The Influence Of Political Reform By Kim Youngsam On The Democratization In South Korea

Since Roh Taewoo’s democratic manifesto on June29and the new constitution on December12in1987, Korea has changed from an authoritative nation into a democratic one. However, many problems were still to be solved in Korea in spite of the rapid development of democracy.After Kim Youngsam came into power, his government at the initial stage was still marked by authority rule,due to the deep influence of Roh Taewoo’s military regime, which, to some extent, still threw shadows on Korea’s political life. Kim Youngsam cleared authoritarianism, and paved the way for democratic development, marking the real political turn in Korea.Taking building a new Korea as his own duty, Kim Youngsam set three goals to clear corruption, recover economy and perfect regulations and laws. Such laws as Ethic Law of Civilian Servant, Party Law, and Combined Electoral Law were revised, and local autonomy conducted. With severe punishment to corruption, bribe, and fraud, he arrested the former presidents Chun Doohwan and Roh Taewoo in the name of rectifying history, and rehabilitated the victims in Kwangiu Tragedy. In economy, identification policy was practiced to stabilize financial order. Most importantly, a lot of corruption cases were investigated. A frugal, clean, honest, and diligent government was widely welcomed and praised.At the later stage of Kim Youngsam’s helm, however, a series of problems have occurred due to the incomplete reform and the errors in making economic decision. Confidence on him fell sharply, leading to the disappointment to the government. Despite of the failures, it cannot be denied that Kim Youngsam, a fighter for democracy, has made a tremendous contribution to democratic development in Korea.