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The May 1980 Gwangju Democracy Movement was a seminal event in the democratization process of South Korea. However, it was also a critical event in the development of anti-Americanism in the country. The US government recognized this and towards the end of the 1980s began to engage in public diplomacy to explain the US role in the events of May 1980 to the Korean public to dampen anti-American sentiment. These efforts culminated in the release of the "United States Government Statement on the Events in Kwangju, Republic of Korea, in May 1980" on June 19, 1989. This article reviews US motivations for producing the 1989 statement and argues misinformation provided by the Chun government to the Korean people and rising anti-Americanism were the two main factors. Next, the US public diplomacy effort to explain US actions during May 1980 is analyzed before showing that Korean reactions to these US efforts were on the whole negative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a plethora of studies on the authoritarian regime, scholars have paid less attention to how an authoritarian regime not only maintains but also legitimizes its power. Contra both political economists emphasizing the regime's economic performance and social constructionists focusing on the "economy of power," this study illuminates a constitutive dimension of the authoritarian rule in which citizens are morally reformed, civil society is fundamentally reconstituted, and nation is newly imagined by investigating South Korea's Yushin regime (1972-1979) under Park Chung-hee's leadership. By examining how bansanghoe, a monthly neighborhood meeting, buttressed the Yushin regime, this study analyzes and problematizes a complex process in which the extraordinary came to define the ordinariness, further blurring the line between the two. This paper concludes by exploring the possibility of the democratic transformation of bansanghoe, from its authoritarian legacy into a Tocquevillian grassroots organization in postdemocratic Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While politics in Seoul has made great strides in democratization over the past two decades, scholars continue to deplore that local politics and local governance in South Korea remain a far cry from democracy. This paper addresses the intriguing question of "democratic lag" in South Korea. It argues that one of the main sources/causes of slow democratization at the local level lies in the underdevelopment and lack of empowerment of local civil society. The paper first introduces the concept of "democratic lag" to conceptualize asymmetric democratization in South Korea. Next, it describes and assesses various theoretical accounts explaining the absence of local democracy and highlights an underdeveloped civil society as a cause. The paper then submits several "vignettes" of the reality of local politics. After explaining why such underdevelopment of civil society has resulted, the paper concludes with a set of policy prescriptions for empowering local civil society and thereby resolving the problem of "democratic lag" in South Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The massive expansion of the 2008 BSE candlelight vigils confirmed a changed structure of public debate in Korea by "coalitions of media, experts', civic groups, patrons of media outlets, and political organizations." Korea's progressive media, intellectuals, civic groups, citizens, and political parties succeeded in determining the direction of public opinion and power in a vacuum created by collapsed public authority to a considerable extent. At the same time, system of determining the truth in Korean society was being seriously shaken. Though the possibility for an authoritarian regime to re-emerge in Korea has gone since its democratization, the authority of public agencies needed for debate and dialogue is being shaken. Ideological freedom is open to all possibilities, but public authority involving man's daily necessities and life must make realistic conclusions. In order for disputes to become means of the pursuit of truth, an authority recognized by all parties of a debate is absolutely needed. By delving into the core problems of the candlelight vigils, this paper will identify the origins of the BSE candlelight vigils and the process by which the authority of Korea's public agencies was damaged and collapsed. It will also reveal the distortions of Korea's BSE experts' analyses of the situation, and that these distortions were made possible by the support of "coalitions of media, experts, civic groups, patrons of media outlets, and political organizations. " [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One argument made in favor of devolution of policy authority to local governments is that it will promote citizen participation by moving decision-making authority "closer" to the people. This paper examines the merits of this argument: will increasing local autonomy have the desired effect of enhancing citizen participation? Based on an examination of citizen participation in the United States and South Korea, I find that even though local governments are not inherently more responsive or open to citizen influence, devolution has democratic benefits because it allows for different types and forms of citizen activity that are limited on the national level. Devolution creates participatory spaces that, if utilized, could enhance civic learning and governmental responsiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With strong government thrusts toward agricultural trade liberalization to increase high-tech export volume, South Korea's rural communities have had to brace for significant adjustments brought about by agrarian modernization. Rural "development" of the past few decades has failed to restructure the farming sector for international competition, largely due to favoritism toward big corporations and ineffective government policies characterized by top-down management and minimal communication efforts. Following such shortcomings, the considerable reduction in the number of farms and a widespread realization that reform has to come "organically" from within organized rural communities, rather than imposed by development, this paper argues for possible change through human agency and shows how one community is tackling "self-reform" toward a more sustainable life in a globalizing rural area, while trying to dodge the global reflexes from overemphasized modernity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]