Assessment of Democratic Progress in South Korea: People’s Attitude toward Democracy during Roh Moo Hyun Government

Abstract

By utilizing two sets of public opinion data, the Asian Barometer surveys, this study examines a comprehensive account of Korea’s democratic progress under the Roh Moo Hyun government. This study argues that there is little doubt Korea met all the criteria for a minimalist electoral democracy during his government. However,democratization in Korea still remained far from complete. In 2006, fewer than half of Koreans expressed unqualified commitment to democracy-in-practice. Over time,the general level of empirical support for democracy has not risen either steadily or significantly. Moreover, the level of normative support in Korea remained significantly lower than that in Western European democracies. An overwhelming majority of ordinary Koreans did not trust key institutions of representative democracy during his government. Undoubtedly, democracy in post-‘three Kims’ era was faltering and a journey to consolidated democracy in Roh Moo Hyun government was going to be long and arduous.