Korea’s Fading Dreams

Reunification. This is a case of either bad polling or bad reporting, on what should have been an interesting survey on South Korean attitudes about reunification. Unfortunately, it doesn’t publish enough facts about previous surveys and when they were taken, or why people don’t want immediate reunification, for me to tell. That leaves it open for academics to interpret this way:

While more than eight out of ten people here still see reunification as important, over half of Koreans say it should be pursued with an eye on other issues facing the country. Nearly 20 percent said there should be no hurry to achieve it, and 8 percent said only that it was “an option.”

Despite the clamor from Korea’s far left, only about 1 percent of those surveyed said the nation should be reunified under a communist political system. Over half said Korea should adopt a “one nation, two system” approach to reuniting.

The poll’s analysts said the changed attitudes here about unification appear to have been stimulated by the fact that it now seems more possible than it has in the past, and South Koreans are beginning to appreciate the cruel realities of the North Korean regime. They also have considered the costs of reunifying the nation “• and gulped.

After reading the piece, I don’t see the basis for that “cruel realities” part, although I ardently wish I could.

Democracy. On the other hand, it’s unequivocally scary when an electorate longs for a strong authoritarian leader:

Koreans have rated former President Park Chung Hee the highest among the nation’s seven presidents for his economic and political leadership, according to a recent survey by the JoongAng Ilbo and the East Asia Institute.
. . . .
The survey also showed that Koreans are generally dissatisfied with their presidents’ performances. Only Mr. Park scored more that 50 percent approval in at least two of the three evaluation criteria. Former President Kim Dae-jung and President Roh Moo-hyun were cited approvingly for inter-Korean reconciliation efforts.

Asked about President Roh’s performance, 65 percent of those who voted for him in 2002 are now disillusioned, the survey said. Among both those who supported him in 2002 and who voted for candidates from his Uri Party in the 2004 legislative election, 58 percent said Mr. Roh was performing poorly, especially in economic leadership.

Who is Korea’s greatest hero? The Joseon Dynasty’s Admiral Yi Sun-shin, who defeated the Japanese in a naval battle in 1592, was ranked first by 38 percent of the people. King Sejong, who invented the Korean alphabet, was second at 15 percent, followed by former President Park at 10 percent.

Nice that they’re disillusioned with Roh, but not so nice that the conservative side of the electorate is ready for a Lee Myung-Bak or Park Geun-Hye to reimpose old-style order.