E-campaigning versus the Public Official Election Act in South Korea: Causes, consequences and implications of cyber-exile

Abstract

Purpose – South Korea imposes more stringent restrictions on political speeches during elections than many other democratic countries. The purpose of this paper is to examine the long‐standing conflict between citizens and institutions in the Korean electoral environment and the effects of the internet on this conflict.Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides a case study of the 2007 presidential election in Korea. During the campaign period, two video clips (one on YouTube and the other on Daum, a major domestic web portal) emerged and implicated the then‐leading candidate in a financial scandal. The paper investigates how these video clips were shared and discussed among Korean voters, even though the country's election laws restricted the sharing of such information in cyberspace. The paper employs a combination of network analysis techniques, including hyperlink analysis, interaction network analysis, and semantic network analysis.Findings – YouTube served as a medium for Korean voters to circ...