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This study analyzes the framing of protests against the Korea.United States Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA), arguably one of the most significant and contentious contemporary movement events that occurred in South Korea. The anti-KORUS FTA protests have drawn the largest public, committed to challenging the hegemonic rhetoric of the Korean government’s neoliberal policy initiatives, by asserting the trade deal as posing various social and economic ills to human life. Drawing on the combined framework of Gramscian analysis and the framing perspective, this study highlights the ways in which the anti-KORUS FTA protest activism exercises power by disseminating alternative discourse against the existing political condition. By examining a broad range of data, the study identifies three specific counter-hegemonic framings of collective action used by local civil society organizations to delegitimize the official discourse.‘neoliberalism as the problem,’ ‘public accountability,’ and ‘national independence.’ KCI Citation Count: 0

Previous studies on legislative voting behavior in the Korean National Assembly (KNA) were based on two theories: \"The Best of Both Worlds\" vs. \"Contamination.\" However, both these theories have paid limited attention to the electorally vulnerable condition of legislators owing to voting behavior in South Korea. In this study, we propose a conditional mandate-divide theory to elucidate party defection voting behavior in KNA. According to our findings, Proportional Representatives (PR) are more likely to defect from party-line voting than Single Member District (SMD) members, although SMDs elected through a party primary are more likely to defect from party-line voting than other SMDs. Additionally, SMDs elected with the primary experience deviate from their party line more in Yeongnam province compared to other regions. Our findings suggest that legislators' voting behavior in the mixed-member system may vary depending on their prospects of re-election, essentially shaped by their incentive structure.

This article investigates the role of ideological difference in shaping threat perception and foreign policy preference in South Korea and the United States. Increasing ideological polarization has created different threat perceptions and foreign policy priorities within and between these allies, particularly regarding the geostrategic challenge of China. This research analyzes how strongly ideological differences are associated with threat perception, especially regarding China, and how such different ideologies lead to different foreign policy preferences in addressing those threats. To this end, this study analyzes survey data on the South Korean and American voters' understanding of the ROK-US alliance. Empirical analysis reveals threat perception varies by ideological difference in both countries. Data analysis also shows that both conservatives and progressives in South Korea view the US as a preferable foreign policy partner and support South Korea's joining the Quad, which contradicts the conventional understanding that progressives are not closer to the US. Meanwhile, conservative respondents both in South Korea and the US are pessimistic about the future coordination of the alliance as conservatives in South Korea prioritize North Korea's denuclearization, which might be in conflict with the US priority of countering China, while the conservatives in the US are concerned by South Korea's closer relationship with China. These results thereby necessitate the imperative of closer coordination to address pressing issues in the region but also a deeper investigation of the longer-lasting determinants of ideological differences in the two countries.

This study aims to reveal the actual effect of FTAs on South Korea's foreign trade volumes of main export and import products separately. The econometric approach of our study follows the gravity model with a panel dataset of 47 countries that have FTA with South Korea for the years between 2001-2018 by using 2-digit HS (Harmonized System) classification for main export and import goods. The study reveals that even though signing the FTA affects positively the trade volume of South Korea and partner countries, the export of South Korea i s affected positively only f or t he b ase metals & articles products while the import of South Korea increases for mineral products, chemical or allied industries products and machinery & mechanical appliances after the FTAs entered into force. Our findings contribute to the literature by ascertaining a new estimation model and original empirical results for South Korean trade policy makers.

While South Korea has been an active player in cultural diplomacy, there is a dearth of research on how cultural diplomacy events should be designed to maximize their effectiveness. We fill this gap by investigating what affects audience satisfaction with Korea's cultural diplomacy events. We utilize opinion surveys conducted from 2018 to 2020 with close to 2,000 respondents at 12 official cultural events in nine countries celebrating the anniversary of diplomatic ties. We find that local cultural expert involvement in the design of the event is associated with greater satisfaction when the audience has a high familiarity with Korean culture. We also find that introducing intercultural elements to the event can help improve event satisfaction among audience members with relatively low intercultural competence. Our analysis also confirms that audience members satisfied with these events hold a more favorable perception of Korea. The findings have important implications for cultural diplomacy practitioners.

This study explores the compositional characteristics of the hereditary regimes of North Korea, specifically regarding regime change through the transmission of traditional authority over three generations. The research questions of this study are as follows: How did North Korea successfully make the traditional hereditary regimes handed down to the son and grandson? Who were the political elites establishing and supporting these hereditary regimes? This study analyzes \"on-the-spot guidance\" articles reported in Rodong Sinmun, North Korea's official medium. According to the analysis, on-the-spot guidance seems to contribute to building and maintaining North Korea's hereditary regimes for three generations. In addition, it implies that the Kim Jong-un regime has a relatively low risk of collapse due to internal resistance, which has transpired for quite a while. KCI Citation Count: 0

This special issue contributes to the study of decolonization and the Cold War by tackling their interactions and framing them into comparable topics. Collectively, we explore how decolonization has proceeded during the Cold War—discovering the impacts of the Cold War, tracing the agency at postcolonial sites for adaptation under the impacts of the Cold War, and acknowledging the uneven consequences the Cold War engendered for decolonization. Theoretically, decolonization in East Asia takes place in three different spheres of relations—international, interethnic, and subaltern. 1) International relations: This sphere involves complex role relations between former colonies as security allies, economic entities, colonial rivals, historical neighbors, and cultural acquaintances. 2) Interethnic relations: This sphere attends to mutual respect and equality between territorially internal groups that have been divided since colonial times. 3) Subaltern relations: The third sphere involves the peculiar relations wherein former colonies find inspiration from each other or support one another to attain political and economic autonomy. In terms of theoretical approaches, the authors adopt historical, discursive, narrative, political economics, postcolonial, and international relations perspectives. KCI Citation Count: 0

Does a populist party increase civic political participation? This paper aims to contribute to the debate among scholars on whether populism serves to correct the limits of representative democracy by increasing civic political participation. Prior studies dealing with this question have conducted empirical studies by using voter turnout as a dependent variable. However, the prior studies overlook the fact that there are many other ways of political participation by citizens besides voting. To fill the gap, this paper empirically tested the relationship between populist parties and six different ways of political participation as dependent variables (participating in party or action group, participating in organization or association. wearing some political symbols (badge, sticker), public demonstration, petition signing and boycotting). The results are ambivalent. Generally, there is no evidence that the increase of civic political participation by populist parties is a universal phenomenon. However, when analyzed on more micro-level, there are results that can derive several implications. First, when left populist parties are represented in a parliament, the participation in boycotting increases. It might be related to the fact that boycotting movements are mostly associated with progressive agendas. Second, in the Central-Eastern Europe (CEE), when populist parties are represented in a parliament and their vote share in last election is higher, there is a significant impact on the participation in association or organization. Third, in Western Europe, populist parties increase the participation in party or action group when they are represented in a parliament. These regional differences seem to stem from differences of political culture in that citizens in CEE do not prefer party unlike Western Europe, where citizens are familiar with party and action group. Finally, the higher the number of seats in all populist parties, the more likely they are to participate in public demonstration. But the effect is so small that it is difficult to judge whether there is a meaningful relationship. These findings ask subsequent research to explore how different political cultures and ideological differences of populist parties make differences in the impact of populist parties on civil society. KCI Citation Count: 0

KCI Citation Count: 0