23% of University Students Labeled as Conservatives
By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
Twenty-three out of every 100 university students consider themselves conservatives, while another 23 label themselves progressive.
The local daily Hankook Ilbo conducted a survey of 1,089 students at Seoul National, Korea, Yonsei and Ewha Womans universities on their ideological tendency. According to the survey, 51 percent of the respondents said they were ``neutral.''
University students, once considered innovative and progressive who led the democratic movement and numerous protests in the country, have been becoming more conservative. About 31.7 percent of those who have parents with more than 6 million won in monthly income answered that they are conservatives, whereas 21.4 percent of them answered progressives.
Conversely, some 15.5 percent of the respondents from a family with less than 2 million won in monthly income said they were conservatives, against 29 percent replying as progressives.
The conservative rate went up higher as students got older with 29.8 percent of seniors said they are conservatives.
According to the survey, 87.7 percent of the students said the country needs more democracy while 82.7 percent said their campus needed more of it, too.
About 58.6 percent answered that university students need to participate more in political or social innovation, but 62.3 percent said they would not participate in democratic protests such as the students' democratic resistance back in June 1987.
Even of those who consider themselves progressives, 91.7 percent said they are not fierce social or political activists. In fact, a mere 25.2 percent of the progressives participated in recent campus protests.
Most of the students showed reluctance in learning more about democracy in Korea specifically _ 78.5 percent answered that they have never taken modern Korean history classes, while 73.1 percent said they have searched for information about democracy online.
Choi Jong-woo, president of Yonsei University's students' association, said that students have lots of things that bother them _ good school grades, getting a job, self development as well as difficult economic issues.
``These days, many students consider the country as a democratic one and do not pay attention to current issues. There are many problems that students have to think of _ the two Koreas, education and economic polarization _ but I get the impression that they do not care.
University students should be the first to think about and share the problems and solutions with people,'' said Rep. Woo Sang-ho of the Uri Party.