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How South Korea Regulates and Protects Its Elections

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Voting for the next South Korea president is already underway with early and shipboard voting having commenced earlier in the week. South Korea’s democracy is a major facet of what makes South Korea a success story. June 3rd will only be South Korea’s 21st presidential election. While it looked like Lee was going to win in a landslide, the conservative candidates have made some serious headway in the last few weeks. But we entered the polling blackout period, one of the many unique ways South Korea tries to regulate, protect, and promote its elections. Let’s take a look at some facets of Korea elections that make the system unique, as they are laid out in the Public Official Election Act (POEA).

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Violence in the Capitals – How the Seoul Courthouse Riot is Nothing Like January 6th

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Chaos broke out at the Western Seoul District in the early hours of the morning on January 19th. They furiously ran through the court house, destroying and defacing everything in their path. The mob made it as far up as the 7th floor, where the judges’ offices are located. The staff that were working in the building at the time were forced to hide on the roof of the building behind a makeshift barricade. According to reporting by the Korea Times, 63 people have been arrested and formally charged for the violence at the Courthouse. Many traditional media sources, observers, and ordinary citizens are comparing the violence in South Korea, to the violence from January 6th 2021 in Washington DC. 

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South Korean Democracy’s Largest Weakness

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South Korea’s National Assembly has impeached a president for the second time in almost 7 years. (Background on that can be found in our prior missive.) South Korean President Yoon, former Prosecutor General, has found himself in a legally precarious position. He is facing 2 major investigations. The case focused on his impeachment from office will be heard by the constitutional court starting December 27th. The court has impeach presidents before, this is not uncharted territory. However, this is the first time ⅓ of the bench is vacant. Yoon’s martial law debacle has put the South Korean political system on full display, the good and the bad. The international community has heralded South Korea as one of the strongest democracies in Asia, especially after seeing how civil society reacted to the martial law declaration. However, Yoon’s declaration has exposed a critical flaw in South Korea’s democratic system – judicial appointments. 

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