The Globe and Mail has run a story corroborating the report I received from a US military intelligence analyst and published here more than a week ago.
The winning candidate in last week’s South Korean presidential election had little need for mass rallies or traditional campaign tactics.
When Roh Moo-hyun’s organizers wanted supporters to vote on election day, they simply pressed a few computer keys. Text messages flashed to the cellphones of almost 800,000 people, urging them to go to the polls.
During his campaign, millions of voters absorbed Mr. Roh’s message from Internet sites that featured video clips of the candidate and audio broadcasts by disc jockeys and rock stars. Half a million visitors logged on to his main Web site every day to donate money or obtain campaign updates. More than 7,000 voters a day sent him e-mails with policy ideas. Internet chat groups buzzed with debate on the election.
South Koreans call it “digital democracy” and “e-politics,” and they have become the world’s leaders in cyberspace campaigning. Their high-tech boom has unleashed a new form of grassroots participation by millions of “Netizens” who exploit the latest information technology to bypass the once-dominant party machines of the old system.
With the world’s highest penetration of high-speed and mobile Internet services, South Korea is at the cutting edge of technology that is transforming the political system, making it more open and democratic. It could be a preview of the shape of Western democracy.
