Neocon Generation (New Conservative Generation)
It is a political term referring to men of late millennial generation and generation Z in Korea, which has strong conservative and right-wing tendencies. It is somewhat different from traditional conservative supporters.
Many neo-cons originally supported Democratic parties more than conservative parties until the 2010s.
However, it was abruptly conservative due to antipathy to the pro-feminist policies of the Moon Jae In government.
Due to their age characteristics, they are often new to society. There are many college students. They often work as interns or practitioners in companies, and they are also self-employed.
The reason why there are many college students is that most of them go to universities due to the nature of Korea, which has a very high college enrollment rate.
As the Neocon generation went to university, college students, who were traditionally highly liberal, also became more conservative.
The following are the results of a political consciousness survey of students at Seoul National University ahead of the 2025 presidential election.
“…Furthermore, gender differences were evident in responses to political tendencies. For female respondents, 43.0% identified themselves as “progress” and only 11.0% as “conservative,” while 38.9% of male respondents said “conservative” and 21.4% said “progress.” (Source: https://www.snunews.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=34255)
Except for the Jeolla-do region, which has a strong anti-conservative tendency due to 5.18 Gwangju Democratic Uprising, they live virtually all over the region.
However, the Jeolla-do region also has a higher approval rating for conservative parties than other generations in this group.
Politically, they tend to be conservative and often support conservative parties in the Democratic Liberal Party, the mainstream conservative party in Korea, or moderate conservative parties.
However, the proportion of independents is also high, and even the independents tend to be more conservative than progressive.
Culturally, there are quite a few cases of resistance to feminism or political correctness.
Diplomatically, the pro-US and pro-Western tendencies are very strong, and Japan is friendly. Also, there is a strong antipathy to China.
However, Japan’s past history issues are often viewed negatively.
Like most Koreans, they also enjoy soccer and baseball very much. They also enjoy video games very much.
In addition, it has a very strong tendency to economic liberalism and is very sensitive to fairness issues.
From the perspective of the conservative party in Korea, it is a very important group because the inferiority of young women, middle-aged people, and elderly people must be offset through their support to do well in the election.
In short, it can be seen as a group that has both the characteristics of the younger generation and the characteristics of conservatives.
It is similar to Japan’s Mild Yankee generation in terms of conservative young people, and is similar to the British middle class Middle England in that it has a strong economic liberal tendency and a strong antipathy to political correctness.
Most of them are center-right and right-wing, but there are cases where they are closer to the far-right or closer to the center.
In general, they have similar tendencies with the British Conservative Party, the Australian Liberal Party, the Canadian Conservative Party, and the French Republican Party, which can be seen as similar to traditional conservative parties by European standards.
In addition, like neo-cons in the United States and the United Kingdom, there is something in common in that there is a strong antipathy to new left movements such as feminism and a strong tendency to economic liberalism.
Note: However, in the case of feminism or antipathy to political correctness, the middle, even some progressive young men, who are not politically conservative, are very strong.
Even young men living in Jeolla-do or from Jeolla-do have strong resistance to new-left movements such as feminism and political correctness, but the reason they do not support the conservative party is that they have a great antipathy to the conservative party due to its influence on 5.18 Gwangju Democratic Uprising.
Of course, young men living in Jeolla-do or from Jeolla-do are relatively friendly to conservative parties compared to other generations.
In the case of Jeolla-do, young women with strong progressive tendencies, middle-aged and elderly people, as well as older people with strong conservative tendencies, overwhelmingly support Democratic parties.
In particular, elderly people in Jeolla-do often experienced 5.18 Gwangju Democratic Uprising directly and suffered discrimination just because they were from Jeolla-do, so they are more anti-conservative than middle-aged and elderly people.
Comment: It’s not strange that young men are conservative, but I’m worried that some of them seem to be moving beyond conservative to the far right.
Extraordinary 1: Young men who support Democratic or progressive parties and their positions within the party
Despite the conservativeization of many young men in the 2020s, young men who still support the Democratic Party have also been influenced by neo-cons, often taking right-wing positions within the Democratic Party.
In general, young men from Jeolla-do and Jeolla-do often belong to this case. Although they support the Democratic Party, they are socially and culturally conservative like neo-cons.
Then, are there any young men who are left-wing positions within the DP or who support the progressive party altogether? Of course not.
Traditionally, as in other countries, workers in the culture and arts sector and trade union members with strong progressive tendencies are representative.
In addition, there are foreign Koreans, foreigners with permanent residents of Korea (foreign permanent residents can vote only for local elections), and overseas Koreans residing abroad.
Extraordinary 2: Politicians Related to Neocon
- Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon
The People Power Party, his party, was very disadvantageous in the 2026 local elections, but he succeeded in being elected with overwhelming support from young men.
- Former Daegu Mayor Hong Joon Pyo
In the past, Hong Joon Pyo was less popular with young men due to its image as a kkondae. However, as young men were re-evaluated after they became conservative, their favorability among young men increased significantly.
- Former President of Lee Myung Bak
It is a case that has a very high favorability rating as it has been reevaluated as a case similar to a Hong Joon Pyo.
- Lee Jun-seok, leader of the Reform Party
It was fully supported by young men for its strategy of criticizing feminism and existing vested politics while representing the emotions of young men.
- Yoo Seung Min, former member of the National Assembly
He is a representative of politicians with a center-right tendency, which accounts for a large proportion of neocon.
- Former President Kim Young-sam and former Prime Minister Lee Hoi-chang
They are representative politicians of the center-right tendency in Korea. The tendency of the mainstream conservative party during the New Korea Party and the Grand National Party during the Kim Young-sam and Lee Hoi-chang periods is similar to that of the neo-cons.
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