Prime Minister Han Seung-soo said on Saturday he felt that he needed to state something obvious because there are an increasing number of people in South Korea who doubt it is obvious: democracy.
Han reaffirmed that South Korea is a democratic country in his response to growing public criticism that the country's democracy is backpedaling under the Lee Myung-bak administration.
"Our country is not an autocratic country but a democratic nation," Yonhap News Agency reported citing Han as saying.
Although Lee was elected by a landslide, critics claim that the country's hard-won democracy after decades of military rule is in peril, saying the president is turning a deaf ear to public opinion and rolling back civil liberties.
Since Lee took office early last year, Inter-Korean relations have also been chilled and critics said that the businessman-turned-leader is pursuing policies only for the wealthy and vested powers, with the freedom and independence of the press severely compromised.
Public anger has grown since Lee's immediate predecessor committed suicide last month amid an investigation by prosecutors into his alleged involvement in a bribery corruption. Some argued the probe was a politically motivated attempt to quell Roh and his supporters.
Tens of thousands of people held an anti-government rally at Seoul Plaza on Wednesday to mark the 22nd anniversary of the June 10 civil uprising for democratization.
Groups of professors at the nation’s top Seoul National University and other major colleges nationwide as well as 240 professors in North America issued a series of statement demanding a government apology for the investigation and Lee's improved communication with the public.
Former President Kim Dae-jung, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000 for his efforts to thaw inter-Korean tension, joined the chorus of criticism against the Lee administration.
"I say this with firm conviction that both the people and the Lee Myung-bak administration will meet only misfortune if President Lee and the government continue to walk down the road they are on now," Kim said earlier this week in a ceremony marking the ninth anniversary of his historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang.
"Many are saying from all corners of society that the Lee administration is regressing on democracy. We must remember that when there were dictators, our people overcame and restored democracy."
The presidential office immediately accused Kim of trying to instigate an ideological rift in the nation.
The prime minister said Kim’s criticism is a misleading of the current situation.
"They define President Lee Myung-bak as a dictator. I don't know whether they really believe (South Korea) is an autocratic country. If so, it is big misunderstanding," Han said.
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