hankyoreh

By Lee Ji-eun, Staff Writer

The last nine years have seen major changes in the distribution of political sentiments among South Koreans. The percentage identifying as conservative has declined continuously, while the percentage identifying as progressive rebounded from a low in 2006 to outnumber conservatives. The period also witnessed a rapid overall increase in self-identified moderates.
These were the findings of a survey of national political identity conducted by the Hankyoreh in conjunction with the Korean Social Science Data Center (KSDC) to commemorate the newspaper’s 23rd anniversary. The survey, which took place on May 7 and 8, examined one thousand adult men and women from across the country. It was the fifth study of its kind conducted by the Hankyoreh since 2002.
The study found 43.9 percent of respondents declaring themselves to be “moderates,” outnumbering the 30.7 percent who identified themselves as “progressive” and the 25.3 percent who identified themselves as “conservative.” The percentage of self-identified moderates increased to nearly half of South Koreans in 2006, at 47.4 percent before declining to 35.5 percent in 2007, but returned to over the 40 percent level this year. In contrast, the percentage of self-identified conservatives has seen an annual decrease from its 2002 level of 43.9 percent, or more than four of every ten South Koreans. The 25.3 percent rate in 2011 is the lowest in nine years. The percentage of progressives decreased somewhat to 30.7 percent this year after overtaking the percentage of conservatives for the first time with a 34.6 percent rate in 2007, but still maintained an advantage over the conservative numbers.
Politically Mixed
Similar tendencies were observed in an objective political analysis based on consistency of views on major policies. More than half of South Koreans, at 51.7 percent, were found to be “politically mixed,” adopting flexible positions on different issues. This was a larger percentage than the 27.0 percent found to be “consistently progressive” and the 21.3 percent found to be “consistently conservative.” All five studies over the past nine years have found the politically mixed group to be the largest and the consistently progressive to outnumber the consistently conservative.
When asked what sort of political party should lead South Korea, 34.8 percent of respondents selected a progressive party, followed by 22.5 percent for a moderate party and 18.5 percent for a conservative party.
“Even though the Grand National Party is holding power, a psychological leaning toward progressivism continues among South Koreans,” said KSDC Director Lee Nam-young.
“The people of South Korea still want change and reform,” Lee added.
An analysis of political positions on specific issues found increasingly progressive leanings on issues involving the socially disadvantaged and increasingly conservative leanings on foreign affairs and national security matters.
An overwhelming majority of respondents said they agreed with the conversion of temporary workers to regular employee status and human rights protections for foreign workers, at 83.8 percent and 87.1 percent respectively. In contrast, negative opinions on aid to North Korea increased to 64.7 percent this year. Through 2006, a majority of respondents expressed favorable views on aid, but their responses shifted sharply to the negative in 2007 with 61.3 percent against.
An emphasis on economic growth continued for the ninth year running, but the study found the percentage of proponents, at 66.9 percent, to be far lower than the 78.3 percent recorded four years earlier.
The study had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points with a 95 percent confidence level.
Analyses by age, income level, and region showed a majority of individuals in their twenties identifying themselves as progressive. Progressive leanings were also found to increase with income level. Conspicuous divisions were observed in the Yeongnam region, with an increasing number of self-identified progressives in Busan and South Gyeongsang.
Emergence of the ‘Gangnam Left’
The percentage of responses self-identifying as progressive was highest in the top income group, at 37.9 percent, with decreasing numbers in the middle (33 percent) and lower (24.0 percent) income ranges. The results refuted the common wisdom holding that people identify more as conservative the higher their income and more as progressive the more disadvantaged they are. KSDC researchers interpreted this as indicating that divisions of progressive and conservative in South Korean society stem more from cultural and ideological factors than from having their basis in economic classes. The argument is that in addition to ideological factors on issues such as attitudes toward North Korea and relations with the U.S. dividing progressives and conservatives, cultural factors are also shaping political views with the spread of post-materalist values on areas like environmental protections and qualities of life.
Paichai University Professor and KSDC Deputy Director Kim Wook said, “Conservative voters emphasize material values of growth and development, whereas progressive voters emphasize post-material values, as with their opposition to the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project effort.”
"The concept of the ‘Gangnam left,’ a group with both high income levels and strongly progressive leanings, was another thing that emerged from the effects of cultural factors,” Kim said.
Some 39.2 percent of respondents in their twenties identified their political position as progressive, compared to just 14.3 percent who identified as conservative. Among respondents in their thirties and forties, 37.7 percent and 33.0 percent, respectively, identified themselves as progressive, but the rate dropped sharply among respondents in their fifties, 20.8 percent of whom identified themselves as progressive.
“This differs from the general [Koreans’] view of people in their thirties and forties being more progressive than those in their twenties,” said Kim Wook.
“The people in their twenties today were raised amid greater abundance than other generations, and it seems that they are showing a closer affinity with post-materialist values as a result,” Kim added.
Yeongnam Divisions
At 33.3 percent, the rate of progressive self-identification in Busan and South Gyeongsang was higher than the national average of 30.7 percent, and the second highest after the 38.9 percent rate in the Honam region. In contrast, just 24.6 percent of voters in Daegu and North Gyeongsang identified themselves as progressive, and the region accounted for the highest rate of conservative self-identification, at 31.2 percent. A previous study in 2007 showed the rate of progressive self-identification in Daegu and North Gyeongsang slightly higher than in Busan and South Gyeongsang, at 34.7 percent versus 33.5 percent. The latest results indicate a drop of some 10.1 percent points in Daegu/North Gyeongsang in the space of four years, compared to almost no change in Busan/South Gyeongsang. Analysts attributed this both to the powerful influence of former Grand National Party chairwoman Park Geun-hye in the Daegu/North Gyeongsang area as well as the effects of recent issues such as the abandonment of plans to built a new airport in the southeastern part of the country and a scandal involving the Busan Savings Bank.

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