[Insight & Opinion] The Cho Kuk Phenomenon and the Public's Double Psychology

Exploiting the Temporary Void in Progressive Leadership
Judging Party Morality Over Individual Integrity

The appellate court could have detained former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk on February 8. It recognized most of the charges related to his children's admission fraud as guilty, just like the first trial, and sentenced him to two years in prison. The court also stated that Cho Kuk “has not shown any remorse.” It would not have been unusual if the judge had prioritized judicial justice by immediately enforcing the sentence over Cho Kuk’s private right to defense. The court’s decision not to detain Cho Kuk physically enabled the founding of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party, which has had a tremendous impact on this general election. No one expected things to unfold this way.

In a March 15 survey by ‘Korea Gallup,’ 19% of respondents said they would vote for the Cho Kuk Innovation Party as a proportional representation party. Regarding the apparent reason for the Cho Kuk phenomenon, opposition supporters seem to be putting Cho Kuk in their “shopping basket” as an ‘alternative to Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea.’

In the same ‘Korea Gallup’ survey, the public opinion that ‘many opposition candidates should be elected to check the government’ (49%) surpassed the opinion that ‘many ruling party candidates should be elected to support the government’ (40%). Meanwhile, party support was higher for the ruling People Power Party (37%) than for the main opposition Democratic Party (32%). This is interpreted as progressive-leaning voters wanting to vote for the opposition to check the government but being dissatisfied with the Democratic Party’s ‘emergency candidate nominations.’ Many of these voters appear to have shifted to the Cho Kuk Innovation Party.

‘New Future,’ a faction that split from the Democratic Party led by Lee Nak-yeon, somewhat lost its ‘progressive clarity’ as it merged and separated with centrist-conservative Lee Jun-seok from the ruling party. Cho Kuk exploited this temporary void in the progressive camp’s rallying point. He emphasized clarity by stating, “The Cho Kuk Innovation Party will be the party that fights at the forefront against the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, the party that fights most fiercely, and the party that fights until the very end.”

Progressive media packages such as ‘Kim Eo-jun’s It’s Hard to Be Humble News Factory’ and ‘OhmyNews’ are also favorable to Cho Kuk. These YouTube-based big speakers have created a ‘Cho Kuk-friendly atmosphere’ among millions of subscribers in their camp. The Cho Kuk phenomenon is motivating progressive voters to go to the polls.

There is also an internal reason for Cho Kuk’s rapid rise, described as the ‘double psychology of the public.’ Several studies show that a politician’s moral flaws reduce voter support, which aligns with common sense. However, there are also many counterexamples.

A paper in the ‘Korean Journal of Corruption Studies’ found that the morality of public office candidates does not significantly influence voters’ candidate choices. Interestingly, the key factor determining voters’ choices was the party factor.

A foreign scholar named Russell Hardin explains this with the concept of ‘institutional morality.’ Here, institutional morality refers not to the individual morality of politicians but to the ‘morality of the party.’ According to this, the public thinks, ‘Convicted defendants like Cho Kuk should not become representatives of the people.’ At the same time, they also hold the dual psychology that ‘the morality issue of parties like the People Power Party is more important and serious than the individual morality issue of Cho Kuk.’

Meanwhile, the People Power Party has been embroiled in controversies such as “Ito Hirobumi is a talent,” “orgies,” and “the theory of North Korean involvement in the May 18 Gwangju Uprising.” The spotlight on the stage has shifted from ‘Cho Kuk’s unfairness’ to ‘People Power Party’s irrationality and anti-democracy.’ Unless the ruling party quickly separates candidates and the party who behave in ways disconnected from public ethics, it will be difficult to turn the public’s attention away from the party’s morality issue. In one survey, the support rate for the Cho Kuk Innovation Party among people in their 20s was 0%. It seems that political forces capable of channeling this public anger over Cho Kuk’s double standards are losing strength.

Heo Man-seop, Professor at Gangneung-Wonju National University