Seminar Series: Abstract

Roh Moo- Hyun’s Legacy: What Impact has it had on South Korea’s “Miraculous Democracy”?
Prof Hyung-A Kim

In the wake of the global recession, South Korea’s Lee Myung-bak government faces a daunting challenge over two major crises, namely, the worst security problem for over a decade with North Korea on the one hand and a widening division and conflict between the rich and the poor and between conservatives and progressives on the other. Added to these crises is the death of former President Roh Moo-hyun who, amid the prosecutor’s investigation of his bribery scandal, threw himself off a cliff in his hometown in May. This event gave rise to an outpouring of grief and sympathy from millions of mourners across the country. In death, Roh was hailed as the people’s president who had devoted himself to democracy by fighting authoritarianism and struggling to end regional favouritism. This overnight phenomenon appears to have nullified the fact that Roh was rejected by conservatives from the beginning and disowned by progressives towards the end of his presidential term. Moreover, the public is increasingly critical of President Lee for his lack of communication with the people and his self-righteous bulldozer-like leadership. Last year's months-long candlelight protests against the resumption of US beef imports is an example of this increasing criticism. What do these developments mean, especially in view of South Korea’s “miraculous” democracy today?
In seeking to explain this puzzling development, this paper examines the impact of Roh Moo-hyun’s legacy on South Korea’s democratic development. By focusing on his leadership-style and his reforms that exacerbated income inequality during his tenure, the paper argues that, in spite of his personal failures and contradictions, including currently exposed bribery scandals and his subsequent suicide, Roh’s legacy, especially in terms of promoting the citizens’ participatory mobility in their search for civic rights and expanding the ideological spectrum in South Korean politics and society, left an indelible mark on South Korea’s bottom-up democracy, however imperfect or controversial.