Korea May Try It Another Way

South Korea has experienced a political earthquake that could prove comparable in magnitude to the wrenching shift from authoritarian to democratic rule that it underwent beginning in 1987. Two of the three major opposition parties are preparing to merge with President Roh Tae Woo’s governing Democratic Justice Party to form a new and, quite possibly, electorally invincible alliance. The planned merger could succeed in sweeping away much of the bitter and often ambition-driven factionalism that for nearly two years has produced legislative deadlock and kept alive the threat of explosive instability. It also will isolate and could more or less politically neutralize Kim Dae Jung, the nation’s best-known dissident and leader of the largest single opposition party.

All-important details remain to be negotiated about how power will be distributed among the coalescing parties. What does seem set for now is that the new grouping will be called the Democratic Liberal Party, that it will be launched within six months, and that--assured of a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly--it will move to revise the constitution to provide for a cabinet rather than a presidential system of government. What could in time emerge is something akin to the political structure in Japan, where the factionalized Liberal Democratic Party has held the reins of government for most of the post-war era, in part because its opposition has been extraordinarily ineffective and in part because the LDP’s center-right philosophy suits the national mood.

Kim Dae Jung, who in the past suffered greatly for his principles but whose own recent rigidity and zeal have disappointed many who were once his admirers, has denounced the planned merger and warned darkly of the emergence of a new one-party dictatorship. A concentration of power in any country is always something to be feared, especially one where constitutional democracy is only beginning to send down roots. But South Korea’s nascent democracy is also threatened by a persistent legislative impasse that has been encouraged both by regional rivalries and plain demagogy. Koreans want freedom, but with their long and intense heritage of Confucianism, they crave stability, order and social harmony as well. That’s why most are likely to approve of the new political alignment.

Might they someday regret doing so? The emergence of a dominant party with an automatic parliamentary majority raises inevitable concerns--and not just among Kim Dae Jung and his followers--that legitimate dissent could come to be repressed, that interests not represented in the ruling party could be ignored. That would be a particular tragedy in a country that in recent years has progressed so far. Korea, one of America’s key allies and trading partners, appears to have an opportunity now to move toward a smoother-functioning democracy. The emphasis in that equation must continue to be on the word democracy.