Political Implications of Candle Light Protests in South Korea

초록

This paper attempts to explore the characteristics of participants of the candle light protests that took place between May and July, 2008 in Korea. Various controversies over the implications of the protest have cropped up. In face, some scholars and journalists interpret these protests as a new type of political participation. They insist that these political actions will stimulate participatory democracy, which is considered as the solution to address the problems of the representative democracy. On the other hand, other political analysts regard the protest as mere political incidents. The inappropriate response of the Korean government to the public protestations against beef imported from the U.S. agitated the Koreans, who then took political action and criticized the government. Therefore, as soon as the government changes its attitude and successfully persuades the Koreans, such political events may soon be a thing of the past. An empirical analysis of this paper with 3 different surveys evidences the fact that the protest was not caused only by U.S. imported beef. The Koreans had, for a long period, remained disappointed about the policies of the Lee government. Therefore, the U.S. beef import issue was a trigger that motivated the people to go out on the streets to protest.

키워드