Democracy at work in South Korea

Democracy at work in South Korea

To the editor:
    It is political season here in Korea. Democracy is a relatively new phenomena in this country which has seen its share of dictators, occupiers and emperors. Until 30 years ago, most Koreans accepted dictatorship as a part of life. Following a brutal crackdown that was defeated by a people power movement in May of 1980 a change of government occurred and the Koreans have not looked back. 

    Lots of positions are up for election in June. The last two weeks have seen the campaigns take off. They are a lot like U.S. campaigns without the benefit of time. Candidates only have a few weeks to gather votes. Plenty of parties are seeking the voter. Commercial television does not carry many ads. What the candidates rely on is personal appearances and hordes of campaign workers.
    A typical candidate gets himself a huge sash. Only the Miss America contestants sport larger sashes. On the banner are the colors assigned to each party and the name of the candidate. When a candidate is wearing his sash he is officially on the campaign trail. His party turns out workers, dozens of them. They drive the podium trucks with lots of speakers. Even if you can not see the sash, your ears are inundated with the songs and messages of each party. These podium trucks are self-contained speaking platforms where the candidate makes a stump speech and then leaves to shake hands and hold babies.
    The workers, under the supervision of a manager are cheerleaders. Decked out in hats, jackets and gloves the color of the party they gather at intersections around the truck and go through the motions of a dance competition. Michael Jackson gave the world the dance routine. The party workers do a pretty fair job of making the gyrations and steps look good. They wave their hands, shout the slogans, and indicate what number on the ballot is for their candidate. Their jackets have the names and slogans of their contestant and for a bunch of middle-aged participants it is quite entertaining.
    Rivals gather on opposite corners and it becomes a battle to see who can outperform (and out-amplify) the other. Step, step, dance, turn twirl, wave the hands, tip the hats and shout the name of the candidate or party. Hold your hands up with the requisite number of fingers and keep doing this as long as the gas in the generator holds out. Even I get a few business cards from the candidates and I can not vote. Nice to see democracy at work.