President Moon Jae-in waves to the crowds aftter his inauguration ceremony at the National Assembly in Seoul on May 10. (Jeon Han, Korea.net Photographer)

By Park Byungggyu
Korea.net editor-in-chief

The Washington Post has praised the latest presidential election in Korea in its article titled “South Korea just showed the world how to do democracy,” dated May 10.

The U.S. daily said that, “At a time when there`s so much hand-wringing over the crisis of liberal democracy and the rise of corrosive nationalism in the West, South Korea just offered a welcome reminder that people power is still alive.”

The Washington Post reporter Ishaan Tharoor wrote,"His rise to power came amid seven months of political turbulence," and that, "Moon, a former human rights lawyer campaigning on an anti-corruption platform, was boosted by an electorate hungry for change."

Today, signs that democracy across the modern world is at risk can be found from place to place around the globe.

It can be also seen in the development of rightwing extremist political parties in Europe, authoritarianism in Eastern Europe, and the fall of center-left or center-right political parties in many countries around the world. Such worldwide currents make us realize that democracy is facing a crisis.

This can also be seen in the growing awareness that globalization can bring economic crises and that it can deepen social inequality, which leads to widespread extremism and rightwing authoritarianism.

Amid such cynical trends, the case of Korea shows that the future of a democratic political system is still valid across the world.

What led to this taking place in Korea, a country that has a relatively short history of democracy?

First, the so-called “square culture” or "plaza culture" of Korea could be one answer. The candle light protesters positioned themselves as the “voice of the public sphere,” which German philosopher Jurgen Habermas mentioned after the initial mass-citizen gatherings were held to commemorate the two middle school students who were killed in a U.S. military traffic accident back in 2002.

Since then, from protests over beef imports from the U.S. to the mass-citizen gatherings that criticized the corruption scandal involving the Park Geun-hye government, peaceful candle light demonstrations played a role of setting the agenda for Korean society as it raised its own voice over many issues, both big and small.

A second reason could be the introduction of features of direct democracy that make up for certain weaknesses that may exist in representational democracy. The rapid spread of high-speed internet and mobile communication infrastructure enabled the citizens to express their own voice directly. This realized – physically realized – features of direct democracy. This also helped to complement certain weaknesses that may be found in representational democracy.

Historic ethos about justice could be a third reason. The April 19 revolution of 1960 protested a fraudulent election. Then, the democracy movement began in 1987, which earned the right to directly elect the president. Finally, Korean citizens had accumulated enough experiences, collections of group mass-civilian protests, against corrupt and unfair power. Such historic experiences forged a national concept that wrong regimes could be brought to justice by the power of the people.

For all such reasons, Korea’s case is, therefore, sufficient to be a model for many countries that experience democratic crises.

Yun Hojung, a current member of the National Assembly for the Democratic Party of Korea, said, “The victory of Korea’s presidential election completes the candle light revolution.”

“The Republic of Korea offered hope to the all people who love democracy, everywhere in the world,” Yun said.

“Now, Korea will take point in leading the world, and that will provide an opportunity for world peace, not only for Korean citizens but also for all Northeast Asian countries,” he said.

Of course, it is still too early to properly assess Korea’s democracy, or to use it as a model of any sort of future-oriented democracy, as it still lacks certain desirable aspect.

Timothy Snyder, author of ”On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century,” said that an election is not the end but the beginning. In his book, Snyder warned about crises in democracy, mentioning many of the tragedies of the 21st century, such as both fascism and the Holocaust.

Snyder said that all power can be corrupted and can turn toward dictatorship. For this reason, citizens should always watch power with the utmost care, to protect the system, and each of them should be a symbol for democracy themselves.

Similar to what Snyder said, Korean democracy is undergoing a process of endless development, in a steady manner, with continuous watch against the power and against the self-purification systems of power itself.

If this process continues, the model of Korean democracy could become a catalyst to upgrade democracy in countries all around the world. This resonates in polities that face many aspects of crisis, whether it be the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia, certain movements in Central Asia, or the Orange Revolution in Ukraine.

Translated by Yoon Sojung