Escalating social conflicts

By Park Yoon-bae

One of the most important tasks the government should carry out is to mediate different types of conflicts in our society. Any failure to do so will lead inevitably to social polarization, disintegration and disharmony.

A recent survey conducted by Hankook Research showed that 52.4 percent of South Koreans believe social conflicts increased last year under the rule of liberal President Moon Jae-in. The figure more than doubled from 22.9 percent in 2017.

Only 12.3 percent said social conflicts decreased, compared with 29.9 percent in 2017. And 90 percent think conflicts among different groups in Korean society are serious.

The poll also found that 52.9 percent believe the Moon government has made efforts to resolve social conflicts, while 47.1 percent think otherwise. This implies that a large portion of respondents are dissatisfied with the liberal administration's ability to mediate different types of conflicts, despite the majority's positive assessment.

The survey results have significant ramifications not only for the Moon government, but also for the entire nation.

It can be inferred that the people have seen social conflicts escalating because various groups of our society were increasingly pitted against each other in 2018.

Experts pointed out that more conflicts came into being from across all walks of life after they were suppressed in Moon's first year in office in 2017 when his government focused on rooting out "accumulated evils" following the ouster of his predecessor, Park Geun-hye, who stood trial on charges of corruption and abuse of power.

In other words, the people have begun to express their dissatisfaction with Moon's leadership in his second year in office. The reason is because they found it hard for the new government to meet their high expectations for better lives.

Labor disputes

One of the most conspicuous social conflicts is still a series of rising disputes between labor and management. These disputes have been on the rise amid a steep hike in the minimum wage and the shorter workweek ― two key elements of Moon's "income-led growth" policy.

Employers, particularly small business operators and the self-employed, have conflicts of interests with employees because they want to hire fewer workers to reduce soaring labor costs while workers seek to get paid more.

Moon's policy is designed to generate more jobs and bring higher wages to workers, thereby boosting economic growth. However, the policy has so far gone nowhere, inviting criticism from both businesses and workers for Moon's job creation failure, let alone his inability to speed up economic recovery.

Income disparity

Another source of social conflict is the widening gap between the haves and have-nots.

According to Statistics Korea, the average monthly income of families in the bottom 20 percent bracket fell 7 percent to 1,318,000 won ($1,179) in the third quarter of last year from a year before. Their income also shrank by 7.6 percent in the second quarter and 8 percent in the first quarter.

On the contrary, the average monthly income of those in the top 20 percent bracket rose 8.8 percent in the third quarter, marking an 11th quarterly increase since the first quarter of 2016.

Thus, the top 20 percent's disposal income was 5.52 times as much as that of the bottom 20 percent. This income disparity marked the widest in 11 years. In a nutshell, Korea has become an ever more polarized society in which the rich become richer and the poor become poorer.

Without addressing this polarization, the nation cannot cement social cohesion and harmony. It will only fan the flames of social conflict.

Gender conflict

Last year, Korean society witnessed a milestone in the #MeToo movement. Women in various sectors of society bravely waged the campaign to hold perpetrators accountable for their sexual violence. This has brought a significant change to the male-dominant society.

But it is also true that the nation has suffered ever-mounting conflicts between sexes. Especially in online communities, many internet users do not hesitate to express misogyny or misandry, ramping up tension between men and women.

Besides that, the nation has continued to suffer regional antagonism, ideological conflict between conservatives and progressives, and generational conflict between the young and old.

It is inevitable to see social conflicts rise further as our society becomes more diversified and complicated. But the problem is that the nation lacks a functioning system for conflict mitigation. So it is urgent to establish a social dialogue channel and legal framework to better reflect different opinions and mediate conflicting interests of the members of our society.

Most of all, the nation should make a strenuous effort to turn conflicts into a driving force for social transformation and democratic development.

The writer is the chief editorial writer of The Korea Times. Contact him at byb@koreatimes.co.kr.