ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on empirical evidence found in studies conducted in Korea, explores some of the social and cultural factors that have influenced Korean society as it is in terms of the use of digital media and its consequences. Korea ranked first in terms of the information and communication technology Development Index among 167 countries surveyed by the International Telecommunication Union in 2015. The impact of digital media in transforming Korean society is especially striking, because the traditional communication culture that functions as a dominant social organizing principle in contemporary Korean society is exactly the opposite of what digital media afforded. The dreams of a citizens’ deliberative democracy became widespread in the early 2000s. “Agora” was a name for the political discussion board of one of the biggest Internet portal services, Daum. The relationship between Internet use and the level of social trust has been a relatively popular for social scientific research.
