How ideology divides generations: The 2002 and 2004 South Korean elections

An interesting phenomenon in recent South Korean electoral politics is the generation gap. In the 2002 presidential and the 2004 National Assembly elections, voting behaviour was sharply split between different age groups. A main question of this article is to figure out the underlying characteristics of the generational differences in the two elections and of the ideological division in the South Korean context. Findings show that the generation gap reflects different assessments of the authoritarian period and its inheritance. Young voters took a libertarian view and a negative assessment of the authoritarian era, while older voters, especially in their fifties and older, had a positive attitude toward the authoritarian legacies. Roh Moo-hyun's victory was largely attributed to his successful mobilization of young voters' generational rebellion.