My
Projects

Does religion influence politics in South Korea? Which religion takes a part in politics? Recently, there has been a convergence between the right-wing movement and large protestant churches within the country. However, previous literature has largely overlooked the role of religion in Korean politics. In this paper, we aim to fill this gap by empirically examining religiosity and political attitudes among Korean citizens. Our finding implies that Korean Protestants, unlike other religions, tend to align with the agenda of the conservative party. The mechanism is that religiosity of Korean Protestants strengthened their ideology.

Recently, academic attention has increased regarding political norms aimed at balancing and preventing democratic backsliding, a global phenomenon. In particular, because the current backsliding of democracy continues while maintaining democratic institutions, unlike in the past, scholars study political norms as a cultural foundation to preserve democratic politics. The existing literature on Korean politics has criticized violations of democratic norms among presidents and politicians and analyzed democratic support among Koreans at the regime level; however, it has not systematically investigated their support for democratic norms. Therefore, this study analyzes the 2003-2020 Asian Barometer Surveys and identifies two empirical patterns. First, citizens’ support for democratic norms has increased since the early 2000s. Second, using theories of institutional learning and authoritarian legacies, the study reveals that Koreans’ support for democratic norms has either grown or stagnated across generations and partisan lines. These findings carry important implications for the future of Korean politics and democracy.