the NA succeeding their husband’s remaining terms (as some women in the U.S. Congress
did), and only two women became NA members in the 1990s as political surrogates by
winning district elections either as a wife of famous politician (Hyun, Kyung-Ja) or as a
daughter of former president of South Korea (Park, Keun-Hye). In South Korea, women
college professors used to be sought-after targets of political recruitment in NA national
constituency seats, but their "Kleenex tissue paper" roles (referring to one-term only with
limited roles) clearly indicates their value is no more than tokenistic. Incumbency in
South Korea's legislative politics has not played a significant role, reflecting political
instability.
18
But women experienced shorter tenure than men, indicating women’s weak
power base in legislative politics. Among the total of seventy two women who served in
the NA between the 1st and the 16th Assemblies, the majority of them served for only one
term (53), and a much smaller number of women served two (15) and three terms (3).
Only Park, Soon-Cheon , who led the Shimin political party in the 1960s-1970s, served
five terms. In contrast, male NA members tend to enjoy greater longevity in their
legislative careers. In the 16
th
Assembly, for example, of the total of 161 males some
entered for the ninth terms (1), eighth terms (1), sixth terms (5), fifth terms (14), or fourth
terms (25). (KWDI 2001-b: 47) Furthermore, those women national constituency seat
members did not pursue their NA membership in their home districts after their terms
expired. Ideally women national constituency members should continue their political
careers in electoral district politics. But barriers (e.g., party endorsement, fund-raising,
voter hostility) are still too high for women candidates to challenge in their district. Only
two women (Kim, Yoon-Duk and Yang, Kyung-Ja) challenged their NA membership in
district elections after their terms as the national constituency members expired. The
national constituency system has evoked many controversies over period time.
19
In
comparison to men who entered to the NA based on the national constituency seat system
(700 persons total between the Sixth and the Sixteenth Assemblies), women national
18
Between 1948 and 1996, the total NA membership distribution was 59.7 percent of first-term members;
22.4 percent of two-term members; and the rest were three- or more term members. Even when such a weak
incumbency system is recognized, women NA members' legislative life expectancy has been shorter than
males on average due to their dependency on patronage politics.
During the Park regime, for example it was abused as a co-optation tool to consolidate presidential power,
and support authoritarian government. Ruling parties were preferentially given more seats until later in the
1980s. Corruption in “buying” the national constituency seats was often reported even in the 1990s thus
limiting the merit of proportional representation.
Convention