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South Korea’s Presidential Election: The Big Picture

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South Korea’s Presidential Election: The Big Picture

Karl Friedhoff, Sang Kim, and Lee Sook-Jong on the issues driving South Korea’s big election, and the implications for Korean politics and society.

On March 9, South Koreans will elect their next president. The two front-runners, Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party and Yoon Suk-yeol of the People Power Party, are locked in a tight contest. Regardless of who eventually emerges victorious, the issues that are defining this race will have important implications for South Korea’s society and democracy moving forward.

What are South Koreans thinking about as they decide which candidate to support? What are the political faultlines currently dividing South Korean society? And what does this all mean for South Korean democracy moving forward, in an era of global democratic decline? In this webinar, recorded on February 16, three experts discuss the issues driving the election, and what that means for South Korean society and politics beyond 2022.

Featuring Karl Friedhoff, a fellow in public opinion and Asia policy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs; Sang Kim, the director of Public Affairs and Internship Coordinator at the Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI); and Dr. Lee Sook-Jong, professor of public administration at Sungkyunkwan University’s Graduate School of Governance; and moderated by Shannon Tiezzi, editor-in-chief at The Diplomat.