By Kim Rahn
More than two weeks have passed since the presidential election in the United States was held, but disputes are still taking place.
President Donald Trump is still refusing to accept the election results in which Democratic candidate former Vice President Joe Biden has won at least 306 Electoral College votes. He keeps claiming fraud, unfairness and corruption in the election, and has filed lawsuits to stop vote counting at some states, most of which have been rejected.
It is not only Trump and his aides: People supporting Trump have held protests, reiterating his claim that the election was stolen.
People supporting Biden have not remained silent. At the beginning of vote counting, they took to the streets to claim Biden's victory, and when the chance of this was getting larger, they began to call on Trump to admit defeat and leave the White House.
Physical clashes between the two sides sometimes took place as well, and it seems like the entire country has been divided between pro-Trump and anti-Trump sides.
What is worrisome is, a similar divide is expected in Korea when the country holds the next presidential election in 2022.
Regardless of the election, Korea has already seen extreme political division for more than a decade, mainly between conservatives and liberals. Every contentious issue has resulted in conflicts between ruling and opposition parties, and between their respective supporters. Protests, rallies and marches have taken place often, with major plazas in central Seoul turning into rally sites almost every weekend.
So-called centrists have nowhere to stand, as people tend to go to either extreme ― "you're either with us or against us." Tolerance toward people with different opinions has vanished, and politicians and the people are attacking the other side with no intention of seeking to understand them.
The divide has been strengthened after being coupled with fandom for some star politicians.
Fan clubs and fandom for politicians emerged at the time of Roh Moo-hyun's presidency when online supporting activities for politicians began in the world's most-wired country. Fandom has emerged and disappeared whenever star politicians emerged, including for Ahn Cheol-soo, Park Geun-hye, An Hee-jung and Moon Jae-in.
Such online fan club activities have brought positive aspects, as it made people feel closer to politics and politicians and allowed them to more actively participate in political activities in a more convenient and easier way. Supporters cheered for their favorite politicians just like fans do for their favorite celebrities such as singers or actors.
But this idolization often blinds supporters. Blind support for specific politicians or political parties prevents the supporters from squarely figuring out if the policies, presented by the politicians, are fair and reasonable, just like big fans of celebrities believe their stars are the best and defend them against any criticism.
Blind support also brings a divide between fans and non-fans ― more precisely, between supporters of specific politicians and those of other politicians who have different opinions. The supporters believe the other politicians' opinion is "wrong" because "my politicians" are always right, so the other politicians are "enemies" and "obstacles" that should be removed from my politicians' way.
With growing online activities, political-inspired online attacks are getting serious. Not only supporters of the other side are attacked but also news reports criticizing "my politicians" are branded "fake news."
The political divide and clashes, both online and offline, are expected to get more severe when the next presidential election is approaching. Fandoms for specific politicians existed in the 2017 election as well, but at the time the entire country had a public enemy ― conservative former President Park who was ousted over a massive corruption scandal. So there was consensus, even among conservative voters, that a candidate from the liberal bloc needed to be president and thus the country did not see any major conflicts between supporters of Moon and those disapproving of him.
For the 2022 election, however, there may not be such a consensus. The chances seem very high that divisions and conflicts could take place between the supporters of the president-elect and those of other candidates.
Although there may not be lawsuits to claim voter fraud like Trump is doing in the U.S. because the vote counting system here is much simpler, the president-elect will face a huge task in uniting a divided public.
Kim Rahn is politics and city desk editor at The Korea Times.
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President Donald Trump is still refusing to accept the election results in which Democratic candidate former Vice President Joe Biden has won at least 306 Electoral College votes. He keeps claiming fraud, unfairness and corruption in the election, and has filed lawsuits to stop vote counting at some states, most of which have been rejected.
It is not only Trump and his aides: People supporting Trump have held protests, reiterating his claim that the election was stolen.
People supporting Biden have not remained silent. At the beginning of vote counting, they took to the streets to claim Biden's victory, and when the chance of this was getting larger, they began to call on Trump to admit defeat and leave the White House.
Physical clashes between the two sides sometimes took place as well, and it seems like the entire country has been divided between pro-Trump and anti-Trump sides.
What is worrisome is, a similar divide is expected in Korea when the country holds the next presidential election in 2022.
Regardless of the election, Korea has already seen extreme political division for more than a decade, mainly between conservatives and liberals. Every contentious issue has resulted in conflicts between ruling and opposition parties, and between their respective supporters. Protests, rallies and marches have taken place often, with major plazas in central Seoul turning into rally sites almost every weekend.
So-called centrists have nowhere to stand, as people tend to go to either extreme ― "you're either with us or against us." Tolerance toward people with different opinions has vanished, and politicians and the people are attacking the other side with no intention of seeking to understand them.
The divide has been strengthened after being coupled with fandom for some star politicians.
Fan clubs and fandom for politicians emerged at the time of Roh Moo-hyun's presidency when online supporting activities for politicians began in the world's most-wired country. Fandom has emerged and disappeared whenever star politicians emerged, including for Ahn Cheol-soo, Park Geun-hye, An Hee-jung and Moon Jae-in.
Such online fan club activities have brought positive aspects, as it made people feel closer to politics and politicians and allowed them to more actively participate in political activities in a more convenient and easier way. Supporters cheered for their favorite politicians just like fans do for their favorite celebrities such as singers or actors.
But this idolization often blinds supporters. Blind support for specific politicians or political parties prevents the supporters from squarely figuring out if the policies, presented by the politicians, are fair and reasonable, just like big fans of celebrities believe their stars are the best and defend them against any criticism.
Blind support also brings a divide between fans and non-fans ― more precisely, between supporters of specific politicians and those of other politicians who have different opinions. The supporters believe the other politicians' opinion is "wrong" because "my politicians" are always right, so the other politicians are "enemies" and "obstacles" that should be removed from my politicians' way.
With growing online activities, political-inspired online attacks are getting serious. Not only supporters of the other side are attacked but also news reports criticizing "my politicians" are branded "fake news."
The political divide and clashes, both online and offline, are expected to get more severe when the next presidential election is approaching. Fandoms for specific politicians existed in the 2017 election as well, but at the time the entire country had a public enemy ― conservative former President Park who was ousted over a massive corruption scandal. So there was consensus, even among conservative voters, that a candidate from the liberal bloc needed to be president and thus the country did not see any major conflicts between supporters of Moon and those disapproving of him.
For the 2022 election, however, there may not be such a consensus. The chances seem very high that divisions and conflicts could take place between the supporters of the president-elect and those of other candidates.
Although there may not be lawsuits to claim voter fraud like Trump is doing in the U.S. because the vote counting system here is much simpler, the president-elect will face a huge task in uniting a divided public.
Kim Rahn is politics and city desk editor at The Korea Times.
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