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Park Won-soon's win in the Seoul mayoral election on October 27 has South Korean progressives feeling good about there prospects in the 2012 general elections (AP/Lee Jin-man photo)

With blood in the water, Korean progressives in an electoral feeding frenzy

By Andy Jackson Tue, Dec 27, 2011 11:21AM UTC View Comments

The victory by Park Won-soon, a long-time activist backed by progressive groups in a close election for mayor of Seoul last October, has gotten Korea’s left salivating at the prospect of sweeping victories in next year’s national assembly and presidential elections. With a chance to control both the Blue House and the legislature, the various...

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Seoul mayor Oh Se-hoon quits, sets up race for his seat

By Andy Jackson Fri, Aug 26, 2011 11:28PM UTC View Comments

Oh's pleading with the public to vote was not enough to get them to come out to vote. (photo source unknown)

Seoul mayor Oh Se-hoon resigned Friday after a failed referendum on free school lunches in the city’s school system. While that may seem a small reason to upend the choice of voters, who twice voted Oh into the mayor’s office, the referendum was at the center of an emerging contentious debate about expanding public welfare. The...

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Korean conservatives hit aross the board

By Andy Jackson Mon, May 30, 2011 11:00PM UTC View Comments

The suicide death of former president Roh Moo-hyun two years ago still resonates with a large segment of the Korean public. (AP file photo)

It has been a tough week for Korea’s conservatives and the polling shows it. This week’s Realmeter poll has the majority conservative Grand National Party’s support slipping two percentage points to 30.2 percent. In the meantime, the main opposition Democratic Party saw its support rise slightly; it now enjoys a 33.4 percent level of support. This...

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Lee Myung-bak poll bounce: Start of a comeback or a brief reprieve?

By Andy Jackson Thu, May 19, 2011 10:37PM UTC View Comments

Park Geun-hye will fail again in her quest to be the president of Korea

Last week the progressive Democratic Party eclipsed its chief rival, the conservative Grand National Party, in public support for the first time since 2009. Things took a small step towards normal this week as the Democrats slipped 2.7 percentage points to 31.8 percent. However, the GNP failed to overtake the Democrats as their support remained virtually unchanged...

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