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Changing Discourses on Democracy and Democratization in South Korea

Japanese (日本語)

国際協力論集

32

23-37

神戸大学大学院国際協力研究科

2024-12-20

This article examines and discusses the evolving discourses on“ democratization” and“ democracy” in South Korea. The analysis is divided into two principal phases. The initial phase of the analysis encompasses the transformation of discourse from the period of liberation from colonialism to the 1980s. The author provides a summary of the changes by analyzing the titles of articles on“ democratization” and“ democracy” in the Chosun Ilbo. It becomes evident that the discourse on“ democratization” and“ democracy” in South Korea, which initially did not necessarily entail calls for regime change, underwent a significant transformation after the 1960s. A significant contributing factor was the discourse on “Korean nationalism,” which was initiated by the Park Chung-hee administration itself. In the course of refuting these arguments put forth by Park Chung-hee and others who espoused them, the discourse on“ democratization” and“ democracy” in Korea was consolidated into one that denounced the prevailing political system and called for its transformation. The second stage is the change in discourse that occurred between the 1990s and the present. The author has conducted an analysis of the content of relevant articles in the Hankyoreh, South Korea’s leading progressive newspaper, with the objective of identifying the prevailing trends. First, it is revealed that the discourse on “democracy” in post-democratization Korea has undergone significant shifts and diffusion, while the discourse on “democratization” has remained a stable concept within the context of the political system. Secondly, the discourse on “democratization” in South Korea has lost its central thesis as a result of repeated proliferation and has become an umbrella term for all the reforms that people claim for themselves. As a result, the author argues, the discourse on“ democratization” in South Korea has become directionless.

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