Is Digital Revolution in Korean Political Communication Expanding its Democracy? Focusing on Digital Political Communications in Korea from 1993 to 2018

Academic views on the democratic implications of digital political communication on democracy have varied. In the present digital age, it is regarded that different kinds of democracies can be strengthened or weakened by digital technologies and their appropriation by societies (Barber 2001). Given the literature review on political communication and democracy, this thesis aimed to figure out “How has digital communication influenced democracy in democratic societies?”, and “What kind of democracy does the new digital communication promote and support?” through the Korean case. Ultimately, this research was to identify what aspects of Korean democracy have been enhanced, or weakened due to the digital communications by considering its own national contexts and on-going democratisation process. To do this, two specific main research questions were set up, focusing on the historical digital developmental process and the present political communications through digital media in Korean society respectively. To solve the research questions, I examined the changes of digital communications in the Korean society both at the governmental level and societal level in political context. According to the analyses, diverse social, political, economic, and cultural specificities of Korea have affected the establishment of the present Korean digital society. Transformation into a digital society was begun with mainly an economic reason at the early stage, but now it appears to play an important role in shaping democracy in society. At the governmental level, during the political power shifts for the last 25 years, there were certainly more institutional and practical attempts to expand public participation through digital media when the progressive regimes exerted power. The Korean governments have shown different directions and strategies of digital communication depending on the regime’s characteristics, which are distinguished between conservative and progressive forces. Considering this, it can be considered that digital communication has a potential to enhance direct and participatory democracy by supporting the political strategies of the progressive regimes. In the meantime, in the balance of power between the government and the citizens in civil society, digital media communication seems to be regarded as an effective means for the people at the bottom to directly deliver their needs and opinions to the top. Given the recent digital political activities of the people in Korea such as the candlelight vigils, it seems to expand the range of political participation by the citizens in Korea and enhance civic power in Korean politics, even though undemocratic political phenomena have been shown in Korea. To sum up, empirical data and findings in this Korean case study support the argument that digital communication has a democratic function, even if it is accompanying non-democratic social issues, and it supports direct, participatory and deliberative democracies rather than representative democracy.