2024 Election: 20-inch nails in Korean democracy’s coffin

This year's ballot paper for proportional representation is more than 51cm (20 inch) long.

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…

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…

Downward momentum of Lee’s Minjoo party

이재명 더불어민주당 대표가 8일 오후 서울 성북구 중국대사관저를 방문해 싱하이밍 주한중국대사와 인사를 나누고 있다. 2023.6.8/뉴스1

Lee has a much smaller pool of people for his designated hitter for the next election.