ABSTRACT

June of 1987 ushered in a new era for Korea. People power triumphed, making elections the “only game in town.” A vision of responsive democracy and transparent economy took hold of society, making its political parties engage in a wholesale transformation. In addition to engaging in what Pempel (this volume) calls “productivity” and “pork barrel” politics, Korean parties had to prove to the electorate that they were ethical too, given the public’s disenchantment with corruption and past human rights violations. Ironically, until 1997, it was the conservatives in power since the 1960s that seized the initiative of democratic reform, confronting what Kim Young-sam once called the “Korean disease” of moral decay, political corruption, and economic inefficiency. The reform backfired as prosecutorial politics eventually traced the root of corruption to the conservative coalition. The New Korea Party (NKP) became the target of public outrage, forcing its leadership to change the party name to the Hannara after a merger with a splinter party in 1997. Then came the Asian Financial Crisis which destroyed what remained of the myth that the conservatives were “technocratic,” capable of delivering prosperity.