Jin Joong-kwon "The 586 Generation Has Emerged as the Mainstream... The United Party Obsessed with 'Anti-Communist Warriors'"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Former Dongyang University professor Jin Joong-kwon criticized the United Future Party's election defeat, saying it was because "they remained stuck in the 'Park Chung-hee era' despite the shift in the mainstream social landscape."

On the 15th, at the 'Lost Conservative Politics, What Is the Solution?' seminar held in the National Assembly Members' Office Building Seminar Room 2, former professor Jin said, "The 586 generation (born in the 1960s, university entrants in the 1980s, now in their 50s) has risen as the mainstream in Korean society."

He stated, "Those who were once called 'people who only protested' and attended university together have become the mainstream force, creating a state of empathy with this group," adding, "The main production sector shifted from civil engineering to information and communication technology (IT), but conservatives failed to capture this."

Former professor Jin said, "Korean society entered the informatization era in the mid-1990s, and among workers, there are more engaged in the production and processing of information than in material production, processing, and distribution," adding, "The hegemony of the Park Chung-hee myth has lost its appeal in the information society. His death itself showed that the model no longer functions."

He continued, "However, looking at the identity of the United Future Party, they are still obsessed with industrial warriors and anti-communist fighters," adding, "They failed to incorporate the forces of the information society into conservatism."

He also noted the failure to cross the river of impeachment. Former professor Jin said, "The support base itself is aging. Because they could not control far-right YouTubers, they failed to cross the river of impeachment," pointing out, "The agitational support base was there, so they could not cross the river of impeachment."

He added, "The fact that the party leader is former Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn also shows they could not cross the river of impeachment," saying, "Bringing in the impeached prime minister as party leader was perceived as a message of not accepting the impeachment, and as a result, they were not recognized as an alternative force."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.