Leaderless Political Opposition: The 2008 Candlelight Protests and Changing Face of Korean Democracy

The recent examples of the protests of the so-called “Arab Spring” and the Occupy Wall Street Movement have shown the potential for mobile communication devices and networks over the internet to be turned into potent tools for political mobilization and activism. In light of these developments, this article seeks to reinterpret the 2008 candlelight protests against the import of U.S. beef in South Korea to demonstrate the potential of mobile communication technology and internet-based networks as tools of political resistance in South Korea. The 2008 candlelight protests suggest that this form of political opposition fostered by the internet is a “leaderless” opposition in that it lacks a central hierarchical leadership. The candlelight protests was a ‘multitude’ composed of various different participating groups that lacked a single, unifying collective identity enforced by a leadership. In the absence of such a unifying collective identity, the common was constructed through communication across pre-existing networks on the internet. Furthermore, it was a ‘self-organizing’ movement that lacked a central organization directing action. The protesters, however, were able to execute coordinated resistance through ‘swarm intelligence’ which, again, relied on mobile communication devices and the internet to facilitate rapid communication between the participants. Finally, the candlelight protests, though fueled by numerous and various grievances against the Lee Myung-bak government, presented a coherent opposition to the Lee Myung-bak government. This analysis concludes that, while traditional political institutions seem to have dominated cyber-electioneering, the internet remains a space for potential political resistance in South Korea.