Once South Korea emerges from the virus-induced slump, it needs to get back to looking for new sources of growth
between traditional top-down economic and social decision-making and a more individualistic, bottom-up approach has been apparent in South Korea since it democratised more than three decades ago. In the past two months, however, two things have happened that have highlighted this tension.
Yet even as Mr Bong, the weirdo who was until recently on a government blacklist, was being invited to the presidential palace to celebrate, the novel coronavirus was working its way through South Korea. Suddenly, the country’s impassioned debate about the clash between individual freedom and social obligation was put on hold. The pandemic clearly demanded a strong, competent state response. It also required individuals to sacrifice for the common good.
Parliamentary elections on April 15th, in which 300 seats in the National Assembly are up for grabs, will show if South Koreans think that Mr Moon has lived up to his promises, in fighting the pandemic and in other areas. His administration has had its own share of scandals and he has come under fire for initially downplaying the virus. Responding to a poll early in the outbreak, South Koreans professed much more faith in the centre for disease control than in the president’s office.
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