or lose," Chung said.

But on Monday, without specifically mentioning his gaffe, Chung quit as chief of the election campaign and dropped out of the race for his seat in the National Assembly, Reuters reported. He said he was putting the party chairmanship "on the line," pending the outcome of the election.

When Roh was elected president, the political establishment was stunned. A human rights lawyer, with little political experience and no college degree, he was the ultimate outsider. But his message resonated with the wired generation, which was disillusioned with the corrupt political establishment and its cozy ties with big business, and which cast a skeptical look at the United States while being receptive to closer ties with North Korea.

To some older Koreans, though, who grew up fiercely anti-Communist and pro-American, the changes have been hard to swallow. Roh's supporters say that he has created a more democratic South Korea. He has begun decentralizing power to local governments and giving real autonomy to the country's prosecutors, tax and security agents. He has given prosecutors leeway to investigate corruption, leading to the arrest of even some of his own close aides. He has given access to all news organizations, while undermining the press club structure that guaranteed snug ties between the government and the big media.

Kim Byong Joon, chairman of the presidential committee on government innovation and decentralization, said Roh's opponents were afraid of moving South Korea, which first began democratizing in 1987, from a "Confucian, authoritarian" order to an open society.

The opposition moved to impeach Roh, Kim said, because it saw that he was "serious about reform."

"Roh gave prosecutors full discretion so that they were even able to investigate wrongdoing by his closest aides," Kim said.

Conservatives, however, accuse Roh of creating chaos. They say he has exploited the generational fissures, as well as a widening class divide, to win support at the expense of social unity. His administration has been overly accommodating of North Korea, while capitalizing on anti-American sentiments, they say.

"If the Uri Party gains a majority and Roh remains in power, we will see more pro-North Korea and anti-U.S. tendencies," said Cho Gab Je, editor in chief of the conservative magazine Monthly Chosun. "In general, South Korean society will move from the sphere of the United States to the sphere of China."