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Post-Olympic Korea
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16648 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
Date : |
10 / 1989 |
3,031 Words |
| Author
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Stephen Kirby
Stephen Kirby is dean of the politics department at the
University of Hull in Great Britain. |
In the run-up to the Seoul Olympics, the determination to make them a success gave a unity of purpose to the vast majority of South Koreans, but there was concern in political circles, even foreboding, that this might evaporate after the closing ceremony.
Some questions on the minds of many observes included: Would the democratic concessions of 1987 survive after the attention of the world's media was switched elsewhere? Might not President Roh Tae Woo crack down on labor unions? And would student radicalism and military conservatism once again make South Korean politics confrontational, violent, and uncompromising?
There was equal uncertainty about South Korea's place in the post-Olympic international scene. Could improved relations with China and the Soviet Union be maintained after their national teams had returned home with their harvests of public relations victories and gold medals? Might not South Korea's newfound status and international recognition simply serve to intensify protectionist trade measures against it rather than push forward its remarkable export record? And what of relations with North Korea? Would the North's isolation, so graphically demonstrated by the Olympics, make the North a more malleable and peaceful neighbor or would it simply deepen its hostility to the South? On almost every count, pre-Olympic expectations were greater than post-Olympic results.
Domestic Politics
Within the last two years South Korea has held its first two genuinely democratic national elections and is now learning to live with the
... (1989 of 18414 Characters)
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