By Kang Seung-woo
The global chaos following Britain's decision to exit the EU, known as Brexit, started from a populist pledge made by Prime Minister David Cameron.
His campaign pledge for a referendum on Brexit to draw support from anti-EU conservatives helped him win re-election last year. The country voted to leave the EU last week to the shock of the world, despite the pro-EU Cameron's efforts.
Analysts say the Brexit case set off an alarm bell for politicians here who habitually make irresponsible campaign pledges.
"The Brexit poll is an example of populist politics," said Park Sung-hoon, professor of the graduate school of international studies at Korea University.
"Following the election victory, Cameron should have apologized for his wrong election pledge and retracted it, but his decision to push ahead with the referendum has produced a huge backlash."
Around the same time in Korea, a populist pledge, proposed by President Park Geun-hye in 2012, swept the nation, becoming a hot-button issue.
It was to build a new airport in the southeastern region of the nation — either on Gadeok Island off Busan or in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province.
Two previous administrations failed to pick the site for a new airport due to poor commercial viability and the environmental damage expected from the project, as well as the bitter rivalry between residents and politicians.
However, President Park revived the plan ahead of the presidential election in December 2012 in a desperate attempt to win votes from South and North Gyeongsang provinces.
In the end, the Park government decided to scrap the plan last week and expand an existing facility, which was seen as a move to prevent political fallout.
Although Park eluded the worst scenario, she is also paying the price for the populist idea like her British counterpart, with faithful supporters turning their backs on her.
According to a Gallup Korea poll on Friday, 52 percent of the respondents in Daegu and North Geyongsang had negative views on Park's job performance as president, up a sharp 15 percentage points from a week earlier. Only 37 percent said they still supported the chief executive.
The drop is noteworthy since the region staunchly supported President Park in the past.
In addition, the disapproval rating for the President in Busan, Ulsan and South Geyongsang Province stood at 53 percent, compared with 35 percent approving her.
Amid declining popularity for Park in the southeastern provinces, her populist idea may doom her handling of state affairs during her remaining term in office, hastening the arrival of a lame-duck session, according to analysts.
Whenever the nation heads to elections, populist ideas overflow to woo voters, and there are growing concerns that the trend may reach a fever pitch en route to next year's presidential election.
For example, Moon Jae-in, a former chairman of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, also made the same promise that Park did on the campaign trail in 2012.
"In advanced countries, there are many systems validating election pledges and it prevents politicians from opting for populist politics," said Cho Jin-man, a professor of political science at Duksung Women's University.
"However, Korean politicians are only keen to win election, so they tend to come up with unfeasible pledges that require a lot of money."
Another analyst said, "Politicians need to have the attitude that if their pledges are not viable ones, they admit their mistakes and retract them even after winning the election."
The global chaos following Britain's decision to exit the EU, known as Brexit, started from a populist pledge made by Prime Minister David Cameron.
His campaign pledge for a referendum on Brexit to draw support from anti-EU conservatives helped him win re-election last year. The country voted to leave the EU last week to the shock of the world, despite the pro-EU Cameron's efforts.
Analysts say the Brexit case set off an alarm bell for politicians here who habitually make irresponsible campaign pledges.
"The Brexit poll is an example of populist politics," said Park Sung-hoon, professor of the graduate school of international studies at Korea University.
"Following the election victory, Cameron should have apologized for his wrong election pledge and retracted it, but his decision to push ahead with the referendum has produced a huge backlash."
Around the same time in Korea, a populist pledge, proposed by President Park Geun-hye in 2012, swept the nation, becoming a hot-button issue.
It was to build a new airport in the southeastern region of the nation — either on Gadeok Island off Busan or in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province.
Two previous administrations failed to pick the site for a new airport due to poor commercial viability and the environmental damage expected from the project, as well as the bitter rivalry between residents and politicians.
However, President Park revived the plan ahead of the presidential election in December 2012 in a desperate attempt to win votes from South and North Gyeongsang provinces.
A contentious bidding war emerged as both sites are situated in the southeastern region, President Park's traditional support base, igniting fears that any result was expected to split her political bastions — Daegu and Busan — ahead of next year's presidential election.
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In the end, the Park government decided to scrap the plan last week and expand an existing facility, which was seen as a move to prevent political fallout.
Although Park eluded the worst scenario, she is also paying the price for the populist idea like her British counterpart, with faithful supporters turning their backs on her.
According to a Gallup Korea poll on Friday, 52 percent of the respondents in Daegu and North Geyongsang had negative views on Park's job performance as president, up a sharp 15 percentage points from a week earlier. Only 37 percent said they still supported the chief executive.
The drop is noteworthy since the region staunchly supported President Park in the past.
In addition, the disapproval rating for the President in Busan, Ulsan and South Geyongsang Province stood at 53 percent, compared with 35 percent approving her.
Amid declining popularity for Park in the southeastern provinces, her populist idea may doom her handling of state affairs during her remaining term in office, hastening the arrival of a lame-duck session, according to analysts.
Whenever the nation heads to elections, populist ideas overflow to woo voters, and there are growing concerns that the trend may reach a fever pitch en route to next year's presidential election.
For example, Moon Jae-in, a former chairman of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, also made the same promise that Park did on the campaign trail in 2012.
"In advanced countries, there are many systems validating election pledges and it prevents politicians from opting for populist politics," said Cho Jin-man, a professor of political science at Duksung Women's University.
"However, Korean politicians are only keen to win election, so they tend to come up with unfeasible pledges that require a lot of money."
Another analyst said, "Politicians need to have the attitude that if their pledges are not viable ones, they admit their mistakes and retract them even after winning the election."
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