Millennial and Gen Z perspectives on the generation in power that shape South Korea’s elections: NPR
South Korea’s top presidential candidates (from left): Sim Sang-jung of the opposition Justice Party, Ahn Cheol-soo of the opposition People’s Party, Yoon Suk Yeol of the opposition People’s Power Party President and Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party pose for a photo before the televised debate for the March 9 presidential election, in Seoul, February 25.
Kim Min-Hee / Pool photo via AP
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Kim Min-Hee / Pool photo via AP
South Korea’s top presidential candidates (from left): Sim Sang-jung of the opposition Justice Party, Ahn Cheol-soo of the opposition People’s Party, Yoon Suk Yeol of the opposition People’s Power Party President and Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party pose for a photo before the televised debate for the March 9 presidential election, in Seoul, February 25.
Kim Min-Hee / Pool photo via AP
SEOUL – Presidential election in Korea This coming Wednesday could have implications for the country’s relations with the United States, North Korea and China. But the vote is likely to revolve around domestic issues.
In previous elections, politicians campaigned mainly along ideological or geographic lines. This time, the race is on by generations.
People in their 20s and 30s make up about one-third of the votes – and the candidates really want to win them over.
A central issue is how these young voters feel about the generation in power. Many of those in office are called the “86 generation,” because they were college students in the 1980s and born in the 60s.
Many of the 86 are pro-democracy activists who overthrew the military dictatorship that ruled the country from 1961 to 1988. This generation currently holds the pinnacle of Korean business and politics, including the outgoing administration of President Moon Jae-in and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea.
“If young voters join hands with those aged 60 and over, the opposition will win the election,” predicted. Park Sung-min, a political consultant based in Seoul. But “if they sided with the 40s and 50s again,” as they did in the most recent presidential election five years ago, he added, “the 86th generation of Democrats will prolong their rule.”
Moon cannot run for re-election because the South Korean constitution limits the presidential term to a five-year term. Lee Jae-myung is running with the Liberal Democratic Party to succeed him, up against Yoon Suk Yeol of the conservative People’s Power Party – both born in the 1960s – as well as on another dozen candidates from smaller parties.
86ers overthrow the dictatorship
Activists in the 86th generation’s struggle for democracy culminated in nationwide protests in 1987 known as the “June Struggle”, which led to the first democratic elections. decades of military rule. The movement has inspired pro-democracy activists around the world, especially in Asia, including Myanmar and Hong Kong.
But a series of scandals within the Moon administration have led many young South Koreans to accuse the 86ers of hypocrisy and become the kind of political establishment they once fought for.
About 86 people, including Seoul-based citizen activist Lee Jinsun, say pro-democracy activists have had trouble living up to their proclaimed ideals even before they entered politics.
For Lee and many others, that entrance was the 2000 parliamentary election. Many activists, she said, wanted to be independent of the main political parties. So they made a pact with each other.
Anti-government protesters staged a strike in central Seoul, June 14, 1987, panicking when a police tear gas grenade exploded.
Itsuo Inouye / AP
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Itsuo Inouye / AP
Anti-government protesters staged a strike in central Seoul, June 14, 1987, panicking when a police tear gas grenade exploded.
Itsuo Inouye / AP
“We promised – with romantic idealism, in retrospect – to join any party that would nominate us,” she recalls. “And once we’re elected, leave the party and summon a third party.”
This plan quickly fell apart as activists began to receive funding and organizational backing from the main parties.
“People who were once friends started attacking each other from the opposite sex,” she said, “within two or three months.”
There are allegations of scandal and betrayal
That betrayal seems to herald more recent betrayals under the Moon administration.
For example, former Justice Minister Cho Kuk advocated equal opportunity, but resign in 2019after his wife was accused of cheating to get their daughter into an elite school.
Lee argues that activists are more focused on ending the dictatorship and less on how they implement it. Activists see equality and diversity of opinion in their movements as luxuries and are vulnerable when fighting a dictatorship, she explained.
“We started our activity outside the boundaries of the law, although we later became an overt movement,” she said. “But even then, we never educated ourselves on liberalism or republicanism.”
The Moon administration has promised to tackle one of the nation’s hottest political problems: skyrocketing housing prices. But his officials were accused speculating in real estate.
Lee Jeong-mi is an 86-year-old and former labor activist from the centre-left Justice Party, underage. She said that, in their minds, the 86 people are still fighting the old establishment, when in reality they have become the new base themselves.
“They enjoy all kinds of privileges in areas like education or real estate,” she observes. “But they still believe they’re on a mission to fight evil and bring justice. So they feel like: ‘Why pursue us, when others are even worse?”
Another scandal involves Park Won-soon, the former mayor of Seoul, who Suicide in 2020 after being accused of sexually harassing his secretary.
Lee Jeong-mi says that this is another sign that 86 people have never really understood gender equality.
“Activity groups are predominantly male-led,” she points out. “They have trivialized sexual violence in their organizations, under the pretext of protecting these groups in the fight against the military dictatorship.”
Koreans call this kind of hypocrisy.”naero nambul“meaning that when the 86th generation does it, it’s romance, when anyone else does it, it’s adultery.
South Korean youths take a quick photo at the entrance of a polling place after casting their votes in the presidential election on May 9, 2017, in Seoul. In the 2022 election, candidates tried to win over voters in their 20s and 30s.
Image of Jean Chung / Getty
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South Korean youths take a quick photo at the entrance of a polling place after casting their votes in the presidential election on May 9, 2017, in Seoul. In the 2022 election, candidates tried to win over voters in their 20s and 30s.
Image of Jean Chung / Getty
Lee Dongsoo, 33 years old and heads a youth policy think tank in Seoul called Policrew, recognizes the 86th generation’s contributions to South Korea’s democracy. But he says that makes no sense to voters who are too young to remember the struggle for democracy, and see the 86 as out of touch with the present.
“Current established politics haven’t been updated since the 80’s or 90’s. It’s still haunted by ideology more than the daily lives of citizens,” he lamented. “I think this is the main reason my generation and I have turned our backs on the Democratic Party, and politics in general.”
Lee sums up his generation’s frustrations over the lack of compelling political options in a book bluntly titled, “I don’t like the Liberals and I don’t like the Conservatives either. “
Lee added that South Korea’s small parties lack the organization and vision to attract young voters.
Three generations with very different experiences and perspectives
Of course, it’s not the only country where young voters face declining social mobility, feel alienated from traditional political parties, or express disgust at what they see as the worst. they consider the hypocrisy of baby boomers.
But political consultant Park Sung-min says South Korea’s generational divide is unique.
The 86ers’ parents, he noted, had survived the brutal Japanese colonization and then the Korean War. They also experience rapid industrial and urban development and rising standards of living. It was the 86 who overcame the military dictatorship. But millennials have only experienced life under an affluent democracy.
“Unlike previous generations, this generation identifies themselves as consumers and values individuals more than organizations like countries, people, or corporations,” Park said.
In the last presidential election, young voters allied with the 86ers to oust older ruling conservatives.
“But once it became clear that the 86th generation had become mainstream,” explains Park, “the younger generation realized that they too had to be dropped.”
Se Eun Gong of NPR in Seoul contributed to this report.
