{"id":2226,"date":"2004-03-12T18:51:46","date_gmt":"2004-03-12T22:51:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/dbnews\/2004\/03\/12\/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-first-interne"},"modified":"2004-03-12T18:51:46","modified_gmt":"2004-03-12T22:51:46","slug":"the-rise-and-fall-of-the-first-internet-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/dowbrigade\/2004\/03\/12\/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-first-internet-president\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rise and Fall of the First Internet President"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n
\n


\n South Korean President Roh is being taken out of the game….<\/em><\/p>\n

Americans like to imagine we invented everything, but there are many
\n interesting and innovative dramas involving digital democracy unfolding around
\n the globe. It is clear that we are seeing a groundswell of technologically
\n empowered grass roots discontent around the world, and politicians are starting
\n to take notice. <\/p>\n

The important inroads made by the Howard Dean campaign in raising
\n funds and mobilizing
\n support
\n over
\n the
\n internet,
\n as
\n well
\n as the missteps
\n which led to the unraveling of his candidacy, are currently the object of
\n intense scrutiny by groups within the Democratic and Republican parties.
\n They would be well advised to study as well the rise and current difficulties
\n of the world’s first internet president
\n – South Korea’s Roh Moo-hyun.<\/p>\n

Although it may be premature to speak of the rise and fall
\nof President Roh, he was formally impeached by the South Korean national
\nassembly yesterday, and effectively removed from office. (see New York Times article<\/a>) According to the
\nKorean Constitution, during an impeachment, which still must be reviewed by the
\nConstitutional Court and could take as long as six months, the Prime Minister
\nshall serve as acting President. The current Prime Minister is the former mayor of Seoul, Ko Kon.<\/p>\n

Roh’s election in December 2002 startled observers not only
\naround the world but in South Korea itself, where Roh had been considered a long
\nshot right up until election day. The very fact he was a serious contender
\nastounded some, given his unconventional political background. The son of a peasant,
\n he never attended college, spent years as a construction worker, and taught
\n himself law at night
\nuntil passing the bar exam. He was virtually unknow as little as three years
\n ago, having lost four successive runs for various elected offices.<\/p>\n

He seemed
\n an unlikely Presidential candidate for an
\n increasingly internationalized South Korea; he had no administrative experience
\n to speak of, had rarely traveled outside Korea, and spoke almost no English.
\n He was however, the first candidate. and now the first world leader, who understands
\n how to write html.<\/p>\n

In Roh’s case it was not so much that he put together a winning team, as that
\n a nascent organization found him and drafted him for their movement. The core
\n of the Roh team is from what the Korean press calls
\nthe “386” generation; in their 30’s when the expression was coined, now many
\nare in their 40’s; they came of age in the tumultuous 80’s, when South Korea
\nmade the difficult transition from dictatorship to democracy; and they were
\nborn in the 60’s, together with the tremendous burst of development and
\nproductivity which has produced one of the economic powerhouses of Asia and
\nperhaps the most wired nation on earth.<\/p>\n

One of the factors which made Roh’s victory possible was the
\nadvanced penetration of information infrastructure in Korea, particularly
\nbroadband internet access. Throughout the country, over 75% of homes are wired
\nfor broadband. And people use it – a recent study found that the average South
\nKorean internet user spends an amazing 1,340 minutes a month online, compared
\nwith 641 for an American. <\/p>\n

Internet use in South Korean impacts all aspects of daily life.  On-line
\n game playing is endemic, and South korea has become a major market for gaming
\n software companies.  But over 70% of online adults report having traded stocks online;
\n such common tasks as banking, taking classes, and paying taxes are usually
\n done on-line. Even watching television is moving on-line, as youger poeple
\n are just as likely to download their favorite programs as to watch them broadcast
\n live.<\/p>\n

There are demographic factors making this transformation possible. Over 70%
\n of the Korean population is under
\n 40,
\n and grew up
\n with
\n computers. The
\n target audience for the campaign was the millions of Koreans in their 20’s
\n and 30’s. For this reason many analysts consider Roh’s election significant
\n for pitting generation against generation, rather than being fought on traditional
\n political policy grounds.<\/p>\n

The seed for this successful presidential campaign was an
\nunofficial on-line fan club (www.nosamo.org<\/a>),
\nset up for Roh in 2000 after he LOST his third attempt to be elected to the National
\nAssembly, the same body which just impeached him. After his presidential candidacy
\nwas ignored by a majority of conventional Korean news media, the banner was
\npicked up by a variety of small regional newspapers, internet web logs and
\nalternative news sites like OhmyNews ( www.ohmynews.com<\/a>), which has been called the world’s most domestically powerful news site. While major papers Chosun Ilbo, Joong-ang Ilbo and Dong-A Ilbo were
\ndismissing Roh as a dangerous leftie, Ohmynews was giving his candidacy and the
\nrising movement around it blanket coverage. The broadband penetration allowed
\nthem to broadcast unedited streaming video of Roh’s speeches and campaign
\nrallies.<\/p>\n

In addition, Roh’s Millennium Democratic Party raised
\nmillions and mobilized supporters for huge rallies via a series of web sites
\nand networked mobile phones. The drama came to a head on the eve of election
\nday, when a former rival who had endorsed Roh suddenly and unexpectedly
\nwithdrew his support, tipping the balance in favor of conservative candidate
\nLee Hoi Chang. On the day of the voting a massive electronic get-out-the-vote mobilization,
\nadvising people of the opposition’s last-ditch move to steal the election,
\nproduced an unprecedented turnout of younger voters which gave the victory to
\nRoh.<\/p>\n

Since taking office in February 2003 however, Roh has had
\nanything but smooth sailing. Elected on a promise to root out corruption, he
\nhas seen 12 members of his administration jailed and another dozen indicted. He
\nhas been personally connected to a campaign fundraising scandal and has seen
\nmany of his aides and campaign team go to prison. Dealing with in-house
\ncorruption has severely limited his effectiveness in cleaning up the endemic corruption
\nin society in general.<\/p>\n

Even his wellspring of support in the alternative media has
\ndried up. AllmyNews withdrew support for the Roh administration last year in protest
\nto Roh meeting with George Bush. Strangely,
\nthe current incident leading to Roh’s impeachment grew out of an off-hand
\ncomment in a television interview last month which was deemed to be in
\nviolation of South Korea’s strict election laws mandating Presidential neutrality<\/p>\n

What lessons can US political campaigns, as well as
\npoliticians among other internet-active electorates, take away from this
\npost-industrial morality tale? Despite the differences in demographics and
\ndemocratic traditions, we feel that there are several:\n<\/p>\n