Regionalism as a Source of Ambivalence in Korea

while most election campaign issues have bcen limited 10 regiollil[ rivalries, in 2004, Korean 、oters faced a new dominant issue, namely, presidential im peachment. This issue 100 10，yidespread concems among the publiι but fínally fa i1ed 10 resolve traditional deavages. This study aims 10 determine whal actua!ly [00 10 the inconsi stenα between the anti-impeachmentm patgn m∞d and the election oulcome. In 2004, a strong issue gained prominen∞ along with the preexisting considerations simultanusly. As a result, the voters became ambivalent about theip referees. In addition, being in conf\ict with traditiona! cleavage‘ the issue caused at least one major party 10 adhere 10 the traditional conside ratiol1s that counlervai led the nascent issue. This development also increased ‘ oter ambivalen sequcntly, traditional deavages were not rcsoJved by Ih. new issue during the final stage of the campaign. T“SSUesι that, as long as regionally identified party iti cs exists, it is questionable that there can exist polîtical contexts thal are fa vorable to the citiz.enly ideal of a sound democracy ‘vhere citizens make their choices by comparîng theÎr positions on specific policy issues with those of the parties or candidates.