cwemory
Joined: 14 Jan 2006
Location: Gunpo, Korea
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 Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 8:02 am Post subject: South Korean Race: Liberal-Free Zone |
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South Korean Race: Liberal-Free Zone
By Bruce Wallace
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
The Korea Times
SEOUL _ Fortunetellers are taken seriously in South Korea. But in a country renowned for the volatility of its politics, those who claim clairvoyance in matters of money and love are being cautious about predicting the winner of this year�s presidential election.
On websites and in interviews, the country�s top fortune tellers have been saying that, with the vote still 11 months away, the outcome is inscrutable. Unexpected candidates may emerge, they say. Or a front-runner may founder.
Take fortune teller Nam Deok, who gazed into the future of front-runner Lee Myung-bak of the opposition Grand National Party (GNP) and saw no sure thing. ``His course of fortune rose in 2006, but it will get tough in 2007,�� Nam wrote on his website.
Mere superstition, Lee�s people scoff. They point to the science of polling, where things appear much clearer, give or take a few percentage points.
A Gallup Korea poll released on Jan. 22 said the former Seoul mayor had the backing of half of the decided voters; other polls have his support even higher.
Polls show that Lee�s closest challenger is Park Geun-hye, the daughter of a former president and also a member of the conservative GNP.
Either way, it is not difficult to predict that the liberal left�s decade-long grip on the presidency will end this year. The governing Uri Party is a shambles, crippled by factional fights and wounded by disillusionment with President Roh Moo-hyun, whose approval ratings have dipped below 10% in some polls.
Uri Party�s Decline
Roh is constitutionally banned from running for another five-year term, but the disarray in the governing camp is so deep that the party is poised to take an extraordinary step before the next election: It plans to dissolve. The Uri Party�s biggest factions say they will give themselves a new name and seek an alliance with other liberal and regional parties.
South Korea�s liberals have no credible presidential candidate to challenge Lee or any other GNP candidate. Neither of the Uri Party�s two prospective candidates is on the voters� radar. And last week, the leading moderate candidate for president, independent Goh Kun, a former prime minister, withdrew from the race, citing his inability to build momentum.
``For nearly one year I tried to find a politics of harmonious coexistence, but I realized that my ability was not enough to do so in this confrontational structure,�� Goh said in a statement.
He was right about one thing: South Korean politics are a nasty, polarizing business.
Take the case of Roh, who was elected four years ago on a youth-driven, Internet-fueled populist wave. Many on the political left now share the contempt and ridicule that the conservative opposition and media allies have thrown his way.
The euphoria that brought Roh to power has crashed on the rocks of political scandals and a national mood defined by high stress levels. The days of celebrating South Korea�s rise to the world�s 12th-largest economy have given way to anxiety.
Soaring prices have placed homeownership out of the reach of millions. Middle-class parents struggle to pay for the private education or tutoring they think their children need to stay competitive.
And North Korea�s underground nuclear test in October was a blow to the credibility of the government�s policy of engagement, which has used aid and investment to try to foster better economic connections and trust between the nations.
The policy is a cornerstone of the Roh government, but it always grated on the Bush administration, which favored a harder line with the regime in Pyongyang. Roh also has played the good ally by continuing to station South Korean troops in Iraq.
Conservatives accuse the president of weakening the country�s security relationship with the United States with what they describe as his coddling of an incorrigible North Korean regime. |
rest here: http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200701/kt2007012817581653460.htm |
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