23 April 2008: The conservative party of President Lee Myung-bak has won a thin majority in parliamentary elections cementing the Grand National Party’s control on both the executive and the unicameral legislature, and giving President Lee Myung-bak a mandate to push through his economic reforms and tough line with the North. However, he will have to deal with splits in his party and an apathetic electorate, which resulted in the lowest turnout in South Korea’s 20-year history of democratic government.

Of the 299 seats in the National Assembly the liberals lost some 70 seats leaving them with 92. Conservative parties took almost 200 seats and moderates won seven in the national poll on Wednesday, April 9.

The GNP won a total of 153 seats in the 245 electoral districts, including 20 of the 54 seats awarded under a proportional representation system. The conservative coalition is comprised of the Liberal Forward Party with 18 seats; the Pro-Park Alliance with 14; plus more than a dozen independents. The United Democratic Party now has 81 seats and can count on another ten seats from the progressive Democratic Labor Party and liberal independents.

The vote gives President Lee a vote of confidence who, since taking office in February, had promised to deregulate business laws to spur economic growth and complete a free trade agreement with the United States. Mr. Lee interpreted the low turnout to dissatisfaction with his delayed initiatives and following the vote repeatedly called for parliament to hold a special session in May to pass new bills and the Free Trade Agreement with the U.S.

In foreign policy his position on dealing with North Korea has drawn fiery rhetoric from Kim Jong-il’s regime. Mr. Lee agrees with the Bush Administration on abandoning the Sunshine Policy of his predecessors, which gave aid to the North without precondition.

At his first news conference following the vote Mr. Lee announced a reversal in policy with North Korea: “We are now in a period of correction, in which the relationship of the past 10 years is being newly reformed.” The new president has tied any future aid to a thorough dismantling of the North’s nuclear programs.

President Bush hosted a summit with President Lee weeks after the parliamentary elections as relations with North Korea deteriorated in the few months since Mr. Lee took office. He said South Korea was open to holding talks with the North, but affirmed his position that aid will only be given when North Korea denuclearizes.

The blustery rhetoric from North Korea opposing the new president’s hard-nosed policy was followed by a cancellation of May Day celebrations. Both countries have held a joint event to mark the holiday since 2000, but North Korea’s boycott of this year’s celebrations in Pyongyang came as a snub to the new leadership in Seoul.

In addition to a new foreign policy, Mr. Lee now has support to help the conglomerates with business friendly reforms. But the low turnout, of some 45 percent—despite free coupons for museums and parks to voters—will force Mr. Lee to make concessions to the opposition.

The Free Trade Agreement with the U.S., which was agreed to by both countries in September 2007, is the most important treaty between the two allies since the troop agreement in 1953. Neither the U.S. Senate nor the South Korean National Assembly has ratified it. The FTA has been held up for both political and cultural reasons because of a South Korean ban on American beef imports imposed following cases of mad cow disease in December 2003.

Some parts of cattle, including bones and intestines, which are suspected of a role in the transmission of the disease, are consumed by South Koreans. Even though the beef ban is not part of the FTA the liberal opposition had been using the issue to demand compensation for farmers before agreeing to lift the ban. The manufacturing sector, on the other hand, has been clamoring for passage of the FTA because it gives their exports access to the world’s largest market.

At their Camp David summit in April both presidents came to an agreement on lifting the ban. The South Korean government subsequently lifted the five-year-old restrictions on all beef parts in exchange for improved safety standards on feed for U.S. cattle. The FTA will increase bilateral trade from the $79 billion annual average, by another $20 billion.

Click to return to main page.