Spring of the year 2000, Korean civic groups launch the voters' revolution, unnerving the politicians with their determination. Korean citizens, sick and tired of the corruption running rampant in the political arena, decide to join forces to eliminate corrupt and incapable politicians through the general elections.
This is the rejection campaign. It begins with the civic groups' monitoring of state affairs in the national assembly. The national assembly prohibits the civic groups' monitoring activities and even chases them out of meetings. Civic groups realize that for political reform, they would need go beyond just monitoring and making policy recommendations. Without fundamental political reform, other social problems such as environment degradation and sex discrimination would not be solved. So civic groups launch the rejection campaign, making public the past records of national assemblymen candidates so that voters can reject candidates with corruption on their records. Although not political reform per se, the rejection campaign does succeed in building people's confidence that they can make a difference through participation, and in giving the complacent and corrupt politicians the jitters.
The Citizens' Alliance for the 2000 General Elections (CAGE), which leads the campaign, consists of numerous civic groups and regional organizations. These groups have hurriedly joined forces for the General Elections, and have very different opinions and thoughts. From the criteria for making the candidate blacklist to the ways to handle the campaign, almost every detail comes under fierce debate, and members go through considerable trials and errors before differences are ironed out. Even then, an unexpected barrier awaits CAGE as the general elections begin. The election law places severe restrictions on civic group participation in election campaigns, and this becomes the seed of constant conflict between CAGE and the Election Management Committee. CAGE's efforts to defeat blacklisted candidates and the Election Management Committee's efforts to disrupt the rejection campaign based on a legal technicality reflect the political "immaturity" of Korean society.
The rejection campaign also prompts fierce backlash from blacklisted politicians who cry foul and loudly question the fairness and ethics of CAGE. As the voting day draws near, the candidates' outraged response grows stronger, and CAGE is subject to all sorts of threats and harrassment. As the election campaign draws to an end, cries of triumph and distress overlap each other throughout the time the ballots are counted. A low turnout of 56%, the political indifference of the young generation, the unreasonable attitude of the politicians, and regionalistic sentiments keep CAGE in low spirits despite the popularity and success of its campaign. 68.6% of the candidates on CAGE's blacklist are defeated, 95.5% of those in the metropolitan polling districts are soundly beaten, all the politicians are shaken, and civic and regional groups experience the power of solidarity.
All in all, the rejection campaign proves to be more than just a shocking event; it has turned into a potential for political reform. The elections are over and many of the blacklisted candidates have gone down in defeat, but the deplorable political structure stubbornly remains. Ensuring civic groups' participation and alliance in the political arena, and reforming politics itself, still remain tomorrow's tasks. Korea's political reform has only just begun.
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