Will Regionalism Be Manifested Again?

Korea Times, November 26, 2007

By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter

Many voters and some political observers are confident in their predictions for the Dec. 19 presidential election ― it will be a typical repeat of the past.

That prediction is based on the belief that the election will be swayed again by regional rivalry, just as former elections have been over the past three decades. Policy has not counted for much in the past.

According to recent surveys by several media and research institutes, there is a high possibility that candidates will again exploit regionalism and the dominant number of voters support hopefuls hailing from their hometown.

The Newsmaker, a weekly magazine, reported that 78.4 percent of voters in their 20s and 30s surveyed predicted that ballots based on regionalism will emerge again in the Dec. 19 election.

The percentage of picking the possibility of regionalism was the highest among residents in the Daegu-North Gyeongsang Province area with 89.7 percent.

The majority of residents in the Daegu-North Gyeongsang region has always voted for candidates born in the region or conservative parties including the Grand National Party (GNP).

In a survey conducted by the Korea Economic Daily, Lee Myung-bak, the presidential nominee of the main opposition GNP, recorded support of 51.2 percent among Daegu-North Gyeongsang residents.

In contrast, the approval rate of the former Seoul mayor stood at 15.3 percent in the Gwangju-Jeolla and 22.1 percent in Daejeon-Chungcheong regions.

The effect of regionalism is also seen in the Gwangju-Jeolla Province area. Chung Dong-young of the United New Democratic Party (UNDP) is taking the lead with support of 48.9 percent, though he ranked third nationwide with combined support of 15 percent. He was born in Sunchang, North Jeolla Province.

Lee Hoi-chang, who spent his childhood and adolescence in South Chungcheong Province, is beating other candidates with support of 38.5 percent while his nationwide support posted about 20 percent.

A joint survey by Busan Ilbo and Pusan National University of 200 professors of political science and critics shows that one in four respondents or 26.3 percent believes regionalism will be the most influential factor in the presidential election.

Roh's failure

President Roh Moo-hyun continued to express his determination to overcome the nation's regionalism, telling pro-governing lawmakers that the challenge is the last goal of his decades-long political life.

He stressed that he would give up his vested interests and sacrifice himself in order to achieve the goal during his tenure.

``The people want new politics, a shift from the history of division and confrontation to a future of unity and co-prosperity,'' he said. ``My proposal for a grand coalition with the largest opposition GNP is part of achieving that ultimate goal before wrapping up my political life,'' said Roh, a victim of the chronic voting practice which enabled certain parties to sweep almost all the National Assembly seats in their respective strongholds.

In 2005, Roh suggested that the GNP take up more than half of his presidential power in a newly formed coalition government and, instead, agree to overhaul the electoral system so that a certain party cannot monopolize votes of a certain region.

But the GNP, which represents the nation's conservative forces, immediately denounced the coalition proposal, calling it a ``political ploy'' ahead of crucial elections in the coming years.

It was not only the opposition parties that turned a cold shoulder to Roh. Some lawmakers of the pro-government party also criticized him.

They said it was absurd for the liberal reformist party to share power with the conservative GNP.

Some defiant lawmakers urged the ruling camp to stop talking about coalitions and instead focus on reviving the nation's economy.

``We have decided to stop holding internal discussions on the coalition issue, but to make efforts to generate specific bills for reforming the regionally divided electoral system,'' the party said in a statement.

Choi Jang-jip, a professor of Korea University, opened the row of criticism from progressive scholars. In his book ``Democracy after Democratization,'' the charismatic author insisted that Roh should have not suggested a cross-party coalition but drawn clear ideological lines with the conservative party to wipe out deep-rooted regional rivalry. Let their different policies on socioeconomic issues, not their different regional strongholds, tell the parties apart, Choi suggested.

According to Choi, regionalism does not stem from actual differences or confrontations among regions but from the narrow ideological spectrum allowed during the heavy anti-communism of the Cold War era. ``The parties have shown little differences along the ideological scale. Then, the remnants (differences) are politics that are based on different regional bases,'' Choi writes.

He notes that the structure has made the parties naturally dull and slow to represent the voices and interests of society as their support bases mostly lie in the regions, not in socioeconomic interests. ``The representatives are supposed to represent the demands and changes of society and come up with policies to deal with them. By neglecting those roles, politics has angered the people,'' he points out.

Choi writes that the recent administrations also failed to address social and economic issues even though they unanimously claimed that they championed ``reforms.''

According to Choi, Roh is no exception and has pushed the wrong buttons by addressing regionalism, which Choi thinks will not lead to effective reform. ``They seem to understand politics through the lens of regionalism.

``For them, regionalism matters and drags everything. Even if it takes their power, they think they need to root it out. It is this sort of fundamental perspective (prevalent at the presidential office),'' Choi writes.

Rivalry

Among South Korea's eight provinces, the bitterness of regionalism is most intense between two Jeolla provinces and two Gyeongsang provinces, which are neighbors but which fight like the Hatfields and McCoys.

The rivalries are ancient. But they became deadly last century, first under Japanese colonial rule, and deepening after the 1950-53 Korean War as the country came under the control of a succession of men from Gyeongsang.

Jeolla residents felt they were getting the short end of the stick. The late President Park Chung-hee, who ruled the country for 18 years from 1961 to 1979 with an iron fist, deepened resentments by pouring new industries into his native Gyeongsang, leaving Jeolla a neglected, relatively backward agricultural enclave.

The late Park was the inventor of the vicious circle of regional animosity. Coming from Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, he made ill use of the so-called ``Yeongnam'' voters in the 1971 presidential poll to counter his archrival Kim Dae-jung, then an opposition leader.

Kim, who became president in 1997 after three unsuccessful bids, once described the regionalism as the ``spell of the evil.''

For Jeolla, animosity flared anew after Chun Doo-hwan's soldiers massacred Gwangju citizens in 1980, leaving nearly 200 dead by an official count. According to some people who were there, the real figure is closer to 2,000. Either way, Jeolla remembers, and hates.

Its loyalty is overwhelmingly given to Kim Dae-jung, who shares and amplifies the resentments, having been deprived of his civil liberties and nearly his life by both the Park and Chun regimes.

This tradition of antagonism is carried on even by Koreans who left Jeolla and Gyeongsang long ago to work elsewhere. This extends to younger generations as well.

kys@koreatimes.co.kr