(Small businesses) Marketplace politics

Ohmynews ponders why Chông Hyông-gûn (Chun Hyoung-geun or something, 정형근) of GNP got elected from his district in northern Busan. Chông is quite notorious for his time in the An'gibu (Security Service) and has been accused of torture, but that doesn't bother Buk-gu people in Busan. Got to make this short as I'm on a dial-up connection, but I want to pay attention how the site where the writer has gone to find it out is a marketplace (chaerae sijang). 젊은층은 좀더 심도 있는 분석을 내놨다. 취업을 준비중이라는 박모(남·28)씨는 "북구는 대부분 경제적으로 어려운 분들이 많이 사는데, 이 분들에게 아무리 '민주주의' 이야기를 해봐야 한계가 있다"며 "이곳 민심은 당장 뭐 하나라도 줄 수 있는 사람을 고르는데, 아직까지는 한나라당이 이곳에서 '정신적 여당' 역할을 하고 있다"고 전했다. Difficult to expect much progressiveness or reform-mindedness there, in an economically not well-off area, but that alone doesn't conclusively give the edge to the GNP, who still enjoys a home-court edge, if diminished. Here's a politician on a marketplace visit: Park Jin of GNP greeting his supporters in Jongno-gu in Seoul after getting elected. Picture linked from Yonhapnews. (Thanks to Marmot for the link.) Categories at del.icio.us/hunjang: marketplaces ∙ Koreanpolitics