DOCSLIB.ORG

UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Historicizing the Discourse

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Historicizing the Discourse UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Historicizing the Discourse on Pro-Japanese Collaborators in Contemporary Korean History from the Late 1970s to the Late 2000s A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Asian Languages and Cultures By Yeun-Jee Song 2013 © Copyright by Yeun-Jee Song 2013 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Historicizing the Discourse on Pro-Japanese Collaborators in Contemporary Korean History from the Late 1970s to the Late 2000s By Yeun-Jee Song Doctor of Philosophy in Asian Languages and Cultures University of California, Los Angeles, 2013 Professor John Duncan My dissertation aims at historicizing the formation, spread, and institutionalization of the discourse on pro-Japanese collaborators (ch’inilp’a discourse) in contemporary South Korean society from the late 1970s to the late 2000s. The ch’inilp’a discourse is a unique historical narrative that claims to resolve the issue of unpunished pro-Japanese collaborators—who were not punished right after Korea’s liberation from Japan—in the present. This discourse attributes all post-1945 political mishaps to the failure to punish collaborators immediately after liberation. Located at the interlocking position of calling for dealing with the unsolved task of decolonization and democratic progress, the ch’inilp’a discourse reflects a victimized postcolonial historical consciousness of Korean progressives and functions as progressives’ ii powerful political rhetoric against political conservatives after the demise of radical socio- political reform movement in the early 1990s. Closely looking at media coverage and intellectual writings on pro-Japanese collaboration issue, this dissertation examines how specific socio-political culture and events interactively worked together to form, disperse, and popularize this discourse, after bringing this once-taboo subject back into society in the 1980s to the biggest polemical issue in politics and civil society by the 2000s. Furthermore, the rise of the movement for resettling the ch’inilp’a issue (Ch’inilp’a ch’ŏngsan movement), in association with memorial project disputes, drastically reshaped public memory of powerful post-1945 elites as well as 20th century Korean history. The inarguable political victory of the discourse—successfully transforming itself from a marginalized historical narrative to a state-sanctioned one—was greatly indebted to its reproduction and mobilization of historical trauma from Japanese colonialism and unhealed memory in postcolonial Korea. The birth of the ch’inilp’a discourse is closely tied to the strong postcolonial historical consciousness of progressives, encapsulated with a phrase “liberated, but in fact not,” and associated with the absence of a “proper” decolonization process, continuing foreign influence, and frustrated democratization process up until the 1980s. However, the social phenomenon of ch’inilp’a at turn-of-the-21st-century Korea has taken place at the intersection of the rise of a new form of anti-foreign nationalism and desire for further democratic progress among the public after Korea’s democratization in 1987. iii The dissertation of Yeun-Jee Song is approved. Namhee Lee R. Bin Wong John Duncan, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2013 iv To My Late Father and Mother Who are a source of inspiration for my graduate study, but passed away before my completion. v Table of Contents Introduction --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Chapter I Prologue: Forming the Stage for Ch’inilp’a Discourse -----------------------------------10 1. The Failed Beginning of South Korea? ----------------------------------------------------- 10 2. A Brief Fissure in 1961 in the Middle of a Long Silence --------------------------------- 22 3. In the Era of Revolution in the 1980s ------------------------------------------------------- 25 Chapter II The Emergence of Ch’inilp’a Discourse in the Late 1980s and 1990s -------------- 32 1. The Democratic Transformation of Korean Society as a Background of the Emergence of Ch’inilp’a Discourse ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 33 2. The Genealogy, Spread, and Logic of Ch’inilp’a Discourse ----------------------------- 46 3. Contextualizing Ch’inilp’a Discourse in the Post-Democratization Process from the Late 1980s to the Early 2000s ----------------------------------------------------------------- 66 Chapter III Ch’inilp’a ch’ŏngsan as a Political Project in the 2000s ------------------------------ 82 1. Background of the Politicization and Institutionalization of the Ch’inilp’a Issue in Society -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 83 2. The Struggle for Legislation of the Ch’inilp’a Issue ------------------------------------- 105 3. The Ch’inil ch’ŏngsan Movement of the Institute for Research in Collaborationist Activities ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 126 Chapter IV Local Memory Politics and Ch’inilp’a ch’ŏngsan Movement ----------------------- 151 1. The Debates on the Memorization of Yi Ŭnsang and Cho Tuman in Masan ---------- 153 vi 2. The Controversy over the Removal of the Non’gae Portrait in Jinju ------------------ 169 3. The Controversy over the Memorial Projects of Yu Ch’ihwan in Tongyeong -------- 178 Chapter V The Discourse and Counter-Discourse of Ch’inilp’a ch’ŏngsan: Academic Debates on the Feasibility of Resettling the Collaboration Issue and History Textbook Debate ---------188 1. Feasibility versus Infeasibility: Academic Discussion on Ch’inilp’a ch’ŏngsan------ 189 2. History Textbook Controversy: What Should be the Next Historical Narrative for Future Generation -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 206 Epilogue -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 226 Bibliography------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 236 vii List of Tables Table 1. Local Ch’inilp’a ch’ŏngsan Movement Cases pp. 140-144 Table 2. Career of IRCA Members regarding Civic Movement pp. 147-148 viii Abbreviations ADIMM 순국선열유족회 (Sun’guk sŏnyŏl yujokhoe) Association of the Descendants of the Independence Movement Martyrs ADMMIM 독립유공자유족협의회(Tongnip yugongja yujok hyŏphoe) Association of the Descendants of Men of Merit of the Independence Movement AMFMC 삼일동지회 (Samil tongjihoe) Association of March First Movement’s Comrades APWV 태평양전쟁희생자유족회 (T’aep’yŏngyang chŏnjaeng hŭisaengja yujokhoe) Association for the Pacific War Victims AWNLC 민족문화작가회의협의회 (Minjok munhak chakka hoeŭi hyŏbŭihoe) Association of Writers for National Literature Council CCDM 민주언론을 위한 시민연대 (Minju ŏllon ŭl wihan simin yŏndae) Citizen’s Coaltion for Democratic Media CCEJ 경실련 (Kyŏngsillyŏn) Citizen’s Coalition for Economic Justice CCK 한국기독교총연합 (Han’guk Kidokkyo ch’ongyŏnhap) The Christian Council of Korea CSON 시민사회단체연대회의 (Simin sahoe tanch’e yŏndae hoeŭi) Civil Society Organizations Network in Korea CSPU 평화통일시민연대 (P’yŏnghwa t’ongil simin yŏndae) Citizens’ Solidarity for Peace & Unification CPAJ 천주교정의구현사제단 (Ch’ŏnjugyo chŏngŭi kuhyŏn sajedan) Catholic Priests’ Association for Justice FKTU 한국노총 (Han’guk noch’ong) Federation of Korean Trade Unions FKU 녹색연대 (Noksaek yŏnhap) Green Korea United JCMH 독도수호와 일본의 유엔안보리 상임이사국 진출 저지를 위한 진주운동본부( Dokdo suho wa Ilbon ŭi UN anbori sangim isaguk chinch’ul chŏji rŭl wihan Jinju undong ponbu) Jinju Citizen’s Movement Headquarters for Protecting Dokdo Islets and Preventing Japan’s Bid for a Permanent Seat in the UN Security Council ix KCTU 민주노총 (Minju noch’ong) Korean Confederation of Trade Unions KCWDMSSJ 정신대대책협의회 (Han’guk chŏngsindae taech’aek hyŏbŭihoe or Chŏngdaehyŏp) The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan KDF 민주화운동기념사업회 (Minjuhwa undong kinyŏm saŏphoe) Korean Democracy Foundation KFEM 환경연합 (Hwangyŏng yŏnhap) Korean Federation for Environmental Movement KLA 광복회 (Kwangbokhoe) Korea Liberation Association KPAF 민족예술인총연합 /한국민예총 (Minjok yesullin ch’ongyŏnhap) Korean Peoples Artist Fedcraction KSVC 전국노점상연합 (Han’guk nojŏmsang yŏnhap) Korean Street Vendors Confederation KTU 전교조 (Chŏn’gyojo) Korean Teachers & Education Workers’ Union LDS 민주화를 위한 변호사의 모임 (Minjuhwa rŭl wihan pyŏnhosa ŭi moim) Lawyers for a Democratic Society MCMFM 삼일운동기념사업회 (Samil undong kinyŏm saŏphoe) Meeting for Commemorating the March First Movement M P VA 보훈처 (Pohunch’ŏ) Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs NDC 민주단체협의회 (Minju tanch’e hyŏbŭihoe) National Democratic Council NFMND 전국민족민주운동연합/전민련 (Chŏn’guk minjok minju undong yŏnhap) National Federation for the Movement of Nation and Democracy NGEU 전국공무원노동조합 (Chŏn’guk kongmuwŏn nodong chohap) National Government Employees’ Union NNC 반핵반김국민협의회 (Pan-haek pan-Kim kungmin hyŏbŭihoe) People’s Anti-Nuclear and Anti-Kim Jong Il Alliance, its official English title is Nonuclear.co.kr x PKAR 조국통일범민족연합 /범민련 (Choguk t’ongil pŏm-minjok yŏnhap) Pan-Korean Alliance for Reunification PSPD 참여연대 (Ch’amyŏ yŏndae) People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy Political Party DP 민주당 (Minjudang) Democratic Party DLP 민주노동당 (Minju nodongdang) Democratic Labor Party GNP 한나라당 (Hannaradang) Grand National Party NFP 새누리당 (Saeruridang) New Frontier Party PDP 평화민주당 (Pyŏnghwa minjudang) Peace Democratic Party Collaboration-related Organizations AHOS 열린사회희망연대 (Yŏllin sahoe Hŭimang yŏndae) Alliance
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Electoral Politics in South Korea
    South Korea: Aurel Croissant Electoral Politics in South Korea Aurel Croissant Introduction In December 1997, South Korean democracy faced the fifteenth presidential elections since the Republic of Korea became independent in August 1948. For the first time in almost 50 years, elections led to a take-over of power by the opposition. Simultaneously, the election marked the tenth anniversary of Korean democracy, which successfully passed its first ‘turnover test’ (Huntington, 1991) when elected President Kim Dae-jung was inaugurated on 25 February 1998. For South Korea, which had had six constitutions in only five decades and in which no president had left office peacefully before democratization took place in 1987, the last 15 years have marked a period of unprecedented democratic continuity and political stability. Because of this, some observers already call South Korea ‘the most powerful democracy in East Asia after Japan’ (Diamond and Shin, 2000: 1). The victory of the opposition over the party in power and, above all, the turnover of the presidency in 1998 seem to indicate that Korean democracy is on the road to full consolidation (Diamond and Shin, 2000: 3). This chapter will focus on the role elections and the electoral system have played in the political development of South Korea since independence, and especially after democratization in 1987-88. Five questions structure the analysis: 1. How has the electoral system developed in South Korea since independence in 1948? 2. What functions have elections and electoral systems had in South Korea during the last five decades? 3. What have been the patterns of electoral politics and electoral reform in South Korea? 4.
    [Show full text]
  • Title, Table of Contents, Acknowledgements
    ☯ A TURNING POINT: DEMOCRATIC CONSOLIDATION IN THE ROK AND STRATEGIC READJUSTMENT IN THE U.S.-ROK ALLIANCE Alexandre Y. Mansourov ii About APCSS The Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (APCSS) is a Department of Defense regional study, conference, and research center established in Honolulu, Hawaii, on September 4, 1995. The Center staff and faculty of 127, including civilians, multi-service active duty military and contract workers, support the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) and complements PACOM's theater security cooperation strategy of maintaining positive security relationships with nations in the Asia-Pacific region. With its non-warfighting, academic focus, the APCSS builds upon strong bilateral relationships between PACOM and 45 Asia-Pacific region governments, and their armed forces, by focusing on a broader multilateral approach to addressing regional security issues and concerns. The Center’s mission is “to provide a forum where current and future military and civilian leaders from Asia-Pacific nations gather to enhance security cooperation through programs of executive education, professional exchange, and policy-relevant research.” The APCSS principles are transparency, non- attribution, and mutual respect. Its website is http://www.apcss.org/. The Center embraces its vision as an internationally recognized, premier study, research, and conference institution, actively contributing to stability and security in the Asia-Pacific Region. iii ROK Turning Point ALEXANDRE Y. MANSOUROV EDITOR ©ASIA-PACIFIC CENTER FOR SECURITY STUDIES HONOLULU, HAWAII 2005 Alexandre Y. Mansourov iv Copyright @ 2005 by the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies Published 2005 by the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies Honolulu, Hawaii Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved.
    [Show full text]
  • Running Head: FAKE NEWS AS a THREAT to the DEMOCRATIC MEDIA ENVIRONMENT
    Running head: FAKE NEWS AS A THREAT TO THE DEMOCRATIC MEDIA ENVIRONMENT Fake News as a Threat to the Democratic Media Environment: Past Conditions of Media Regulation and Their Contemporary Applicability to New Media in the United States of America and South Korea Jae Hyun Park Duke University FAKE NEWS AS A THREAT TO THE DEMOCRATIC MEDIA ENVIRONMENT 1 Abstract This study uses a comparative case study policy analysis to evaluate whether the media regulation standards that the governments of the United States of America and South Korea used in the past apply to fake news on social media and the Internet today. We first identify the shared conditions based on which the two governments intervened in the free press. Then, we examine media regulation laws regarding these conditions and review court cases in which they were utilized. In each section, we draw similarities and differences between the two governments’ courses of action. The comparative analysis will serve useful in the conclusion, where we assess the applicability of those conditions to fake news on new media platforms in each country and deliberate policy recommendations as well as policy flow between the two countries. Keywords: censorship, defamation, democracy, falsity, fairness, freedom of speech, ​ intention, journalistic truth, news manipulation, objectivity FAKE NEWS AS A THREAT TO THE DEMOCRATIC MEDIA ENVIRONMENT 2 Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 4
    [Show full text]
  • Candlelight Vigil at Chinese Embassy to Mark Save North Korea Refugees Day: September 24; Over 20 Cities Plan Action
    For Immediate Release: September 21, 2015 Contact: Suzanne Scholte or Jack Rendler; Phone: 202-257-0095 (Scholte) or 612-202-8512 (Rendler) Candlelight Vigil at Chinese Embassy to Mark Save North Korea Refugees Day: September 24; Over 20 Cities Plan Action (Washington, D.C.)….On Thursday September 24, the North Korea Freedom Coalition joined by the International Coalition to Stop Crimes Against Humanity in North Korea is sponsoring the annual “Save North Korean Refugees Day" to recognize the horrifying plight and inhumane treatment of North Korean refugees by the Chinese government. Petition deliveries will occur in cities throughout the world including Washington, D.C., Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco; Seoul, Busan; Toyko; Berlin; London; The Hague; Toronto, Ottawa; Mexico City; Rio de Janeiro; Santiago; and Buenos Aires calling for the government of China to abide by its international treaty obligations and stop forcing North Koreans back to North Korea to face torture, imprisonment and even execution for fleeing their homeland. Solidarity cities including San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Waterloo, Ontario are planning events to call for action to help North Korean refugees. Several cities will also have events to mark the tragic circumstances facing North Korean refugees. For example, in Chicago, the North Korea Freedom Network will sponsor a protest at 11 am in front of the Chinese consulate, while in Washington, D.C., there will be a candlelight vigil at 8 pm at the Chinese embassy at which North Korean defectors and activists will read aloud the names of the hundreds of refugees who were forced back to North Korea by China.
    [Show full text]
  • A Confucian Interpretation of South Korea's Candlelight Revolution
    religions Article Candlelight for Our Country’s Right Name: A Confucian Interpretation of South Korea’s Candlelight Revolution Sungmoon Kim Department of Public Policy, City University of Hong Kong, 83 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong; [email protected]; Tel.: +(852)-3442-8274 Received: 10 September 2018; Accepted: 26 October 2018; Published: 28 October 2018 Abstract: The candlelight protest that took place in South Korea from October 2016 to March 2017 was a landmark political event, not least because it ultimately led to the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye. Arguably, its more historically important meaning lies in the fact that it marks the first nation-wide political struggle since the June Uprising of 1987, where civil society won an unequivocal victory over a regime that was found to be corrupt, unjust, and undemocratic, making it the most orderly, civil, and peaceful political revolution in modern Korean history. Despite a plethora of literature investigating the cause of what is now called “the Candlelight Revolution” and its implications for Korean democracy, less attention has been paid to the cultural motivation and moral discourse that galvanized Korean civil society. This paper captures the Korean civil society which resulted in the Candlelight Revolution in terms of Confucian democratic civil society, distinct from both liberal pluralist civil society and Confucian meritocratic civil society, and argues that Confucian democratic civil society can provide a useful conceptual tool by which to not only philosophically construct a vision of civil society that is culturally relevant and politically practicable but also to critically evaluate the politics of civil society in the East Asian context.
    [Show full text]
  • Comparing the 16Th and 17Th Korean Presidential Elections － Candidate Strengths, Campaign Issues, and Region-Centered Voting －
    33 〈特集１ ２００７年韓国大統領選挙〉 Comparing the 16th and 17th Korean Presidential Elections － Candidate Strengths, Campaign Issues, and Region-Centered Voting － Byoung Kwon Sohn th th Abstract: This article aims at comparing the 16 and 17 presidential elections in terms of the number of major competitive candidates, candidates’ strengths, major campaign issues and the effect of region-centered voting. Among other things, both elections are commonly characterized by the major party’s presidential candidates being selected via U.S. style primary, which had been first adopted in the 2002 presidential election. Rampantly strong region- centered voting pattern counts among continuities as well, while in 2002 the effect of region- centered voting appeared in a somewhat mitigated form. Contrasts, however, loom rather large between the two elections. First, while the 2002 election was a two-way election between NMDP and GNP, the 2007 election was a three-way election among DNP, GNP, and one competitive independent candidate. Second, strong anti-Americanism, relocation of Korean capital, and younger generation’s activism counted among major issues and features in 2002, while in 2007 voters’ anger at the incumbent president and their ardent hope for economic recovery were atop campaign issues. Third, strong as region-centered voting may be across the two elections, its effect was somewhat mitigated in the 2002 presidential election, because NMDP candidate Roh’s hometown was in Pusan, where GNP had traditionally ruled as a regional hegemonic party. Lastly, in 2002 Roh was able to get elected partly due to his image as a reform-oriented, non-mainstream, anti-American stance politician.
    [Show full text]
  • Online Activism and South Korea's Candlelight Movement
    WINDOW ON ASIA Candlelight rally in Seoul, June 2008. Online Activism PC: Michael-kay Park and South Korea’s @flickr.com. Candlelight Movement Hyejin KIM The Candlelight Movement of 2016 and outh Korea has a storied history of 2017 that successfully called for President mass agitation for political causes. Park Geun-hye to step down is among the SThe Candlelight Movement of 2016– largest social movements in South Korean 17, which called for President Park Geun-hye history. This movement attracted millions to step down, is among the largest—if not the of participants over a sustained period of largest—street demonstration in that history. time, while maintaining strikingly peaceful Set against any of several measuring sticks, demonstrations that ultimately achieved their it was a remarkable success. It attracted goal. In this essay, Hyejin Kim looks at the role millions of participants over a sustained of the Internet and new media in fostering a period of time. The events were strikingly new generation of activists and laying the peaceful—strangers smashed up against each foundation for a successful social mobilisation. other and encountered police, but participants prevented violence and there was not a single fatality. And, of course, the National Assembly 224 MADE IN CHINA YEARBOOK 2018 WINDOW ON ASIA eventually impeached the President, who was in a context where such views were taboo. later dismissed, tried in criminal court, and Surveys show that individual participation eventually sentenced to a lengthy prison term. declined when these organisations entered the Globally, examples like South Korea’s are fray (Kim 2008, 30).
    [Show full text]
  • ANNI Report on the Performance and Establishment of National Human Rights Institutions in Asia
    2014 ANNI Report on the Performance and Establishment of National Human Rights Institutions in Asia The Asian NGO Network on National Human Rights Institutions (ANNI) Compiled and Printed by Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) Secretariat of ANNI Editorial Committee: Balasingham Skanthakumar (Editor-in-chief) Joses Kuan Heewon Chun Layout: Prachoomthong Printing Group ISBN: 978-616-7733-06-7 Copyright ©2014 This book was written for the benefit of human rights defenders and may be quoted from or copied as long as the source and authors are acknowledged. Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) 66/2 Pan Road, Silom, Bang Rak Bangkok, 10500 Thailand Tel: +66 (0)2 637 91266-7 Fax: +66 (0)2 637 9128 Email: [email protected] Web: www.forum-asia.org Table of Contents Foreword 4 Regional Overview: Do NHRIs Occupy a Safe or Precarious Space? 6 Southeast Asia Burma: All the President’s Men 12 Indonesia: Lacking Effectiveness 25 Thailand: Protecting the State or the People? 34 Timor-Leste: Law and Practice Need Further Strengthening 45 South Asia Afghanistan: Unfulfilled Promises, Undermined Commitments 76 Bangladesh: Institutional Commitment Needed 89 The Maldives: Between a Rock and a Hard Place 108 Nepal: Missing Its Members 123 Sri Lanka: Protecting Human Rights or the Government? 135 Northeast Asia Hong Kong: Watchdog Institutions with Narrow Mandates 162 Japan: Government Opposes Establishing a National Institution 173 Mongolia: Selection Process Needed Fixing 182 South Korea: Silent and Inactive 195 Taiwan: Year of Turbulence 216 India: A Big Leap Forward 222 Foreword The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), as the Secretariat of the Asian NGO Network on National Human Rights Institutions (ANNI), humbly presents the publication of the 2014 ANNI Report on the Performance and Establishment of National Human Rights Institutions in Asia.
    [Show full text]
  • Civil Society and the State in Democratic East Asia
    PROTEST AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS Chiavacci, (eds) Grano & Obinger Civil Society and the State in Democratic East Asia East Democratic in State the and Society Civil Edited by David Chiavacci, Simona Grano, and Julia Obinger Civil Society and the State in Democratic East Asia Between Entanglement and Contention in Post High Growth Civil Society and the State in Democratic East Asia Protest and Social Movements Recent years have seen an explosion of protest movements around the world, and academic theories are racing to catch up with them. This series aims to further our understanding of the origins, dealings, decisions, and outcomes of social movements by fostering dialogue among many traditions of thought, across European nations and across continents. All theoretical perspectives are welcome. Books in the series typically combine theory with empirical research, dealing with various types of mobilization, from neighborhood groups to revolutions. We especially welcome work that synthesizes or compares different approaches to social movements, such as cultural and structural traditions, micro- and macro-social, economic and ideal, or qualitative and quantitative. Books in the series will be published in English. One goal is to encourage non- native speakers to introduce their work to Anglophone audiences. Another is to maximize accessibility: all books will be available in open access within a year after printed publication. Series Editors Jan Willem Duyvendak is professor of Sociology at the University of Amsterdam. James M. Jasper teaches at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Civil Society and the State in Democratic East Asia Between Entanglement and Contention in Post High Growth Edited by David Chiavacci, Simona Grano, and Julia Obinger Amsterdam University Press Published with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation.
    [Show full text]
  • Regionalism in South Korean National Assembly Elections
    Regionalism in South Korean National Assembly Elections: A Vote Components Analysis of Electoral Change* Eric C. Browne and Sunwoong Kim Department of Political Science Department of Economics University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee [email protected] [email protected] July 2003 * This paper was originally presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, San Francisco, 29 August – 2 September, 2001. We acknowledge useful comments and suggestions by the session participants, Ronald Weber and anonymous referees. Abstract We analyze emerging regionalism in South Korean electoral politics by developing a “Vote Components Analysis” and applying this technique to data from the eleven South Korean National Assembly elections held between 1963 and 2000. This methodology allows us to decompose the change in voting support for a party into separate effects that include measurement of an idiosyncratic regional component. The analysis documents a pronounced and deepening regionalism in South Korean politics since 1988 when democratic reforms of the electoral system were fully implemented. However, our results also indicate that regional voters are quite responsive to changes in the coalitions formed by their political leaders but not to the apparent mistreatment of, or lack of resource allocations to, specific regions. Further, regionalism does not appear to stem from age-old rivalries between the regions but rather from the confidence of regional voters in the ability of their “favorite sons” to protect their interests and benefit their regions. JEL Classification: N9, R5 Keywords: Regionalism, South Korea, Elections, Vote Components Analysis 2 1. INTRODUCTION The history of a very large number of modern nation-states documents a cyclical pattern of territorial incorporation and disincorporation in their political development.
    [Show full text]
  • Presidential Instability in a Developing Country: Reassessing South Korean Politics from a State-Society Relations Perspective
    Syracuse University SURFACE Dissertations - ALL SURFACE June 2017 Presidential Instability in a Developing Country: Reassessing South Korean Politics from a State-Society Relations Perspective Kyung-hwa Kim Syracuse University Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/etd Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Kim, Kyung-hwa, "Presidential Instability in a Developing Country: Reassessing South Korean Politics from a State-Society Relations Perspective" (2017). Dissertations - ALL. 711. https://surface.syr.edu/etd/711 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the SURFACE at SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations - ALL by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ABSTRACT This study attempts to explain why ALL of South Korean presidents, without exception and notwithstanding their individual major contributions to the process of Korea’s development, have fallen victim to disgraceful downfalls. For the analysis, I employ S.N. Sangmpam’s middle-range theory that establishes a causal link between society-rooted politics and political outcomes. Building on his analytical frameworks that non-Western countries are characterized by over-politicization in politics as a function of social context, I argue that patterned downfalls of all Korean presidents are an institutional outcome of over-politicization in Korean politics, which is itself a function of not fully entrenched capitalist society. In support of my thesis, I test three hypotheses. Hypotheses one and two posit Korea’s tenacious traditional and cultural traits as an internal modifier of capitalism and the nation’s dependent nature of its relationships with the United States and Japan as an external factor that prevented capitalist entrenchment in Korean society.
    [Show full text]
  • BRIEF HISTORY of KOREA —A Bird's-Eyeview—
    BRIEF HISTORY OF KOREA —A Bird's-EyeView— Young Ick Lew with an afterword by Donald P. Gregg The Korea Society New York The Korea Society is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) organization with individual and corporate members that is dedicated solely to the promotion of greater awareness, understanding and cooperation between the people of the United States and Korea. In pursuit of its mission, the Society arranges programs that facilitate dis- cussion, exchanges and research on topics of vital interest to both countries in the areas of public policy, business, education, intercultural relations and the arts. Funding for these programs is derived from contributions, endowments, grants, membership dues and program fees. From its base in New York City, the Society serves audiences across the country through its own outreach efforts and by forging strategic alliances with counterpart organizations in other cities throughout the United States as well as in Korea. The Korea Society takes no institutional position on policy issues and has no affiliation with the U.S. government. All statements of fact and expressions of opinion contained in all its publications are the sole responsibility of the author or authors. For further information about The Korea Society, please write The Korea Society, 950 Third Avenue, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10022, or e-mail: [email protected]. Visit our website at www.koreasociety.org. Copyright © 2000 by Young Ick Lew and The Korea Society All rights reserved. Published 2000 ISBN 1-892887-00-7 Printed in the United States of America Every effort has been made to locate the copyright holders of all copyrighted materials and secure the necessary permission to reproduce them.
    [Show full text]