In the chaotic decades that followed the 1945 liberation from Japan’s colonial rule, South Koreans had limited rights to pick their own leaders, express political beliefs, and participate in any form of policymaking.
They lived under the constant threat of oppressive, militant rulers who were desperate to remain in power in the name of economic development and fighting communism.
It was perhaps the state’s strong power that transformed South Korea into a powerful economy for the years to come, but it was the people who established the value of free democracy through decades of struggles and sacrifices.
Through this dramatic history of citizens’ unrelenting quest for freedom, the procedural democracy that guarantees the people’s equal right to pick their own leaders was fully established.
According to the annual democracy index released by the Economist Intelligence Unit in 2014, South Korea is now considered a “full democracy,” along with only 24 other countries out of 167 nations.
However, the nation today has come to face a series of new challenges, with progressive critics and scholars voicing concerns that the country’s democracy is in retreat, as the country travels from the whirlwind era of democratic movements, through the progressive governments, and on to conservative leadership.
Questions are growing over the qualitative aspects of the nation’s democracy on how well the power delegated by the people is being exercised. Debate has also been going on for years over how to revise the Constitution to distribute Korea’s imperialistic presidential power and expand people’s participation in policy development.
The discussion began to accelerate upon the launch of the conservative Lee Myung-bak administration in 2008, over whether the government’s seemingly increasing social and political intervention was a regressing democracy or pursuit of order and defense against constant North Korean threats. Meanwhile, the country continued to struggle to find a balance on how much the state should intervene in the economy since the 1997 financial crisis.
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20150816000378
