A report from V-Dem Institute says “South Korean Democracy now ranks at 47th from 28th
Yoon Suk Yeol’s government attacks gender equality and represses the opposition parties
Lee Jae-Myung “autocratization in a leading democratic country, unimaginable”
“This general election must stop the reckless backslide”
| Yonhap News |
Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, criticized the Yoon Suk Yeol government on the 10th for leading Korea towards dictatorship. He cited the Sweden-based Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute, which listed Korea as one of the countries “transitioning from democratization to autocratization.”
Lee criticized on Facebook that day by posting “If a regime that has ruined the country like this in less than two years takes over legislative power, it’s hard to guess what will happen.”
He also asked back, “The blatant democratic report card of the Yoon Suk Yeol government, which has ‘gagged’ people for two years, has been revealed. Could it have been imaginable two years ago that South Korea, which was a leading democratic country, would be called an autocracy?”
His remarks are based on the annual report of the Swedish V-Dem Institute. According to the report, South Korea’s Liberal Democracy Index (LDI) was 0.60 last year, ranking 47th out of 179 countries. In the report a year ago, the LDI was 0.73, and the overall ranking was 28th. The report particularly mentioned South Korea and Indonesia as cases where “autocracy occurs within five years after the end of democratic progress.” The report pointed out that South Korea’s LDI improved with the impeachment of former President Park Geun Hye in 2016 and the inauguration of former President Moon Jae-in. However, the report stated that the change in the president in the next presidential election dropped Korea’s index again. The report cited attacks on gender equality and repressive measures against the previous administration and the opposition parties since President Yoon took office as evidence.
In response to this, Leader Lee said, “Our democracy, hard-won through blood and sweat, is being utterly destroyed,” and claimed, “South Korea has become a country worried about ‘whether we will be searched and seized,’ or ‘whether we will be dragged away if we say something wrong’.”
He added, “Due to the abuse of power by the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, the basic system of the rule of law, separation of powers, and constitutional order that supported our society has rapidly collapsed,” and “As the president, who should lead national integration, is waging an ideological war, and tyrannical prosecutorial rule continues, the basics of democracy, dialogue, compromise, and coexistence have disappeared.”
Finally, Leader Lee said, “This election is not just about electing a lawmaker to represent me,” and “It will be a historic crossroad to decide whether South Korea will continue to accelerate its massive regression or stop “reckless backslide“ and move forward to the future.”
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