New Issue Politics

Abstract

This chapter reviews some of the new issues that have become, or will potentially become, salient in South Korean politics: welfare and redistribution, gender, and immigration. While traditional political cleavage based on generational differences in political ideology still persists, these new issues have gained political significance and public attention, creating different political coalitions across South Korean voters. Though they may have not fundamentally changed South Korean politics, they have certainly diversified its issue content. For each of these issues, the chapter discusses their background, how South Koreans think about them, and what implications they have in understanding contemporary South Korean politics.