
S. Korea had presidents in their 40s taking power through military coups, not democratic elections
Rep. Lee Jun-seok of the minor conservative Reform Party, recently vowed to shake up the country’s aging political order, in a speech some viewed as suggesting his bid for president.
The 39-year-old politician, who turns 40 next month, making him legally eligible to run for the presidency here, mentioned liberal US Presidents John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama as examples of younger leaders who led a country. “We need to end the age of outdated politics,” he stressed in the middle of the crowded Hongdae area, known as a center for youth and nightlife in Seoul.
While Lee sounds hopeful, he faces major hurdles in becoming president, as South Korea may not be yet for a president in his or her 40s, according to one political commentator.
“In most Western countries, people believe the president or the prime minister is the representative of the people. The sentiment in South Korea is different," said Park Sang-byeong, "As people here believe our leader is ‘imperial,’" according to the commentator by phone Monday.
“It’s also about a lack of respect we give to young leaders as a society and the voters disapprove of a leader younger than them thinking that he or she will have a lack of experience,” he added.
South Korea’s status as an aging society coupled with its low birth rate is likely to work as further hurdles for the rise of younger leaders, according to Park.
South Korea has formally become a "super-aged" society where the share of its population aged 65 or over surpassed 20 percent, as of December last year. On top of it, the voter turnout for those in their 60s and 70s has outpaced that of younger generations, in the latest presidential election.
For the 2022 presidential election, the voter turnout for those in their 60s came to 87.6 percent, ranking No.1 among all age groups, according to data from the National Election Commission.
Voters in their 70s came at No. 2 with 86.2 percent and those in their 50s at 81.4 percent. Those in their 20s came to 71 percent and 30s at 70.7 percent. Those aged 18, an age group that was allowed to vote for the first time in the presidential election that year, came to 71.3 percent. Those over 80 came last with 61.8 percent.
As a result of the election, currently impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was 62 at the time of the inauguration, was elected. Yoon’s predecessors President Moon Jae-in and President Park Geun-hye were each 64 and 60 at the time of their inaugurations, respectively.
“With the overall population declining and the society aging, it’s going to be difficult for younger candidates to become president,” Park said.
Late start?
Democratic US Presidents Kennedy and Obama were leaders elected by the people who left lasting legacies in the history of American politics. They were two of the nine US presidents who entered the White House in their 40s.
In South Korea’s constitutional history, there were only two presidents who took power in their 40s: Park Chung-hee, who was in office from 1962 until his assassination in 1979, and Chun Doo-hwan, who was in power from 1980 to 1988. But both figures seized power through military coups and the elections that supported their rule were undemocratic and marked with irregularities.
The median age at inauguration for Korean presidents is 62.
Overall, the Constitution here requires the president to be older than most other countries.
In the US, the minimum age to become president is 35, compared to 40 in South Korea.
In the UK, where the prime minister performs the same function as the president, there is no set minimum age for becoming prime minister, although the minimum age to be a member of Parliament is 18.
It was also only in 2022 that Korea passed legislation that lowered the age of eligibility for national and local elections from the previous 25 to 18.
“There are younger leaders in Europe with prime ministers in their 30s and 40s,” Shin Yul, a political science professor at Myongji University said via phone.
“But younger leaders don’t always translate into good leadership -- age might not be a factor that we should consider heavily when electing our president,” he added.