The Great Charade of Democracy: Minority Parties in Korea and the Kongchŏn Reform Debates

An enduring debate among Korean politicians has been the utility and fairness of the kongchŏn, or the Korean committee-based party candidate nomination system. The system is generally considered to be unfair, to the point of being downright corrupt. With each election comes renewed discussion of how to change the system. Newspapers and the political parties ask: Would primaries be a better option? How open should the primaries be? To what extent should the general public be involved in the candidate nomination process?

Despite their longevity, the kongchŏn debates prove time and again to be merely political spin.

The Vortex: Presidential Power in Korean Politics

The president’s centrality in Korean politics is often compared to a vortex. (Image from Wikimedia Commons.)

Korean politics has often been described as a “vortex.” It’s a word that’s come up often in my interviews with Korean politicians, and there’s even a book titled Korea: The Politics of the Vortex. But what is this vortex? How can a political system be a “vortex?” The answer lies in a study of the distribution of power in Korean politics, and the quick discovery that the president stands at the center of Korean political activity.