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Digital Democracy in Korea: Lessons From the First Internet Presidency

By Michael Feldman

 

CAMBRIDGE, MA (KWR) The important inroads made by the Howard Dean campaign in raising funds and mobilizing support over the internet, as well as the missteps which led to the unraveling of his candidacy, are currently the object of intense scrutiny by groups within the Democratic and Republican parties. They would be well advised to study as well the rise and current difficulties of the world’s first Internet president – South Korea’s Roh Moo-hyun.

Roh’s election in December 2002 startled observers not only around the world but in South Korea itself, where Roh had been considered a long shot right up until election day. The very fact he was a serious contender astounded some, given his unconventional political background. The son of a peasant, he never attended college, spent years as a construction worker, and taught himself law at night until passing the bar exam. He seemed an unlikely Presidential candidate for an increasingly internationalized South Korea; his only administrative experience was a brief stint as Maritime Minister, had rarely traveled outside Korea, and spoke almost no English.

The core of the Roh team is from what the Korean press calls the “386” generation; in their 30’s when the expression was coined, now many are in their 40’s; they came of age in the tumultuous 80’s, when South Korea made the difficult transition from dictatorship to democracy; and they were born in the 60’s, together with the tremendous burst of development and productivity which has produced one of the economic powerhouses of Asia and perhaps the most wired nation on earth.

One of the factors which made Roh’s victory possible was the advanced penetration of information infrastructure in Korea, particularly broadband internet access. Throughout the country, over 75% of homes are wired for broadband. And people use it - a recent study found that the average South Korean internet user spends an amazing 1,340 minutes a month online, compared with 641 for an American. In addition, there were demographic factors in play; over 70% of the Korean population is under 40, and grew up with computers. The target audience for the campaign was the millions of Koreans in their 20’s and 30’s.

The seed for this successful presidential campaign was an unofficial on-line fan club (www.nosamo.org), set up for Roh in 2000 after he lost his third attempt to be elected to the National Assembly, the same body which just impeached him (Roh has run for the Assembly five times, winning twice). After his presidential candidacy was ignored by a majority of conventional Korean news media, the banner was picked up by a variety of small regional newspapers, internet web logs and alternative news sites like OhmyNews (ohmynews.com). While Chosun Ilbo, Joong-ang Ilbo and Dong-A Ilbo were dismissing Roh as a dangerous leftie, Ohmynews was giving his candidacy and the rising movement around it blanket coverage. The broadband penetration allowed them to broadcast unedited streaming video of Roh’s speeches and campaign rallies.

In addition, Roh’s Millennium Democratic Party raised millions and mobilized supporters for huge rallies via a series of web sites and networked mobile phones. The drama came to a head on the eve of election day, when a former rival who had endorsed Roh suddenly and unexpectedly withdrew his support, tipping the balance in favor of conservative candidate Lee Hoi Chang. On the day of the voting a massive electronic get-out-the-vote mobilization, advising people of the opposition’s last-ditch move to steal the election, produced an unprecedented turnout of younger voters which gave the victory to Roh.

Since taking office in February 2003 however, Roh has had anything but smooth sailing. Elected on a promise to root out corruption, he has seen several members of his administration jailed and others indicted. Roh's political opponents have tried to connect him to a campaign fundraising scandal which has seen many of his aides and campaign team embroiled in legal and PR difficulties. Dealing with in-house corruption has severely limited his effectiveness in cleaning up the endemic corruption in society in general.

Even his wellspring of support in the alternative media has dried up. OhmyNews withdrew support for the Roh administration last year in protest to Roh meeting with George Bush. Strangely, the current incident leading to Roh’s impeachment grew out of an off-hand comment in a television interview last month which was deemed to be in violation of South Korea’s strict election laws mandating Presidential neutrality.

What lessons can US political campaigns, as well as politicians among other internet-active electorates, take away from this post-industrial morality tale? Despite the differences in demographics and democratic traditions, we feel that there are several:

Finally, political planners should approach the internet with a note of caution. While its potential to raise money and awareness may be awesome, it can tear a candidate down as quickly as it builds him up. In the final analysis, it is no substitute for the tried and true tools of political success; a sound and extensive face-to-face organization on the ground, a solid support network in the bureaucratic and administrative corridors of power, and the ability to seek consensus and compromise among traditional power centers rather than forcing them into the opposition.

On the other hand, policy makers and advisors to both President Bush and Senator Kerry should pay close  attention to the situation unfolding in Seoul – not only as a case study of how to utilize the internet in a modern political campaign, but  for the further lessons it will surely teach us. Those who see the  collapse of the Howard Dean campaign as the end of the Internet in politics are clearly mistaken. The Korean case shows that the day of digital democracy is just beginning to dawn.

Michael Feldman is a Sr. Consultant and Webmaster at KWR International