The three Kims failed to unite during the Roh administration.  As the 1992 election neared, however, Kim YS decided to forgo his opposition status.  He merged his party with Kim JP and the ruling party to form the Liberal Democratic Party, leaving Kim DJ of the National Congress for New Politics as the only opposition leader.  Hyundai President, Chung Ju Young decided the campaign needed a third candidate and ran as a Ross Perot-like billionaire reformer.  Kim YS easily outpaced Kim DJ and became the first civilian president of Korea.

President Kim enjoyed enormous popularity early in his administration and enacted several major reforms, including the institution of direct elections for most provincial and local officials.  This was a very significant reform because it weakened the power of the presidency who controls enormous influence through the power of patronage.  This reform has been largely forgotten since the wave of scandals and catastrophes (as if he caused bridges and department stores to collapse) that has drowned him in a sea of derision.  Most Koreans also blame his second most important reform for the current economic woes.  In the past, people could create accounts with fictional names.  This allowed the Roh Tae Woo's and other criminals to hide their ill-gotten gain.  President ended this practice in order to strengthen confidence among foreign investors.  Some critics of the new Real Name Transaction System argue that this new law must be repealed in order to get all the money that went underground back into the economy.  Of course it would they have ignored the fact that such a corrupt system does not help Korea's image abroad and encourages the flight of foreign investment.

It's likely that President Kim's reforms have strengthened the backlash against him.  In the past, no one dare challenge the authority of the President.  With so many independent officials, it's natural for opposition within his administration to arise.  Call it the Gorbachev Effect: enact a few reforms to allow for greater political and economic freedom and the next thing you know you become the target of the dissension.

The election process has seen an enormous transformation in the last ten years.  February 25 will be the first transfer of power from a ruling party to an opposition party.  Due to the easing of strict controls of the press, television played a major role in December's election.  All candidates used the Internet as well to get their message out.  Money played a major factor, as usual, but candidates other than the ruling party were able to raise it, this time.  Perhaps the money and the rampant mudslinging by all candidates were supposed to create a general apathy among the voters that would rival any Western democracy.  Due to the economic crisis, however, turnout was barely lower than 1992's 82%.

It will be interesting to watch what Korea's first opposition leader (Kim Young Sam, while an opposition leader early on, merged his party with the ruling party in order to win the 1992 election) does in this time of crisis.  Will it be pay back time for his former enemies, or a time to fill the bureaucracy with his party hacks to loot and pillage like all the other presidents?  Or will he institute some desperately needed reforms.  Korea has accomplished much in a very short time.  But it has a long way to go to be a true economic power.  After all, free elections are nothing without a transparent economic system, protection of liberties, and rule of law.  Many Asian countries, which followed the Japanese model, rather than the traditional British/American model, are discovering that fact now.