Introduction to
Politics in South Korea
& Team POPONG

Feb 11, 2014

Lucy Park

http://lucypark.kr
lucypark@popong.com

South Korea

Some numbers

Established in 1948
50M population (2012)

Seoul + satellites: 25M

14-hr difference with EST

"Homogeneity" explains a lot

Ethnically homogeneous

97.2% are Hanguk-ins

Linguistically homogeneous

Korean iff Korea

Mobillitically(?) homogeneous

90.1% use Android

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!)

http://en.labs.popong.com/glossary

Step 1b: Programmable (+Googleable)

Open APIs, Batch data, PDF text extraction

(The first and only in Korea)

http://data.popong.com (Under construction)

http://pokr.kr/bill/1904882/text

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