Local and governmental elections happened yesterday. Charles asked me whether I was planning to vote, and I said I'm ignorant when it comes to Korean politics, so my voting would probably do more harm than good. It's not even clear whether, as an F-4 visa holder, I actually can vote. This site seems to imply that I can't (and this site seems to agree), but I'm pretty sure I've heard differently elsewhere. More research needed.
Today, in the sweaty, post-coital aftermath, it appears the conservatives have largely cleaned up. Seoul is an interesting island of conservatism in a sea of liberalism, but to the east and south, all the way down to Busan, conservatives dominate. The very southwest corner of the peninsula, however, is a large bastion of liberalism.
Maybe it's because I'm not fluent enough in Korean, but I never get a sense that ideologically opposed Koreans put their party pride on open display the way we do in the States. I've witnessed (but not understood) heated political discussions before, so I know spirited disagreement is possible, but I don't see Koreans as loudly identifying themselves—through their dress, habits, and mannerisms—as being of one affiliation or another. If I see a white dude wearing dreadlocks and a knitted Rasta hat while sporting multiple piercings and a tie-dye tee, I'll take him immediately for a Democrat-voter. If he's buttoned down and fairly neat-looking, I'll suspect he's a conservative. Same goes for if he's got a bunch of guns. Markers of political affiliation in the States are obvious to the point of stereotyping, but here in Korea, the only way you're finding out how people lean is by talking with them. (Of course, in the States, plenty of people are simply normal Joes and Janes whose affiliations aren't obvious.)
Also, terms like left, right, conservative, and liberal don't seem to mean the same thing here that they do in America. My buddy JW claims to be a conservative, but I've heard him utter some pro-government nonsense that would make an American rightie shudder, like how we need to protect Korean forests from fires by installing a national sprinkler system. JW, who hated Trump (which was the en vogue stance of most Koreans during Trump's presidency), told me he initially liked Joe Biden, who struck JW as more calm and measured (ha!). He didn't even realize Biden was a liberal (well, as we now see, leftist) Dem, showing that JW doesn't follow American politics very closely. Older Korean conservatives openly pine for the bad old days of the dictatorships—something no sane American conservative would ever do (pine for a dictatorship of any sort, I mean). So Koreans might use the same political terms we do, but they don't mean the same thing—which makes Korean politics even more impenetrable to an idiot like me.
Anyway, South Korea has been swamped by a rightie wave that covers about two-thirds of the country. We'll now get to watch the Korean right mess things up over the next several years, after which it'll be the left's turn to put their own incompetence on display. That's how these things usually work. Good luck to us all.
I am 99.9% positive that you can vote in local elections, which is what Wednesday's were. I say 99.9% instead of 100% because I don't have an F4 visa, like you, but with an F5 visa I was able to vote in Wednesday's elections--and in fact have voted in every local election that I was available for. You should have gotten something in the mail, actually, telling you where your local polling place is, along with a packet of info about the various candidates. Did you not get that?
ReplyDeleteI think you are right on both of your points--that Koreans do not loudly proclaim/advertise their political affiliations and that the political spectrum is different here than it is in the US. I've known my colleagues for years now, and although I can make certain assumptions about their political leanings with a fair degree of certainty, we almost never discuss politics. In fact, I don't think I've ever had a political discussion with anyone outside of family. That could be because I try to avoid politics in general, but it does seem that political affiliation doesn't mean nearly as much here as it does in the US. At least not until right before election day, when all those freaking trucks and people come out to chant for their favorite candidate.
As for the political spectrum, it's basically shifted left compared to the US. There's obviously a lot that goes into that, but that's the bottom line.
Actually, you also made a third comment, with which I also agree: It is now the right's turn to screw things up. Grab some popcorn.
I received no pre-election information and no special packets of any sort.
ReplyDeleteMy boss tersely noted, regarding markers of political affiliation, that the businessmen tend to be the conservatives.