Civic activists make inroads into politics

Discontent with establishment tears down wall between political circle, civil society


Hundreds of participants looked upbeat about the prospects of the organization they were launching in Seoul last Thursday.

Having named their group the “Country I Dream Of,” they pledged to realize the dream through active political participation. Their immediate concern was apparently next April’s parliamentary elections, in which many of the participants are planning to run.

The group, which often goes by the Korean abbreviation of its name, “Naekkumnara,” consists of more than 400 people from about 100 liberal civic organizations, including the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy and the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement.

Some argue that the launch of the political alliance encompassing members of major nongovernmental organizations has erased the already blurred line between politics and civil society in the country.

No participants in Thursday’s event appeared to mind such criticism, but confident they were taking the right path.

“We will pursue a citizens-initiated overhaul of the political system,” said a declaration they adopted.

A separate statement on their organization’s website emphasized the need for citizens’ political movement, saying, “It cannot be expected that the situation will be improved by the method of keeping distance from politics and exerting influence with neutral voices.”

Among the guests at the ceremony was a figure who blazed a trail for them. New Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon sat through the event, exchanging warm greetings with other participants.

The liberal civic activist ran in last month’s mayoral by-election as nonpartisan candidate and defeated his contender from the conservative ruling Grand National Party by a wide margin. He worked as secretary-general of the PSPD for years from 1994 and led the Beautiful Foundation, a nonprofit group devoted to promoting a culture of donation, until last year.

“In fact, I have become (Seoul mayor) thanks to (help from members of) Naekkumnara,” Park told the participants, most of whom enthusiastically campaigned for him in the Seoul mayoral race to elect the successor to Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who resigned in August after a referendum on free school meals was scuttled because of a low voter turnout. 

Liberal civic groups had boycotted the plebiscite, in which voters were required to choose between the city council’s scheme to provide free lunches to all elementary, middle and high school students, and Oh’s proposal to limit the measure to students from families in the bottom 50 percent income bracket.

Park said it had been his belief that politics and civic groups should keep their distance, but worries over the way President Lee Myung-bak has run the country led him to enter politics.

Favorable environment

His election embarrassed the major parties, testifying to the depth of the public’s anger with the political establishment preoccupied with partisan wrangling and lazy in addressing matters related to their livelihood. Throughout the campaign, Park promoted himself as the “citizens’ candidate,” though supported by a full spectrum of liberal and progressive opposition parties.

Civic activists find such feelings of rage permeating the public, coupled with their aspiration for changes in the old political and social order, helping foster the environment favorable for their participation in politics.

“The deepening crisis in party politics is heightening the need to inject new figures into political circles,” said Lee Tae-ho, secretary-general of the PSPD.

Analysts note that liberal civic organizations’ conflict with Lee’s conservative government has prompted them to get more involved in politics. In the run-up to the local elections in June last year, civic activists put pressure on opposition parties to field joint candidates.

After seeing their push result in election victories for the opposition bloc, civic leaders initiated a citizens’ political movement, which they said was aimed at changing the existing frame of politics.

Political observers say Park’s decision to run in the Seoul mayoral race came against this backdrop. Liberal civic activists rallied around him to help with his campaign, announcing a statement in which they wished the “dream of social reforms would be achieved by being transformed into a citizens’ political movement through the mayoral by-election.”

Heightening voice

Park’s win has strengthened the voices of civic groups in the process of merging opposition forces in preparation for the parliamentary and presidential elections next year, the observers note.

Many civic leaders teamed up with a group of associates to late President Roh Moo-hyun in forming an organization named “Innovation and Integration” to negotiate with the main opposition Democratic Party on merging liberal forces into a single party. Both DP officials and pro-Roh figures have tried to curry favor with civic groups to achieve the merger, which is crucial for their political survival through the upcoming elections.

Some DP lawmakers have insisted their party should control the merger process but their argument is rejected by civic activists as an attempt to protect vested interests.

Lee Yong-seon, who headed a coalition of NGOs, said civic groups need not necessarily be converged into an independent party but are aiming to form a political force to represent their values.

Next April’s parliamentary elections, in which many civic activists are preparing to run, will hold a key to achieving their goal, analysts say.

Civic activists have gradually increased their involvement in politics since the late 1980s when the military-backed authoritarian regime collapsed after a long period of pro-democracy struggle.

Late President Kim Dae-jung was eager to recruit former student leaders and pro-democracy activists into his party to expand its support base limited to the southwestern region when he was an opposition leader. During his presidency in 2000, a coalition of liberal civic groups staged a campaign to prevent a list of “corruptive politicians” from being nominated as party candidates or running in that year’s general elections.

Confrontation between liberal and conservative civic groups escalated during the rule of Roh, who succeeded Kim, over his left-leaning policies and pro-North Korea stance.

Political observers note the latest movement by civic activists is bolder than and different from their previous campaigns in that they are now attempting to assume roles as active political players.

President Lee’s unpopular policies, criticized for benefiting only the rich and large businesses, have apparently served to get liberal civic groups to step into politics.

The major political parties, however, are also to blame for their predicament, observers say.

According to a survey of about 1,200 adults around the country, conducted by the Office of the Minister for Special Affairs in June, more than 80 percent of respondents said there was no party to represent their interests. Such nonpartisan sentiment, which has translated into enthusiastic support for entrepreneur-turned-professor Ahn Cheol-soo, who appears to be considering a presidential bid, is encouraging many civic activists to enter the political arena on the back of citizens’ power.

DP leaders have also emphasized the role of citizens in changing politics, hoping it will help enhance the possibility of the opposition bloc taking back power from the conservatives.

Party chairman Sohn Hak-kyu said in a recent meeting with Lee Yong-deuk, head of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, that civic and labor forces remaining outside the political arena should now begin engaging in politics. Lee In-young, a member of the party’s Supreme Council, said after the Seoul mayoral by-election that the overhauling of political parties has been triggered by the citizens’ revolution.

Sohn and other DP officials attended last week’s ceremony launching the political alliance grouping civic groups in a show of partnership with them.

“Naekkumnara has not been formed just for one election,” said Kim Ki-shik, one of the six co-representatives of the organization. “(It will become) a persistent organization to activate citizens’ political movement.”

Vortex of politics

Civic leaders’ growing bids to take active political roles have caused worries they may compromise the integrity of civic movement and thus hamper its function of monitoring and checking possible abuses by the rich and the powerful.

The current situation is feared to draw the whole civil society into the “vortex of politics,” said Yoon Pyung-jung, professor of political science at Hanshin University. The existence of civil society independent from the state and government is crucial for enabling modern democracy to function properly, he noted.

“Civic movement that has lost independence is unsustainable and most of the citizens will withdraw their confidence in it,” the professor commented, adding critical tension should be kept in the relationship between civic campaigns and real politics.

He expressed worries Park’s election as Seoul mayor, which he said would make it difficult for civic activists to claim their integrity in the future, may have a negative impact on the advancement of the country’s democracy.

A corporate executive in his 50s, who wished to remain anonymous, said he was wondering if the PSPD would maintain an objective and critical stance on the Seoul Metropolitan Government led by its former staff.

Civic group officials say such concerns are exaggerated.

“There is no rule to ban an individual civil activist from engaging in politics,” said Ko Kye-hyun, secretary-general of the Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice.

He conceded there may be concerns the civic movement could be used for political gains, but stressed it is up to individual figures to take responsibility for being subject to such criticism.

Lee, the PSPD official, rebuffed the arguments the major civic group may lose objectivity and be biased in handling matters related to Park’s policies.

“There will be no change in our stance and we will continue our monitoring,” he said.

Kim Ho-ki, professor of sociology at Yonsei University, said it should be accepted as natural that civic activists attempt to play a political role at a time when party politics is failing to function properly. He predicted there will be diversification between groups pursuing pure civic causes and political civic movements.

By Kim Kyung-ho (khkim@heraldcorp.com)