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For the first time in its history, on December 18, 1997, the citizens of the Republic of Korea elected as their president the leader of an opposition party, Kim Dae Jung. Does his electoral victory mark the dawning of a new era of democratic politics in Korea? This paper addresses the problems and prospects for the consolidation of Korean democracy through the analysis of public opinion surveys conducted during the past five years. The findings reveal that the overall support of the Korean people for democracy has not broadened, deepened or stabilized appreciably for all the institutional reforms which Kim Young Sam as the first civilian president of the Sixth Republic vigorously implemented since 1993. Instead, the findings suggest that Korean support for democracy tends to remain superficial, fragmented and mixed with authoritarian habits. Given such slow and uncertain progress that cultural democratization has made among the masses, it is premature to celebrate the election of an opposition leader to the presidency as the consolidation of Korean democracy.
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