This article was originally published on the Korea Times.
The percentage of people who identify themselves as conservative has surpassed those who say they are liberal or progressive for the first time in five years, according to an annual survey by a government-funded research institute.
Local pollster KSTAT Research surveyed 8,077 adults ― over the age of 19 ― in September and October last year at the request of the Korea Institute of Public Administration and found that 30.4 percent of the respondents said they consider themselves conservative, surpassing the rate of those who said they are liberal or progressive at 22.8 percent.
The gap between liberals and conservatives now stands at 7.6 percentage points
Under the Park Geun-hye administration from 2013 to 2016, the percentage of those who said they are conservative was higher than those who said they are liberal or progressive. But the proportion of people who see themselves as conservatives continued to decline over from 31 percent in 2013 to 26.2 percent in 2016. In contrast, the ratio of people who see themselves as being progressive rose from 22.6 percent in 2013 to 26.1 percent in 2016. The gap was only 0.1 percentage point in 2016.
In 2017, 30.6 percent of Koreans identified themselves as being liberals, surpassing the 21 percent of those who said they are conservative. The gap was 9.6 percentage points.
The proportions of progressives and conservatives changed again between 2017 and 2021 under the Moon Jae-in administration, with the ratio of conservatives rising by 9.4 percentage points during the four-year period, while the proportion of progressives or liberals declined 7.8 percentage points.
The decline in the percentage of people who said they are progressive or liberal was especially noticeable in younger age groups ― those in their 20s or younger as well as those in their 30s. In 2017, 36.4 percent of respondents in their 20s or younger said they are progressive or liberal, while 10.5 percent said they are conservative. But in 2021, the proportion of liberals declined to 31.5 percent, while the ratio of conservatives also dropped to 9.6 percent.
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