The questions that come up most often after those about Korea's economy have to do with the country's political situation:
"Is Korea a democracy?"
Sometimes, the questions on this topic actually take the form of statements, revealing once again prejudices and confusions about Korea. During a conversation about a movie, for instance, I explained that I haven't seen it because it is not available on Netflix in Korea. "Of course, I forgot there is censorship there," my interlocutor instantly replied.
I simply pointed out that I live in South Korea, not China.
There is no censorship in South Korea. At least not more than in France. It's not even remotely comparable to China or North Korea, where the authorities decide what can be published or broadcast. True, if you watch a movie on Korean television, you will notice that nude scenes, sex scenes, or even a simple lit cigarette are usually blurred. And swear words are bleeped, like in the USA for example. It also happens that the flag of the Japanese imperial army (Kyokujitsuki) is blurred, erased, or replaced by the "official" flag of Japan. This symbol, for Koreans, refers to the Japanese colonization of the first half of the twentieth century and the atrocities that came with it. As a comparison, I would say it is, in a way, perceived here like the swastika in Europe.
I was flying from France to Korea a few years ago, and I remember that passengers using the internet on board were suddenly informed that they would not be able to do so while we were flying over China. This obviously surprised me because it is something that would be unimaginable in France and in South Korea.
It is true that, historically, Korean democracy is younger than ours. After the Korean War, South Korea was not only very poor, but also politically unstable. From the early 1960s to the late 1980s, there were several coups, martial law was imposed on multiple occasions, and opposition to the government was often harshly repressed, like during the Gwangju uprising in 1980.
More information is available HERE and in this presentation:
Since the late 1980s, Korea has made a democratic transition and is now considered a full democracy.
It was once pointed out to me that all former South Korean presidents still alive were in prison. The person who said that saw it as a sign that there is still a lot of corruption at the head of the Korean state. But we can also be pleased to see that it is possible in Korea to convict former presidents and to actually send them to prison, which rarely happens in dictatorships, as far as I know. And we could add that in France, though some former presidents have been sentenced after the end of their term, none has ever been incarcerated...
