Archives Korea - Page 2 of 6 - New Eastern Outlook

In the last article in this series we mentioned that after the parliamentary elections on April 10, 2024, which preserved the existing level of confrontation between president and National Assembly, preparations began for a meeting between President Yoon Suk-yeol and opposition leader Lee Jae-myung. This is significant, as the leaders of the two blocs have not met since Yoon became president…

The last article dealt with a number of groups that had split off from the Democratic and Conservative Parties to form a third force in South Korean politics, called the Reform Party. However, it seems that in the run-up to the elections both Democrats and Conservatives are likely to face yet another defection – although in reality it will not be a defection at all. Because we are likely to see a repeat of what happened with the 2020 elections. It will be recalled that the National Assembly has 300 seats, of which 253 are voted…

Having described the problems faced by the Democrats and Conservatives, let us move on to the issue of a “third force”. The demand for a centrist party has been felt in Korea for quite some time, but the existing system tends to either “squeeze out” or “absorb” such figures. In the present author’s opinion, there are several reasons for this. Firstly, even right back at the beginning, when the Republic of Korea was founded, the centrists were unable to emerge as a significant force…