Discourse of the Post-COVID 19 New Deal in South Korea

In July 2020, the South Korean government announced a 5-year, post-pandemic plan. This purportedly proactive policy aimed to advance digital and green industries to lay the groundwork for the post-pandemic era. This article examines the South Korean government's early proposal of a post-pandemic policy, titled the Korean New Deal, in order to explore how the pandemic crisis may affect the policymakers' envisioning of the post-crisis society. Moreover, the study examines how this early predictive plan may reveal the ways in which the pandemic is utilized for discursive politics. Drawing on the critical discourse analysis of policy documents and news coverage, this article questions how the 'old' language of the developmental state is incorporated into the 'new' policy. The study also shows how COVID-19's impacts and uncertainties are translated into political discourses.
Author(s): Kyong Yoon [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.17091.3e, 0000 0001 2288 9830, English and Cultural Studies, University of British Columbia Okanagan, , 1148 Research Rd, Kelowna, BC, Canada Introduction The [...]