Introduction to
Politics in South Korea
& Team POPONG
Feb 11, 2014
South Korea
- Some numbers
- Established in 1948
- 50M population (2012)
- 14-hr difference with EST
- "Homogeneity" explains a lot
- Ethnically homogeneous
- Linguistically homogeneous
- Korean iff Korea
- Mobillitically(?) homogeneous
Politics in South Korea
- Mainly presidential system + a bit of parliamentary system
- Presidential (1948) -> Parliamentary (1960) -> Presidential (1961)
- Prime minister is assigned by president, confirmed with consent of National Assembly
- National budget is appointed by government, National Assembly consents
- A not so strict separation of powers
- The President can propose a bill
- For an MP to sponsor a bill, s/he needs at least 10 cosponsors
- Powerful political parties
- Lobbying for-profit is illegal
Ms. President of South Korea
- Presidential term: 5 yrs
- Current president (2013-2018)
- 18th president: Park Geun-Hye
- 1st woman president
- Daughter of 5-9th president Park Chung-hee
National Assembly of South Korea
-
Assembly term: 4 yrs
- Assembly staff turnover: 100%
- Current assembly (2012-2016)
- 19th assembly
- 4 parties in National Assembly
- 20 were registered initially for election
- 300 representatives (frequently differs)
- 246 district + 54 proportional
- 152 are from Saenuri party
-
18 standing committees
- Unicameralism
- Nonpartisan speaker + 2 vicespeakers
# Bills proposed per year by Assembly
(1st~19th Assembly)
# Bills proposed and passed per day
(May 30, 2012 ~ Jan 15, 2013)
-
proposed date
-
passed date
Elections
- Citizens vote for Presidential, National Assembly, Local Elections
- 10 direct elections in the past 13 years
Voter turnout for National Assembly Elections
"민주주의의 꽃은 선거"
The flower of democracy is the election
The Question:
We do so many elections;
but we do we know as much?
-
(Initial) Mission
- Make political data accessible for better decisions in elections
- Who we are
- A couple geeks in their 20-30s
- All part-time volunteers
- Values
- Political neutrality
- Open source, open data for replication and transparency
- Process automation for sustainability
What we do
-
Step 1: Enhance accessibility and usability of political data
- Make it universally available
- Make it programmable & Googleable
- Step 2: Inform the public with data
- Make it easier to access
- Make it easier to understand
- Make it easier to deliver
- Step 3: Get the voices out
-
*Probably* our next move
- (Any tips? Suggestions?)
Step 1a: Universally available
Glossary, i18n (working on it, please report grammatical errors!)
Step 1b: Programmable (+Googleable)
Open APIs, Batch data, PDF text
extraction
(The first and only in Korea)
Step 2a: Easier access
Politics in Korea http://pokr.kr
- Faster page loads, no ActiveXs, RWD
- Links bill data with politician data
-
Bills: National Assembly
-
Politicians: National Assembly + National Election Commission
-
Clearer URLs
-
http://likms.assembly.go.kr/bill/jsp/BillDetail.jsp?bill_id=PRC_T1D3K0Y7O1C9G1E1R4W2S0B4I6M4V5&list_url=/bill/jsp/LatestReceiptBill.jsp
-
http://pokr.kr/bill/1906067
- Delivers customized information based on interest and region
Pokr in it's early days
Pokr, Now
Step 2b: Easier to understand
Visualizations,
Tooltip dictionary, Hanja-Hangul conversions
Step 3c: Easier to convey
Ex: Pokrbot
http://facebook.com/teampopong
http://twitter.com/teampopong
http://github.com/teampopong
http://*/teampopong
Introduction to Politics in South Korea & Team POPONG
By Eunjeong Lucy Park
Introduction to Politics in South Korea & Team POPONG
This is a brief introduction to South Korean politics and a Team POPONG, for Sunlight Foundation's BBL on Feb 11th.
