I would add that even if attitudes towards America (or more specifically, The Idiot Prince) weren’t part of the text of the thing (as Marmot notes, this election was, in fine Korean style, more about emotion than issues), it certainly was part of the subtext, along with rising distrust and disgust for the Powers That Have Been. But that kind of nuanced argument takes too damn much effort when there’s beer in the fridge.

(Also, since I’m here, I’ve just got to offer my usual ‘Glenn Reynolds Can Bite Me’ slogan. A wonderchicken comment here just wouldn’t be the same without it, I know.)

PING:
TITLE: Korea Blogger’s Buffet (linkfest)
BLOG NAME: Budaechigae ?쨋??흸??째흸?째흹
It took quite a while last night to go through the ever expanding blogroll, so I thought I’d do a buffet spread of the posts that highlighted the end of last week. As expected, The Marmot, the Yangban and the

PING:
TITLE: Korea Blogger’s Buffet (linkfest)
BLOG NAME: Budaechigae ?쨋??흸??째흸?째흹
It took quite a while last night to go through the ever expanding blogroll, so I thought I’d do a buffet spread of the posts that highlighted the end of last week. As expected, The Marmot, the Yangban and the

PING:
TITLE: Korea Blogger’s Buffet (linkfest)
BLOG NAME: Budaechigae ?쨋??흸??째흸?째흹
It took quite a while last night to go through the ever expanding blogroll, so I thought I’d do a buffet spread of the posts that highlighted the end of last week. As expected, The Marmot, the Yangban and the

PING:
TITLE: Korea Blogger’s Buffet (linkfest)
BLOG NAME: Budaechigae ?쨋??흸??째흸?째흹
It took quite a while last night to go through the ever expanding blogroll, so I thought I’d do a buffet spread of the posts that highlighted the end of last week. As expected, The Marmot, the Yangban and the

PING:
TITLE: Korea Blogger’s Buffet (linkfest)
BLOG NAME: Budaechigae ?쨋??흸??째흸?째흹
It took quite a while last night to go through the ever expanding blogroll, so I thought I’d do a buffet spread of the posts that highlighted the end of last week. As expected, The Marmot, the Yangban and the

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BLOG NAME: Budaechigae ?쨋??흸??째흸?째흹
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PING:
TITLE: Eyes on Korea: 2004-05-11
BLOG NAME: Winds of Change.NET
Today’s Headings Include: The DPRK (North Korea); The ROK (South Korea, incl. elections coverage); US-ROK Issues (incl. Iraq); and random Korea stuff, from photos to sports to religion

PING:
TITLE: Eyes on Korea: 2004-05-11
BLOG NAME: Winds of Change.NET
Today’s Headings Include: The DPRK (North Korea); The ROK (South Korea, incl. elections coverage); US-ROK Issues (incl. Iraq); and random Korea stuff, from photos to sports to religion

PING:
TITLE: Eyes on Korea: 2004-05-11
BLOG NAME: Winds of Change.NET
Today’s Headings Include: The DPRK (North Korea); The ROK (South Korea, incl. elections coverage); US-ROK Issues (incl. Iraq); and random Korea stuff, from photos to sports to religion

PING:
TITLE: Eyes on Korea: 2004-05-11
BLOG NAME: Winds of Change.NET
Today’s Headings Include: The DPRK (North Korea); The ROK (South Korea, incl. elections coverage); US-ROK Issues (incl. Iraq); and random Korea stuff, from photos to sports to religion

Yes, its role in the impeachment is probably the main reason MDP went from 59 seats in the old Assembly to only 9 in the new, but the MDP supporters who switched to the Uri Party were able to do so without sacrificing their basic beliefs, which are appeasement with North Korea and more independence from the United States. As you know, the Uri and the MDP started out as one party supporting Roh.

If impeachment were really the fundamental issue, then why was the GNP not also decimated? The GNP got 121 seats in the new Assembly, a lost of only 16 seats.

The Uri party supports Roh, who wants appeasement with North Korea and more independence from the US. If the Uri party is less opposed to US initiatives than the MDP, it is mainly because Roh has had to adjust his stance on those initiatives after coming face-to-face with the realities of being president of a country with a high degree of dependence on the United States.

The Uri party supports sending troops to Iraq, but they consider it a “necessary evil.” Some of the major players in the party are even openly opposed to it.

This election was mainly about supporters of one left-leaning party switching to another left-leaning party. There was most likely some in the center who switched to Uri because of the impeachment, but I think the results show that politics in Korea is still all about right and left.

Gerry — I’m sorry, but I gotta disaggree with you here. The “real issues” were not North Korea and the U.S.-R.O.K. relationship. There were no “real issues” in this election, with the exception of the impeachment. If U.S. policy was the central issue, why was the MDP — which is even more opposed to U.S. policy initiatives than Uri — crushed, even in the Jeolla provinces (Christ, Uri swept Gwangju)? I’m not characterizing the Uri Party as pro-Bush (or even pro-American). because clearly it is not. But given the events of the last couple of months, in which we’ve seen support levels for the Uri Party skyrocket since the impeachment (and support for the MDP — which spearheaded the impeachment — utterly collapse, despite its anti-American posture), I don’t see how it’s possible to see this election as a referrendum on the U.S.-R.O.K. relationship. I don’t even think it was a referrendum on Roh, even though I’m sure Cheong Wa Dae would like to think it was. If anything, this was a referrendum on parliamentary misbehavior, and that’s it.

Thanks for the link and pointing out the great comment.

Anyway, it really is staggering how wrong Josh could have been on this issue. I chalk it up to what happens when you specialize. He’s a beltway insider, and I read him like a junkie for it, and no doubt the NYT or whoever else was talking about the Korean elections always do so with a “beltway context.” It’s just not always true.

Yes, the surface issues during the Korean elections were slush funds and the impeachment, but the real issues were Korea’s relationships with the United States and North Korea.

The “opposition to the policies of the Bush administration” did not have to be mentioned in this election because they were already mentioned in the last. Almost every Korean knows which party supports and which party opposes US policies, especially US policy on North Korea.

The Uri party supports President Roh, and Roh was elected president of Korea because of of his promises to stand up to the United States and reconcile with North Korea, not because of his promises to clean up Korean politics. The DLP is not the only anti-US party in Korea.

About half of all Koreans are anti-US, and a majority of Koreans are anti-Bush. Most of those anti-US, anti-Bush Koreans are in the Uri Party. Because Koreans are so anti-Bush, it would have been political suicide for the GNP to make US policy an issue in this election. Likewise, the Uri party did not want to make US policy an issue because of its support for sending Korean troops to Iraq, which seems to conflict with the party’s anti-US mindset, but which has already been explained to the Korean public as being a “necessary evil.”

Yes, Koreans are tired of slush funds, especially those held by the party they are against, but the dominating factors in Korean politics are left and right. Even regionalism can be broken down into left and right. The right supports the US and the left opposes her.