ABSTRACT
From a distance the political systems of the two Koreas had a foreign look in 1953—a constitutional democracy in the South and a socialist state in the North—but on closer inspection both showed the strong influence of traditional Korean political culture. Koreans made some advances in education and technical skills under the Japanese, but were denied experience in political activity. In South Korea the influx of western ideas and the social change resulting from a modernizing free enterprise system have overlaid and blurred traditional political values. Military concerns and the existence of large military establishments have shaped the political systems North and South in important respects. Politics in the Republic of Korea (ROK) have been characterized by continual tension between democratic form and authoritarian content. Foreign influence on domestic politics in Korea was strongest during the late 1940s, when foreign intervention determined the basic structure of the political systems established in the two Koreas.
