ABSTRACT

The Republic of Korea (ROK) has a presidential system of government with strong executive powers. The Korean War and the intense inter-Korean rivalry dictated the delegation of extensive national security powers to the president that have remained after democratization in the late 1980s. Domestic politics have been a factor in dealing with the North Korean nuclear issue since the first nuclear crisis of 1993, and this will continue in the future. South Korean conservatives dominated the inter-Korean agenda over the last five years, but the electorate began to swing back toward the left near the end of President Lee Myung-bak's term. President Lee came into office in February 2008 with the intention of slowing down or halting engagement with Pyongyang, which drew criticism from supporters of former President Roh Moo-hyun and others on the left. Corruption "light" in South Korea generally is viewed as an unavoidable or even necessary part of transaction costs in the modern political economy.