Protesters Want a Better President

By Michael Breen

The recent mass protests and images of riot police and cordoned off sections of downtown Seoul have commentators thinking that there must be a big issue.

There is ― but catching it is not always so easy.

Judging from news reports and personal accounts from friends joining the protests, what began as a demonstration over an apparent government cave-in with regard to restrictions on U.S. beef has now expanded to include other issues. I think you could stand there holding a sign saying ``American cows demand an apology,'' and you wouldn't be out of place, provided you added ``from MB Lee.'' For the glue holding the protestors together is a general complaint against President Lee Myung-bak.

Low approval ratings are nothing new for Korean presidents. But the twist in the country's roller-coaster politics today is that, while his democratically elected predecessors were very unpopular by their last year in office, Lee's problem is arisen in his first 100 days.

This presents him with a historical challenge.

If he's lucky, he can make a few deft moves like bringing in Park Geun-hye, the country's most loved politician, as prime minister, and the sting will be drawn from the tail of the demonstrations.

But if his attitude is off and the measures insufficient, the ``Bulldozer,'' as he is known, may be in for five years of single-digit popularity.

There's also a risk that nothing will be enough. That's highly likely now because mad cow hysteria has not gone away. The coalition of 1,700 mad cow related civic groups ― are they all entitled to taxpayer funding? ― has said they will start pushing to oust the president if he fails to meet their June 20 deadline to renegotiate the beef deal.

Even if this flops, protests could gain fresh momentum from an unexpected event, such as a prolonged occupation of a government building, a new Cabinet member having three houses too many, or dockers in Portland attaching a sign to the first cow to arrive at Incheon saying, ``Yo, Koreans, Eat Me!''

But what keeps people protesting? Don't they get tired? Foreign observers may be puzzled by the protest phenomenon especially if they've never demonstrated in their lives. But the Korean experience is different. Mass mobilization has been a feature of the republic's politics from the start. I reckon it's a minority of elitists and contrarians here who have never joined a protest. In addition to social organizations that politicians and activists can tap to bring out the numbers, people are willing because protest has a romance to it. Getting the headband on and lighting up your candle ― the sweet modern version of lighting up your molotov cocktail 20 years ago ― makes you feel like you are rising above the superficialities of consumerism.

The sacrifice and bonding over a cause can make you feel special.

They are also willing, because of a mistrust of authority and the belief that you have to shout rather than make sense, to be heard.

And herein, I believe, lies our real problem, which is lack of trust.

Public relations research shows that in the corporate world, a new boss signals his leadership style in the first 100 days and that whatever has been conveyed in that time is hard to undo.

That applies even in a trusting culture. But Korea's political culture is notoriously low trust. What the president has ― to be fair to him ― unintentionally demonstrated in the opening weeks of his term to the untrusting public by trying to screw Park Geun-hye's faction in his own party, by making questionable Cabinet appointments, and by ordering officials to wrap up the beef talks before his steak and freedom fries dinner at Camp David, is that he is selfish. The perception is that he values the pictures with George Bush for his photo album more than the nation's health. The hopeful voters who opened the doors of the Blue House to him and who also, by the way, pay his salary, now feel treated like the doorman.

They want better.

The irony is that the only way he may undo this perception is to find a way to take note of public opinion and properly lead, rather than be lead by public sentiment.

It's a shaky tightrope and one that, frankly, even with Park Geun-hye's help, he is unlikely to walk.

Michael Breen is president of Insight Communications Consultants in Seoul. He can be reached at mike.breen@insightcomms.com.