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2024 Election: 20-inch nails in Korean democracy’s coffin
In this year’s election, a total of 59 parties are asking for a vote. Does the biggest-ever number suggest the height of South Korean democracy? I’m a bit skeptical. How many of them are really serious? I took a count of the number of leaflets included in the official election packet sent by the election…
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Mystery of Lee’s Minjoo takeover
Until he was nominated as his party’s presidential candidate in 2022, Lee Jae-myung had been an outsider in the Minjoo Party. He was elected twice as a mayor and then a governor, having had no time to rub shoulders with Minjoo insiders in Yeouido. When he was elected to lead the party after losing the…
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Yoon vs doctors: scapegoating works every time
What should President Yoon do to improve his dismal approval rating? A noble man君子 would seek for a reform. Fortunately, there is—and will ever be—no shortage of issues that are of national urgency: um, how about improving corporate governance and shareholder value? That’s what delivered Japanese stock market from its decades-long gloom, they say. No…
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Yoon handed his Brutus a dagger and he’s ready to wield it
President Yoon doesn’t cling to approval ratings. He has repeatedly said so, and even his administration seems indifferent (or incapable) in trying to improve it. His ratings have been stagnating around 30% for the most part of his term in the office. One way to look at his peculiar stance on approval ratings is that…
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Downward momentum of Lee’s Minjoo party
Lee has a much smaller pool of people for his designated hitter for the next election.
Korea Kontext
a bit deeper than your average Korea news